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

about southwest of

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-cent ...

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 ...

. It is near the northern edge of

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, but st ...

in central southern England.

History

The first recorded mention of Worton was in a document of 1173. Manor Farmhouse, on the south side of the High Street, began as a timber-framed building in the 16th century then was encased in brick in the 18th. The Grange, nearby to the west, is a 17th-century timber-frame building with later extensions. Worton (and neighbouring Marston) were tithings of

Potterne Potterne is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. The village is south of Devizes and lies on the A360 which links Devizes to Salisbury. The civil parish includes the hamlet of Potterne Wick. History There is evide ...

parish. In 1852, after Christ Church at Worton was consecrated, the tithings became a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

of Potterne. Worton and Marston later became separate civil parishes, formalised in 1894.

Geography

The Bulkington Brook forms the southwestern boundary of the parish. The village is elongated, set around its High Street. The hamlet of Cuckold's Green is at the east end of Worton village. Marston lies just to the south, and

to the east, where the

A360 road The A360 is an A road in Wiltshire, England, running from Devizes to Salisbury, through the villages of Potterne, West Lavington, Tilshead, and Shrewton, and passing near the Stonehenge ancient monument. Route The road is long and starts ...

passes.

Religious sites

Christ Church, 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 ...

, was built to the south of the village street in 1841 to designs of T.H. Wyatt, to serve both Worton and Marston. Built in ashlar blocks, with an octagonal stone bellcote, the church is

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 ...

. Pevsner described its windows as "oddly tall, slim". The benefice was united with

Poulshot Poulshot (pronounced Pole-shot) is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. Its nearest town is Devizes, about to the northeast. The parish includes the hamlet of Townsend. The A361 Trowbridge-Devizes road forms part of the northern b ...

in 1931 and today the parish is part of the Wellsprings Benefice, which also covers Potterne,

Bulkington Bulkington is a large village and former civil parish near Bedworth, in the Nuneaton and Bedworth district of Warwickshire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : In the 2011 census the ward had a population of 6,146 d ...

and

Seend Seend is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish about southeast of the market town of Melksham, Wiltshire, England. It lies about west of Devizes and northeast of the county town of Trowbridge. The parish includes the sub-vill ...

. There is a small

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

chapel at Marston. Worton had a larger chapel, built in 1849 to replace an earlier chapel; it closed in the 1990s.

Amenities

The village hall serves Worton and Marston. Worton has a

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

, the Rose and Crown, which is a Grade II listed 17th-century building. Five Lanes Primary School has two sites, with younger children at Potterne and older children at Worton. The school at Worton was built in 1965 and replaced a school which began as a Sunday school in 1844.

References

External links

Worton community website
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire