Fifield Bavant (/'fʌɪfiːld 'bavənt/) is a small village 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 ...

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 ...

, England, about southwest of Wilton, midway between Ebbesbourne Wake and Broad Chalke on the north bank of the

River Ebble The River Ebble is one of the five rivers of the English city of Salisbury. Rising at Alvediston to the west of the city, it joins the River Avon at Bodenham, near Nunton. Description The Ebble rises at Alvediston, to the west of Salisbur ...

. The small

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

, begun in the 13th century, is dedicated to Saint Martin and is a Grade II* listed building. The population is now about 20,Fifield Bavant
at pbase.com although it was 49 in 1831.
at genuki.org.uk

History

Fragmentary records from Saxon times indicate that the Ebble valley was a thriving area. The

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

in 1086 records the Chalke Valley as divided into eight manors, ''Chelke'' (Chalke - Broad Chalke and Bowerchalke), ''Eblesborne'' ( Ebbesbourne Wake), ''Fifehide'' (Fifield Bavant), ''Cumbe'' (

Coombe Bissett Coombe Bissett is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire in the River Ebble valley, southwest of Salisbury on the A354 road that goes south towards Blandford Forum. The parish includes the village of Homington, to the ...

), ''Humitone'' (Homington), ''Odestoche'' (

Odstock Odstock is a village and civil parish south of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the village of Nunton with its nearby hamlet of Bodenham. The parish is in the valley of the River Ebble, which joins the Hampshire Avon near Bo ...

), ''Stradford'' ( Stratford Tony and Bishopstone) and ''Trow'' (''circa'' Alvediston).Ebbesbourne Wake through the Ages by Peter Meers
/ref> The name of Fifield Bavant has evolved over the centuries. The Domesday Book records the manor as Fifehide (probably representing Five Hides). By 1264 it was called ''Fifield Scudamore'' because Peter de Scudamore was

lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

. By 1463 it was recorded as ''Fiffehyde Beaufaunt'' when ownership had passed to the Beaufaunt family, later usually spelt Bavant. The name Fifehide probably derives from 'five hides'. A hide was once an area of land which would support a household, varying according to time and place and land quality, but typically ranging from 40 to 160 acres, or 16 to 65 hectares. Later in Anglo-Saxon England it was a unit used for assessing land tax. Peter Meers, in his book ''Ebbesbourne Wake through the Ages'', translates Fifield's Domesday entry as:

Alvred f Marleboroughholds Fifehide, Ralph from him. TRE it paid tax for five hides. Land for four ploughs. In lordship three hides, there one plough and three slaves. Nine villagers (
villeins A villein, otherwise known as ''cottar'' or '' crofter'', is a serf tied to the land in the feudal system. Villeins had more rights and social status than those in slavery, but were under a number of legal restrictions which differentiated them ...
) and six smallholders ( bordars) with two ploughs. Two acres of meadow, pasture half a league long and half a furlong wide. Value £4, now £5. One forge pays 12 d a year and two Wilton burgesses pay 18d. Woolmaer holds one hide from Alvred, the same person held it TRE, it was and is worth 10s.

In 1840, Samuel Lewis's ''Topographical Dictionary'' said of the parish: Fifield Bavant was a separate

for eight centuries. In 1885, it lost its southern area of some 283 acres to Bowerchalke, and in 1894 the parish was extinguished, when the remaining 870 acres of the northern part were annexed to Ebbesbourne Wake. In 1923 the separate ecclesiastical parish also came to an end, when the benefice of St Martin's was united with that of St John the Baptist in Ebbesbourne. The

parish register A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...

s, held in the

Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre The Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, serves as a focal point for heritage services relating to Wiltshire and Swindon. The centre opened in 2007 and is funded by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Counc ...

, record christenings from 1696 to 1991, marriages from 1699 to 1922, and burials from 1696 to 1913. A detailed parish history was published by 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 ...

in 1987, as part of its ''Volume XIII: Chalke hundred''.

References

External links

Village photo gallery
at pbase.com {{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Former civil parishes in Wiltshire