West Grimstead is a village in

Grimstead Grimstead is a civil parish on the River Dun in Wiltshire, England, to the south-east of Salisbury. Its settlements are the villages of East Grimstead and West Grimstead. The 2011 census recorded a parish population of 534. East Grimstead 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 Dun in

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, about southeast 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 ...

History

Until the early 20th century, much of West Grimstead was owned by landed gentry and was part of larger estates. There are early references to the De Grimstede family, the village passing from them through the male line first to the Perots, then to the Berkeleys; next through the female line to the Breretons; again by the male line to Sir William Compton of

Compton Wynyates Compton Wynyates is a Tudor country house in Warwickshire, England, a Grade I listed building. The Tudor period house is constructed of red brick and built around a central courtyard. It is castellated and turreted in parts. Following action ...

. West Grimstead was then sold by Richard Compton to

Sir Stephen Fox Sir Stephen Fox (27 March 1627 – 28 October 1716) of Farley, Wiltshire, Farley in Wiltshire, of Redlynch, Somerset, Redlynch Park in Somerset, of Chiswick, Middlesex and of Whitehall, was a royal administrator and courtier to King Charles ...

, later

Earl of Ilchester Earl of Ilchester is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1756 for Stephen Fox, 1st Baron Ilchester, who had previously represented Shaftesbury in Parliament. He had already been created Baron Ilchester, of Ilchester in t ...

. West Grimstead remained part of the Ilchester estate through the 18th century until it was sold to the 2nd Earl of Radnor in 1801 at the time of the parish's

Inclosure Act The Inclosure Acts, which use an archaic spelling of the word now usually spelt "enclosure", cover enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land previously held in common. Between 1604 and 1 ...

. In 1916 the whole village was sold by the Longford Estate, mainly to sitting tenants. The

Salisbury and Southampton Canal The Salisbury and Southampton Canal was intended to be a 13-mile long canal in southern England from Redbridge, now a western suburb of Southampton at the head of Southampton Water, to Salisbury connecting with the Andover Canal at a junction ...

was built close to the north of the village. In 1803 the section eastward from West Grimstead was opened, linking to the

Andover Canal The Andover Canal was a canal built in Hampshire, England. It ran from Andover to Redbridge through Stockbridge and Romsey. The canal had a fall of through 24 locks, and for much of its length paralleled the River Anton and River Test. It o ...

near

Kimbridge Kimbridge is a small village and civil parish in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Romsey, which lies approximately 4 miles (6.3 km) south-east. Originally called "King's Bridge" in Civil War times. Accordin ...

; the canal was never completed as far as Salisbury and closed in 1806. In 1847 the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...

opened its line between

Bishopstoke Bishopstoke, a village recorded in the Domesday Book, is a civil parish in the borough of Eastleigh in Hampshire, England. Bishopstoke was also mentioned when King Alfred the Great's grandson King Eadred, granted land at "Stohes" to Thegn Aelfric ...

in Hampshire and

Milford Milford may refer to: Place names Canada * Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia * Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia * Milford, Ontario England * Milford, Derbyshire * Milford, Devon, a place in Devon * Milford on Sea, Hampshire * Milford, Shro ...

station at Salisbury, following the route of the canal but in a straighter line. The railway remains open as part of the

Wessex Main Line The Wessex Main Line is the railway line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton Central. Diverging from this route is the Heart of Wessex Line from Westbury to Weymouth. The Wessex Main Line intersects the Reading to Taunton Line at and th ...

from Salisbury to Southampton.

Religious sites

Parts of the

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

of Saint John date from about 1300, but the brick tower is from the early 18th century. A

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

window by

Heaton, Butler and Bayne Heaton, Butler and Bayne were an English firm who produced stained-glass windows from 1862 to 1953. History Clement Heaton (1824–82) Fleming, John & Hugh Honour. (1977) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. '' London: Allen Lane, p. 371. ...

was installed in 1900 and in 1960 the church was designated as

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 ...

. The benefice was united with

Alderbury Alderbury is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, England, in the south of the county around southeast of Salisbury. The parish includes the village of Whaddon, which is adjacent to Alderbury, and the hamlet of Sh ...

in 1971, and today the parish is within the area of the Clarendon group, alongside Alderbury, East Grimstead and seven others. A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in the village in 1825 and gained more worshippers than the church. A larger chapel was built on the same site in 1869 and a schoolroom was added in 1885. The chapel closed in 2009 and was converted for residential use.

Local government

Since 1934 the village has elected

parish council, together with

East Grimstead East Grimstead is a village in Grimstead civil parish, on the River Dun in Wiltshire, England, about east of Salisbury. The village has about 70 households and no shops, public houses or schools. History The site of a Roman villa is a shor ...

. 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 performs all significant local government functions.

Amenities

There is a village hall, built in 1913. The village shop and

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

closed some years ago. The village school closed in 1993, replaced by a new school built in

for the children of both Alderbury and West Grimstead.

References

External links

West Grimstead village website

Grimstead Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire