Porton is a village in the Bourne valley,

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, Gloucestershir ...

, England, about northeast of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

. It is the largest settlement in Idmiston

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

. The village gives its name to the nearby

Porton Down Porton Down is a science park in Wiltshire, England, just northeast of the village of Porton, near Salisbury. It is home to two British government facilities: a site of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) ...

military science park, which is home to the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and related businesses.

Religious sites

The

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christianity, Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe ...

faith flourished in this part of Wiltshire in the 17th century, then declined in the 18th. A chapel was built to the south of Porton village in 1865 and enlarged in 1922, 1972 and 2006; as of 2015 it is still open. The Anglican Church of St Nicholas was built in 1877 to designs by

J.L. Pearson John Loughborough Pearson (5 July 1817 – 11 December 1897) was a British Gothic Revival architect renowned for his work on churches and cathedrals. Pearson revived and practised largely the art of vaulting, and acquired in it a proficienc ...

, replacing a building from the 16th century or earlier. Built in flint with brick dressings under a tiled roof, the church has a nave with a south porch and bellcote, and a chancel with a vestry. The octagonal font is from the 14th or 15th century, and there is stained glass by

Clayton and Bell Clayton and Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient British workshops of stained-glass windows during the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century. The partners were John Richard Clayton (1827–1913) and Alfred Bell (1832� ...

. St Nicholas became the

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 activitie ...

in 1977, when the older All Saints Church at Idmiston was declared redundant.

Railways

In 1857 the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exete ...

company opened its line from

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * And ...

to Milford station at Salisbury, following the Bourne valley and passing southeast of Porton. There was a

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

at Porton from the opening of the line until 1968, with a goods yard until 1962. The railway remains in use as part of the West of England line but there are no local stations. Between 1916 and 1946, the Porton Down Camp Military Railway ( 2 foot gauge) ran between the goods yard at Porton station and the Camp, almost a mile to the northeast.

Amenities

The local school is St Nicholas' CE ( VA) Primary School, built in 1972 to replace a school built at Idmiston in 1869. The former Railway Hotel, near the site of the station, is now the Porton Hotel and Restaurant.

Protected areas

There are two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in the area. Porton Meadows is of botanically rich unimproved neutral grassland in the floodplain of the River Bourne, which has largely escaped intensive agriculture. A much larger area, extending into Hampshire and known as Porton Down SSSI, includes grassland, scrub and woodland; it constitutes the largest uninterrupted tract of semi-natural

chalk grassland Calcareous grassland (or alkaline grassland) is an ecosystem associated with thin basic soil, such as that on chalk and limestone downland. Plants on calcareous grassland are typically short and hardy, and include grasses and herbs such as clover. ...

in Britain.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Wiltshire