Tockenham is a 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 ...
in north
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 village is about east of
Lyneham and southwest of the town of
Royal Wootton Bassett
Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 11,043 in 2001, increasing to 11,385 in 2011. Situated in the north of the county, it lies to the west of the major ...
. The parish includes the hamlet of Tockenham Wick.
Roman villa
A
Roman villa
A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions.
Typology and distribution
Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...
a short distance north of the present village was the subject of an episode of the archaeological television programme ''
Time Team
''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...
'', broadcast in 1995.
As a result of their geophysical survey, sample trenches and environmental core samples, the site was subsequently
scheduled to give it legal protection. Based on pottery finds, the site was occupied from the mid 2nd century to the late 4th century. Although no complete mosaic floors were found, tesserae and painted plaster were both found in some numbers, suggesting a major building phase in the 4th century.
[
]
Later history
The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded 17 households in the area.
At Tockenham Wick, in the north of the parish, is a substantial manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
dating from c. 1600, now 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 ...
.
Meadow Court, Tockenham, is a country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
of 1630 and 1730, the latter designed by the potter-architect Nathaniel Ireson
Nathaniel Ireson (1685– 18 April 1769) was a potter, architect and mason best known for his work around Wincanton in Somerset, England.
He was probably born in Ansley, Warwickshire.
He rebuilt much of the centre of Wincanton following a fire in ...
(1685–1769).
The manor house at Tockenham is Queen Court Farmhouse in the northwest of the village. The present building is from the 18th and 19th centuries and stands on the site of an earlier moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...
ed house.
A Free School was built at Tockenham in 1844, and became a National School in the 1870s. Children of all ages were taught until 1926, when the school closed owing to falling numbers. The school was reopened for wartime reasons from December 1940 to the autumn of 1946; subsequently the building became a private house.
A detailed parish history was published by the Wiltshire Victoria County History
The Wiltshire Victoria County History, properly called The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire but commonly referred to as VCH Wiltshire, is an encyclopaedic history of the county of Wiltshire in England. It forms part of the overall Vic ...
as part of its volume IX, ''Kingsbridge hundred'' (1970).
Parish church
The Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
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, ...
is dedicated to St Giles and was first recorded in 1276. The dedication is, however, only from the beginning of the 20th century, and the church was originally dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist
John the Evangelist ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης, Iōánnēs; Aramaic: ܝܘܚܢܢ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ; ar, يوحنا الإنجيلي, la, Ioannes, he, יוחנן cop, ⲓⲱⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ or ⲓⲱ̅ⲁ) is the name traditionally given t ...
.Parish register
A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...
s survive for the following dates: christenings 1653–1991, marriages 1655–1999, burials 1653–1992.Tockenham
at genuki.org.uk
Built into the south wall of the church is a well-preserved Roman statue. At one time thought to be
St Christopher
Saint Christopher ( el, Ἅγιος Χριστόφορος, ''Ágios Christóphoros'') is venerated by several Christian denominations as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman emperor Decius (reigned 249–251) or alternatively u ...
, it was later claimed to be
Aesculapius. In 1978
Jocelyn Toynbee
Jocelyn Mary Catherine Toynbee, (3 March 1897 – 31 December 1985) was an English archaeologist and art historian. "In the mid-twentieth century she was the leading British scholar in Roman artistic studies and one of the recognized authoriti ...
identified it as a
Genius loci
In classical Roman religion, a ''genius loci'' (plural ''genii locorum'') was the protective spirit of a place. It was often depicted in religious iconography as a figure holding attributes such as a cornucopia, patera (libation bowl) or snake. ...
statue, a pre-Christian Roman religious item, assumed to be from the nearby villa complex. The church walls contain a number of Roman dressed stones and tiles amongst the medieval masonry.
See also
*
List of Roman villas in England
A list of Roman villas in England confirmed by archaeology.
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cornwall
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
Essex
Gloucestershire
Greater London
Hampshire
Herefordshire
...
References
External links
Tockenham Parish CouncilTockenham VillageTockenham
at Wiltshire Community History
Tockenham, St Giles
at achurchnearyou.com
{{authority control
Villages in Wiltshire
Civil parishes in Wiltshire