West Ashton 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 authorit ...

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. It is about southeast of

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, on the River Biss in the west of the county. It is near the border with Somerset and lies southeast of Bath, 31 miles (49 km) southwest of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) southeas ...

, near the A350 between

Melksham Melksham () is a town on the River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Trowbridge and south of Chippenham. At the 2011 census, the Melksham built-up area had a population of 19,357, making it Wiltshire's fifth-largest settlement aft ...

and

Yarnbrook Yarnbrook is a large hamlet in Wiltshire, England, between the towns of Westbury and Trowbridge. Most of it lies in the civil parish of North Bradley, the rest in West Ashton. Most of the settlement's houses stand on the A350 road, which runs be ...

which bypasses Trowbridge. The parish includes the hamlets of Dunge (), East Town () and Rood Ashton (). West Ashton was anciently a

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

– alongside

Great Hinton Great Hinton is a small village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish about south of Melksham and north-east of Trowbridge in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the Hamlet (place), hamlets of Bleet and Cold Harbour. History The pa ...

and

Semington Semington is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village is about south of Melksham and about northeast of Trowbridge. The parish includes the hamlets of Little Marsh and Littleton.

– of the large Steeple Ashton parish, within the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

of Whorwellsdown. These tithings became separate civil parishes in the late 19th century. The village has a primary school, West Ashton Church of England Primary School, and a village hall.

Parish church

The Anglican Church of St John the Evangelist was built in 1846 to designs of T.H. Wyatt with funding from Walter Long. Its east window is a 1920 war memorial, which

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

states is the work of Henry Payne. In 1988 the church was designated as Grade II listed. It has the family crypt and monuments to the Long family of

Rood Ashton House Rood Ashton House was a country house in Wiltshire, England, standing in parkland northeast of the village of West Ashton, near Trowbridge. Built in 1808 for Richard Godolphin Long, it was later the home of the 1st Viscount Long (1854–1924). ...

. An ecclesiastical parish was created for the church at some point. From 1962 and again from 1964, the parish was held in plurality with Heywood. In 1982 the benefice was united with St Thomas, Trowbridge and today is part of a group ministry which also includes Holy Trinity Church, Trowbridge.

Rood Ashton House

was a country house that had belonged for two centuries to the Long family. In February 1930, the house and estate were put up for auction by Lord Long's executors, six years after his death. The estates were bought by a syndicate of his tenants, and in the 1960s the house was sold again. The new owner stripped the house of its assets, removing the lead roofing, internal panelling and fireplaces, and leaving it a roofless shell. The north wing is the only surviving part of the house, and is a Grade II

listed building 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 ...

To the north of the village on the A350 is the

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

known as Long's Park Castle, originally a lodge for Rood Ashton House. It is now used for holiday accommodation.

References

External links

West Ashton Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire Folly castles in England