Blackland, Wiltshire
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Blackland (sometimes Blacklands) is a hamlet and former
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
in
Calne Without Calne Without is a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is a rural parish surrounding the town of Calne, extending west to the Avon and south to the Roman road from London to Bath. Settlements in the parish are the village of Derry Hill; the sm ...
parish, just south-east of the town of
Calne Calne () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, southwestern England,OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs ...
in Wiltshire, England. There is a 13th-century church and an 18th-century country house, Blackland House.


Geography

The former parish is south of the
A4 road This is a list of roads designated A4. A4 is the name of several roads: * A004 road (Argentina), a road connecting Buenos Aires-La Plata highway with the Juan María Gutiérrez circle * A4 motorway (Austria), a road connecting Vienna and Nickels ...
Calne-
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, opposite Quemerford, an outlying area of Calne. The road was at one time the main route from London to Bath. The hamlet is about from the centre of Calne, dispersed around a crossroads; one minor road leads east to
Calstone Wellington Calstone Wellington is a small village and former parish in Wiltshire, England, about south-east of Calne and now part of the civil parish of Calne Without. The village has a 15th-century church. Geography Anciently, there was a distinction b ...
, another south over higher ground to
Bishops Cannings Bishops Cannings is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, England, north-east of Devizes. The parish includes the village of Coate (not to be confused with Coate, Swindon) and the hamlets of Bourton, Horton and Little ...
and
Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century ...
. The older settlement, now only the church, grand house and farm, lies further north. The River Marden flows north-westwards across the tithing.


History

The Blackland area was probably part of the king's large Calne estate in the 10th century or earlier. By the late 12th century Blackland was a separate manor, with its own church. The name was also adopted for a
tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...
which was larger than the manor, and by the early 19th century included land in Calne,
Calstone Wellington Calstone Wellington is a small village and former parish in Wiltshire, England, about south-east of Calne and now part of the civil parish of Calne Without. The village has a 15th-century church. Geography Anciently, there was a distinction b ...
and Calstone parishes. Blackland parish was abolished in 1890, all the tithing forming part of the new
Calne Without Calne Without is a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is a rural parish surrounding the town of Calne, extending west to the Avon and south to the Roman road from London to Bath. Settlements in the parish are the village of Derry Hill; the sm ...
parish, which also absorbed Calstone Wellington. At the 1901 census, there were 33 houses in the former Blackland parish area. In the late 12th century the manor was held by Richard de Canville, governor of Cyprus, who died in 1191 during the
Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...
at the
Siege of Acre Siege of Acre may refer to: * Siege of Acre (1104), following the First Crusade *Siege of Acre (1189–1191), during the Third Crusade * Siege of Acre (1263), Baibars laid siege to the Crusader city, but abandoned it to attack Nazareth. *Siege of A ...
. His son
Gerard Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...
(d. 1214) married Nicola de la Haie (c.1150–1230) who brought Lincolnshire estates to the family. The manor (except for Blackland Farm, which was in separate ownership) was sold by a descendant, and by 1282 had been sold or given to
Malmesbury Abbey Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, is a religious house dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It was one of the few English houses with a continuous history from the 7th century through to the dissolution of the monasteri ...
, who kept it until the
dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...
of 1539. The
Wiltshire Victoria County History The Wiltshire Victoria County History, properly called The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire but commonly referred to as VCH Wiltshire, is an encyclopaedic history of the county of Wiltshire in England. It forms part of the overall Vic ...
traces the later owners, including Thomas Maundrell, who built Blackland House in the 1760s. Owners of Blackland Farm included from 1570 Thomas Goddard of
Upper Upham Upper Upham is a hamlet and deserted medieval village in the civil parish of Aldbourne in the English county of Wiltshire. Its nearest town is Marlborough, which lies approximately to the south-west; the hamlet is reached by a narrow lane off t ...
(near Aldbourne), and from 1770 to 1957 the Petty-Fitzmaurice family, later
Marquesses of Lansdowne Marquess of Lansdowne is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain created in 1784, and held by the head of the Petty-Fitzmaurice family. The first Marquess served as Prime Minister of Great Britain. Origins This branch of the Fitzmaurice famil ...
(the owners of
Bowood Bowood is a Grade I listed Georgian era, Georgian English country houses, country house in Wiltshire, England, that has been owned for more than 250 years by the Fitzmaurice family. The house, with interiors by Robert Adam, stands in extensive g ...
). Blacklands Park Farmhouse, west of the hamlet, was built in ashlar in the mid to late 18th century. Part of a defensive moat from an earlier building is still in water. Blackland Mill stands on the River Marden downstream from the church, where there has been a corn mill probably since the 13th century, and certainly since 1728. The present substantial structure is a rebuilding of 1800-1810 in red brick with stone windows, and retains its iron waterwheel. The mill was in operation until c.1915–1920, and again from 1983 to 1993. The adjoining stable of c.1810 has a roof described by Historic England as "an exceptional example of early use of iron in roof construction" and is Grade II* listed. A farm at Blackland Mill was bought by champion jockey Billy Higgs in 1909 and developed as a
stud Stud may refer to the following terms: Animals * Stud (animal), an animal retained for breeding ** Stud farm, a property where livestock are bred Arts and entertainment * Stud (band), a British progressive rock group * The Stud (bar), a gay ba ...
. It was bought in 1928 by
Fred Darling Frederick Darling (1884–1953) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse trainer who trained a record-equalling seven English Derby winners. Darling's father, Sam Darling senior, was a trainer at Beckhampton, near Avebury in Wiltshire, who train ...
, a successful trainer based not far away at Beckhampton, and after his death in 1953 was bought by the brothers G. R. and M. J. Maundrell, who continued the business until the early 1970s. As of 2022 there is still a small equestrian business on the site. Blackland had no school. From around 1846 children could attend the school at Calstone, which remained open until 1962.


