Rushall is a small village and
civil parish in
Wiltshire, England, southeast of
Devizes and northwest of
Upavon on the
A342
The A342 is an A road in England that runs from Pewsham near Chippenham, Wiltshire to Andover, Hampshire.
Route
The road begins at the A4 junction just outside the small village of Pewsham, to the east of Chippenham. It heads south past ...
between Devizes and
Andover. The village is near the
River Avon in the
Vale of Pewsey.
The parish extends southeast onto
Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...
and into the
military training area.
History
There is a prehistoric or medieval linear earthwork on Rushall Down, one of several archaeological remains on the Plain.
Rushall appears in
Domesday Book, as a large settlement of 105 households, with a church, at ''Rusteselue''. Before 1086 it was held by Gytha, the widow of Earl Godwin, or by Harold, her son, but by the time of the survey, it had been given to the
Abbey of St. Wandrille
Fontenelle Abbey or the Abbey of St. Wandrille is a Benedictine monastery in the commune of Rives-en-Seine. It was founded in 649 near Caudebec-en-Caux in Seine-Maritime, Normandy, France.
First foundation
It was founded by Wandregisel or S ...
. There seems to have been a church present at that time. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the manor was held by the de Aunay family and subsequently changed hands several times. By 1404 it was in the hands of
Lord Hungerford, and his family remained in possession until it was sold in 1548 or 1549. By 1749 it had been sold to
Edward Poore, who set about rebuilding or replacing the manor house and
emparking the surrounding land.
Amenities
Rushall Church of England
Voluntary Aided Primary School serves the surrounding villages, including Upavon and the British Army garrison at
Trenchard Lines.
The modern village hall is shared with the neighbouring village of
Charlton
Charlton may refer to:
People
* Charlton (surname)
* Charlton (given name)
Places Australia
* Charlton, Queensland
* Charlton, Victoria
* Division of Charlton, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in New South Wale ...
.
The
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
Church of St Matthew is
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 ...
. Parts of a 14th-century building survive; the tower dates from the late 15th or early 16th century. In 1812 much of the church was rebuilt in brick, and in 1905 restoration was carried out by
C.E. Ponting. The benefice was combined with Upavon in 1924, but the parishes remained separate; today the parish is part of the Vale of Pewsey team ministry, which covers
Pewsey and many rural parishes.
Governance
The civil parish elects a
parish council. All significant local government services are provided by
Wiltshire Council, with its headquarters in
Trowbridge, and the parish is represented there by Paul Oatway, who succeeded
Brigadier Robert Hall in 2013. In the
House of Commons the parish is part of the
Devizes constituency.
Further reading
*
*
References
External links
Rushall community website
{{authority control
Villages in Wiltshire
Civil parishes in Wiltshire