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

in southwest

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. The parish takes in the southwestern quarter of the village of Tisbury and extends about westward; Tisbury is about west of

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

. The settlements in the parish are the following hamlets: * East Hatch * Kinghay * Newtown * Tuckingmill, immediately west of Tisbury (not to be confused with Tuckingmill, Cornwall or

Tucking Mill Tucking Mill is a small hamlet within the parish of Monkton Combe, Somerset, England. It lies on Midford Brook and was a key point on the now disused Somerset Coal Canal. It is at the southern end of the Two Tunnels Greenway which follows th ...

, Somerset) * West Hatch (not to be confused with

West Hatch West Hatch is a hamlet and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south east of Taunton. It has a population of 306. History The name of the hamlet indicates it lies to the west of Hatch Beauchamp. The parish of West Hatch was part of t ...

civil parish, Somerset) The River Sem, a tributary of the Nadder, forms almost all of the southern boundary of the parish. The

West of England Main Line The West of England line (also known as the West of England Main Line) is a British railway line from , Hampshire, to in Devon, England. Passenger services run between London Waterloo station and Exeter; the line intersects with the Wessex Ma ...

railway, opened in 1859, follows the same route. The civil parish elects a parish council. It is in the area of

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire in South West England, and has its headquarters a ...

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

, which is responsible for all significant local government functions.

History

In the late 16th century, West Hatch appears to have just consisted of a few scattered farms, with there being no discernible village centre as of 1773, as is still the case today. Settlement at that time was denser in East Hatch, with the presence of a now-unknown site of a medieval chapel and, as of the early 19th century, around 34 houses and cottages. Until 1835 the land now in West Tisbury parish was part of Tisbury parish. In 1986 small areas were transferred from West Tisbury to

East Knoyle East Knoyle is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, in the south-west of England, just west of the A350 and about south of Warminster and north of Shaftesbury, Dorset. It was the birthplace of the architect Sir Christopher Wren. The paris ...

and Tisbury, the latter comprising housing built in the 1970s. A school was built at Newtown in 1846 and closed in 1931. The parish of West Tisbury had a population of 734 in 1841, and then 653 in 1861. This increased to 855 by 1871, since people had moved from East Tisbury following the construction of a new workhouse in the parish. The population declined over time, however, down to 429 by 1971.

Notable buildings

Pythouse Pythouse, sometimes spelled Pyt House and pronounced ''pit-house'', is a English country house, country house in southwest Wiltshire, in the west of England. It is about west of the village of Tisbury, Wiltshire, Tisbury. Described as a "fine ...

, a

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 ...

country house, was built near Newtown in about 1725 and then rebuilt in 1805 for the politician

John Benett John Benett (1773–1852), of Pythouse, Wiltshire, was an English politician. He was a Member of Parliament, Member (MP) of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Wiltshire (UK Parliament constituency), Wiltshire 1819 to 1832 and for South ...

. Nearby Hatch House, from the 17th century and altered in 1908 by

Detmar Blow Detmar Jellings Blow (24 November 1867 – 7 February 1939) was a British architect of the early 20th century, who designed principally in the arts and crafts style. His clients belonged chiefly to the British aristocracy, and later he became es ...

, is also Grade II* listed. St Andrew's church at Newtown was built in 1911 to designs of

Edward Doran Webb Edward Doran Webb (1864–1931) was a British ecclesiastical architect. Based in Wiltshire, he worked on several churches including at Salisbury, Finchley, Swindon and Aldermaston. Webb also designed the Birmingham Oratory. He had strong connec ...

, using Chilmark stone salvaged from a former church in the grounds of Pythouse. It was a

chapel-of-ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

of Tisbury until it was declared redundant in 1975, and is now in residential use.

References

External links

West Tisbury Parish Council

West Tisbury
at Wiltshire Community History – Wiltshire Council {{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire

History

Notable buildings

See also

References

External links