Shaw is a village in the

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Melksham Without,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England. It is about northwest of

Melksham Melksham () is a town and civil parish on the Bristol Avon, River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Trowbridge and south of Chippenham. The parish population was 18,113 at the 2021 census. History Early history Excavations in ...

on the A365 Melksham to

Box A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...

road, where the B3353 diverges to

Corsham Corsham is a historic market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It is at the southwestern edge of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 road (England), A4 national route. It is southwest of Swindon, east of ...

History

The manor of Shaw was recorded in the 13th century and became a tithing of Melksham parish. By 1335 there was a chapel of St Leonard, but there are no records of this chapel after 1460. The higher ground to the west of the village was known as Shaw Hill. Shaw House, built in 1711 and extended c. 1840, is

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. The house was used as a school in the early 19th century, as a home for the elderly in the 20th century, and as of 2015 has returned to residential use. The

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Christ Church was built in 1838 to designs by T.H. Wyatt, and served Shaw and Whitley as a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

of the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

at Melksham. This church proved to be too small and was rebuilt in 1905 to designs of C.E. Ponting at the expense of Charles Selwyn Awdry, who had served as

High Sheriff of Wiltshire This is a list of the sheriffs and (after 1 April 1974) high sheriffs of Wiltshire. Until the 14th century, the shrievalty was held ''ex officio'' by the castellans of Old Sarum Castle. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Go ...

. The new church is in the Arts and Crafts Gothic style and is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, having been so designated on 13 February 1985.

Amenities

The village has a primary school, Shaw CE Primary School, built next to the church in 1874 and extended in 1901, 1911, 1973, 2003 and 2009. Children of all ages were educated here until 1953. The Shaw & Whitley Community Hub established Whitley Stores Community Shop in the neighbouring village of Whitley in August 2021.

Shaw Trust

The Shaw Trust was formed in the village in 1982 and grew into a national charity, helping over 50,000 disabled and disadvantaged people into independent living and employment each year. It also works with the Shaw Education Trust which runs a number of academy schools across the country.

References

External links

* {{authority control Melksham Without Villages in Wiltshire