Blackland House

Blackland House (or Blackland Park), opposite the church, is a three-storey ashlar house built in the 1760s for Thomas Maundrell. The formal north and south fronts have five windows; the north has a centre bay with
pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...
and
lunette A lunette (French ''lunette'', "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc take ...
, and 1858 additions to the ground floor; on the south (garden) side the central doorway has a pair of
Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...
columns, and the house overlooks a small lake made by damming the Marden. On the west side the late-19th-century conservatory is described as "curvaceous" by Orbach, and to the east is a single-storey late-20th-century extension. Owners in the 20th century included from 1973 to 1987 the fashion designer Rupert Lycett Green and his wife, the writer
Candida Lycett Green Candida Rose Lycett Green (née Betjeman; 22 September 194219 August 2014) was a British author who wrote sixteen books including ''English Cottages'', ''Goodbye London'', ''The Perfect English House'', ''Over the Hills and Far Away'' and ''The ...
. The house has of gardens. The present owners, who run a floristry business from the former coach house, restored two walled gardens and planted 15,000 tulips. A collection of tulip cultivars is accredited with
Plant Heritage Plant Heritage, formerly known as the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG), is a botanical conservation organisation in the United Kingdom and a registered charity. It was founded in 1978 to combine the talents of bot ...
under the
National Plant Collection The National Plant Collection scheme is the main conservation vehicle whereby the Plant Heritage charity (formerly the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens) can accomplish its mission: to conserve, grow, propagate, docume ...
scheme. Just east of the house is a two-storey stable block with a large central dovecote, built in rubble stone in the mid-18th-century. A lodge at the north-west entrance to the grounds, on the London-Bath road, was built in squared ashlar in the mid to late 19th century.


Parish church

The church, which probably dates from the 13th century, is a small rubble-stone building with a west bellcote. In the chancel, two small windows are 13th-century, and Orbach states that two triangular-headed windows have Anglo-Saxon monolith surrounds. The two-light east window is 14th-century, and in that century the chancel roof was replaced and the nave rebuilt; these roofs are still in place. The font is either 12th-century (Orbach) or 13th (Historic England), on a 19th-century base. The single bell was cast in 1671 although there had been two in 1553. A north addition, with a
barrel-vaulted A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...
ceiling of the late 17th century or early 18th, was until 1858 reserved for the owners of Blackland House. A north vestry was added to the chancel in 1842 and in 1858–9 the church was "over-restored" (according to Orbach) by Henry Weaver. The work included buttressing the addition, remodelling it as an aisle and moving the porch to that side, as well as changes to the nave windows and re-fronting of the west gallery. Further restoration in 1907 by C.E. Ponting saw stained glass by Kempe & Co. installed in the east window, and a new screen, stalls, pulpit and reredos. The church was originally dedicated to St Nicholas but by 1851 it was called St Peter's. The building was designated as
Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
in 1960. The church was probably built by the lord of the manor as a chapel dependant on St Mary, Calne, but had its own rector by 1361 and the incumbent received
tithes A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...
from the manor; it later became independent of Calne and was a peculiar of the
Dean of Salisbury The Dean of Salisbury is the head of the chapter of Salisbury Cathedral in the Church of England. The Dean assists the archdeacon of Sarum and bishop of Ramsbury in the diocese of Salisbury. List of deans High Medieval * Walter * Osbert ...
until most aspects of that jurisdiction were abolished in 1846. The benefice was united with that of
Calstone Wellington Calstone Wellington is a small village and former parish in Wiltshire, England, about south-east of Calne and now part of the civil parish of Calne Without. The village has a 15th-century church. Geography Anciently, there was a distinction b ...
in 1881; the rector or their curate had already lived there since 1843. In 1962 the union was undone: the north and west parts of Blackland were united with Calne to form the parish of Calne with Blackland, and the rest was united with
Heddington Heddington is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, England south of Calne. The parish includes the hamlet of Heddington Wick. King's Play Hill is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest within the parish ...
. Today the parish is part of the Marden Vale benefice, alongside St Mary and Holy Trinity at Calne, and the churches of Bremhill,
Derry Hill Derry Hill is a village in the English county of Wiltshire, in the civil parish of Calne Without. It has an elevated position at the northern edge of the Bowood House estate, about south-east of the centre of the town of Chippenham. Geography ...
and Foxham.


References


External links

{{Commons category inline
Blackland Manor 1194–Present
at Wiltshire OPC, June 2014 Calne Without Hamlets in Wiltshire