Woodborough 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 ...

in the

Vale of Pewsey The Vale of Pewsey or Pewsey Vale is an area of Wiltshire, England to the east of Devizes and south of Marlborough, centred on the village of Pewsey. Geography The vale is an extent of lower lying ground separating the chalk downs of Salisbury ...

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 west of

Pewsey Pewsey is a large village and civil parish at the centre of the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, about south of Marlborough and west of London. It is within reach of the M4 motorway and the A303 and is served by Pewsey railway station on the Re ...

History

The

Domesday Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

survey in 1086 recorded 22 households and a mill at ''Witeberge'', in

Swanborough Hundred Swanborough was a hundred of the English county of Wiltshire, mostly lying in the centre of the county to the south of the town of Devizes. An area of the hundred reached several miles southwards into Salisbury Plain. The hundred contained the par ...

. 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 ...

has an account of later landowners. From 1917, three farms accounted for most of the land in the parish: Church farm, Honey Street farm and Hurst's farm. At some point, the Honeystreet area – including the canalside hamlet and the farm – was transferred from Woodborough civil parish to

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

. The Manor House (brick with a thatched roof) and Church Farmhouse (vitrified brick and red brick, slate roof) are both from the early 18th century.

Local government

The civil 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.

Church and chapel

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 St Mary Magdalene is on the northern edge of the village and is built in squared limestone. The present building is entirely from the 19th century but there is evidence of a 12th-century church on the site, and records of the church occur from the mid-13th century. In 1850 the chancel was rebuilt in 13th-century style by

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was born in Lon ...

, and in 1861–2

T.H. Wyatt Thomas Henry Wyatt (9 May 1807 – 5 August 1880) was an Anglo-Irish architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1870–73 and being awarded its Royal Gold Medal for A ...

rebuilt the nave, with a south porch, lean-to vestry, and above the west gable a

bell-cot 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 ...

for the single bell. All Saints' Church, Manningford Bohune was transferred from Wilsford in 1924 to create the parish and benefice of Woodborough with Manningford Bohune. Honeystreet hamlet was transferred to the parish of Alton Barnes with Alton Priors in 1928. From 1951 the united benefice was held in plurality with

Beechingstoke Beechingstoke is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Pewsey about west of Pewsey and the same distance east of Devizes. The parish includes the hamlet of Broad Street and the northern part of the villa ...

, and in 1961 Beechingstoke was added to the union. In 1972 a team ministry was established for the wider area, and today the church is part of the Vale of Pewsey group, alongside 15 others. A Wesleyan Methodist chapel opened in 1822 and closed in 1970.

Transport

The

Kennet and Avon Canal The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the cent ...

, opened in 1810, crosses the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

. A wharf at Honeystreet, a short distance to the north of the parish, handled cargo for the area. The Reading to Taunton railway line, built in 1862, became the southern boundary of the parish; station, which was south of the village off Broad Street, closed in 1966 making the nearest station. There are no main roads in the parish. Minor roads provide links to

Alton Barnes Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia * Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario * Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealan ...

to the north,

to the west, and to the south through other villages to the A342

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century ...

–

Upavon Upavon is a rural village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. As its name suggests, it is on the upper portion of the River Avon which runs from north to south through the village. It is on the north edge of Salisbury Plain ...

road.

Amenities

Woodborough C of E Primary School serves the parish and surrounding area. The building began as a National School in 1873. The village has a social club. The nearest

pub 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 ...

is at

Bottlesford Bottlesford is a small village in Wiltshire, England, in the parish of North Newnton. It is in the Vale of Pewsey and is about west of Pewsey. There is a pub, the ''Seven Stars Inn''. Until sometime after 1971, Bottlesford was within Manningfo ...

References

External links

* * {{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire