St Paul Malmesbury Without is a

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 ...

surrounding

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

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. Its main settlements are the village of Corston and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of Milbourne and

Rodbourne Rodbourne is a suburb of Swindon in Wiltshire, England, north of the town centre and about northwest of Swindon railway station. It includes an area formerly called Even Swindon. Northern area Land to the north of the Wilts and Berks Canal a ...

(not to be confused with the

suburb of Swindon).

Geography

The parish is rural with small settlements. It surrounds Malmesbury to the north, east and south (but not to the west where the parish is

Brokenborough Brokenborough is a village and civil parish about northwest of Malmesbury, Wiltshire in England. The course of the Fosse Way Roman road forms the northwest boundary of the parish, and also the county boundary with neighbouring Gloucestershire. ...

). In the southeastern outskirts of Malmesbury the parish includes houses along the B4042 Swindon road, together with the development known as Cowbridge Mill, on the site of

Cowbridge House Cowbridge House, southeast of Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England, was an eighteenth century house that was demolished in 2007. During the Second World War the EKCO company used the house as a shadow factory for the manufacture of radar equipment ...

. To the south, the parish extends some from Malmesbury, almost to

Stanton St Quintin Stanton St Quintin is a small village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire in England. It is about north of Chippenham and south of Malmesbury. The parish church dates in part from the 12th century. The parish includes the hamlets of ...

, including parts of

Hullavington Airfield RAF Hullavington was a Royal Air Force station located at Hullavington, near Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. The station opened in June 1937 and was predominantly used for various training purposes. It closed on 31 March 1992 when it was transf ...

and the adjacent

Buckley Barracks Buckley Barracks is a British Army barracks in Wiltshire, England, about north of Chippenham and west of Swindon. History The barracks are located on the technical site of the former RAF Hullavington which closed on 31 March 1992. On handover ...

. The

Bristol Avon The River Avon is a river in the south west of England. To distinguish it from a number of other rivers of the same name, it is often called the Bristol Avon. The name 'Avon' is a cognate of the Welsh word , meaning 'river'. The Avon ...

forms part of the north and east boundaries of the parish. Its tributary the Gauze Brook crosses the parish.

History

Between the 7th and 11th centuries, the land which forms the modern parish was acquired by

Malmesbury Abbey Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, is a religious house dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It was one of the few English houses with a continuous history from the 7th century through to the dissolution of the monasteri ...

. By 1191 the parish church of the town was St Paul's, close to the abbey. After the creation of Malmesbury

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

in 1886, the remainder of the parish was renamed St Paul Malmesbury Without. Land from Westport, southwest of the town, was added in 1896.

Governance

The parish elects a parish council. It is in the area of

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 ...

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 ...

, which is responsible for all significant local government functions.

Notable buildings

Cole Park, a Grade II* listed country house about south of Malmesbury, stands in parkland where Malmesbury Abbey had a deer-park. Parts of the house are from the 16th century but it was much altered and extended in the 17th and 18th. The churches at Corston (15th century, rebuilt 1881 and 1911) and

(12th and 13th centuries) are also Grade II* listed.

References

External links

* {{civil parishes in England Civil parishes in Wiltshire