Sherrington is a small village and

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 authority ...

on the

River Wylye The River Wylye ( ) is a chalk stream in the south of England, with clear water flowing over gravel. It is popular with anglers for fly fishing. A half-mile stretch of the river and three lakes in Warminster are a local nature reserve. Cour ...

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. The part of the

Great Ridge Wood Great Ridge Wood, formerly also known as Chicklade Wood, is one of the largest woodlands in southern Wiltshire, England. Mostly within the parishes of Boyton and Sherrington, and entirely within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area ...

known as Snailcreep Hanging lies entirely within Sherrington.

Location

Sherrington is near the larger village of

Codford Codford is a civil parish south of Salisbury Plain in the Wylye Valley in Wiltshire, England. Its settlements are the adjacent villages of Codford St Peter and Codford St Mary, which lie some southeast of Warminster. The two villages are on th ...

and is near the edge of

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 ...

. It is southeast of the town of

Warminster Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church of S ...

and northwest of the city 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 ...

. Sherrington is part of the Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

History

There are a number of prehistoric barrows in the parish.Crowley ''et al.'', 1995, pages 234-242 Sherrington has the remains of a

motte-and-bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

castle,Pevsner and Cherry, 1975, page 469 presumed to have been made late in the 11th or early in the 12th century. Now a

scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

, the mound rises to a height of 5.5m and is 48m across. The village has a large mill pond. The ''Post Office Directory of Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Dorsetshire'' (1855) says of Sherrington:

Parish church

The Church of St Cosmos and St Damian at Sherrington - geograph

Sherrington had a

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, ...

by 1252, which was dedicated to

Saints Cosmas and Damian Cosmas and Damian ( ar, قُزما ودميان, translit=Qozma wa Demyaan; grc-gre, Κοσμᾶς καὶ Δαμιανός, translit=Kosmás kai Damianós; la, Cosmas et Damianus; AD) were two Arab physicians in the town Cyrrhus, and were r ...

by 1341. It was completely rebuilt in 1624, re-using the early 14th century east and west windows of the original building. The west

bellcot A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

was added in the 19th century. The octagonal stone font is from the 13th century. Other fittings, including pews and the pulpit, are 17th-century and described by English Heritage as "little altered". On the plaster walls are painted

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...

s with Biblical texts, one dated 1630. The church was recorded as

Grade I 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 1968. The benefice was united with Boyton in 1909, although the parishes remained distinct. Today the parish is served by the Upper Wylye Valley Team, which covers ten rural parishes.

Other buildings

The Old Rectory is a late 17th century building, extended and altered in the 19th. Under the thatched roof, the north front is in dressed limestone.

Local government

Most local government services are provided by

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council is a council for the unitary authority of Wiltshire (excluding the separate unitary authority of Swindon) in South West England, created in 2009. It is the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council (1889–2009) and the ...

, which has its offices in

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, on the River Biss in the west of the county. It is near the border with Somerset and lies southeast of Bath, 31 miles (49 km) southwest of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) southe ...

, some twelve miles to the north. With fewer than one hundred residents, Sherrington has no elected parish council, and instead has a Parish Meeting at which all electors may attend and vote. Boundary changes in 2010 created a new constituency of South West Wiltshire which incorporates the parish. Sherrington's current

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Andrew Murrison Andrew William Murrison (born 24 April 1961) is a British doctor, naval officer and politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Wiltshire, previously Westbury, since the 2001 ...

, while its representative in the Wiltshire Council

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

Christopher Newbury Christopher Newbury (born 1956) is a British Conservative politician. He was a member of the Congress of the Council of Europe from 1998 to 2010 and since 2009 has been a member of the new Wiltshire Council, created that year. Early life Newbury ...

. Both are Conservatives.

References

Sources

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External links

{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire