Atworth 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 ...

in west

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. The village is on the

A365 road List of A roads in zone 3 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island ...

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 Box, about northwest of Melksham and northeast of

Bradford on Avon Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon or Bradford upon Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 9,402 at the 2011 census. The town's canal, historic buildings, ...

. The hamlet of Purlpit lies east of Atworth village, and in the south of the parish are the small village of

Great Chalfield Great Chalfield, also sometimes called by its Latin name of Chalfield Magna, formerly East Chalfield and anciently Much Chaldefield, is a small village and former civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, now part of Atworth parish. Its nearest to ...

and the hamlet of Little Chalfield. The

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

from Silchester to Bath forms the northern boundary of the parish, and to the south of it is the settlement of Beardwell.

History

The present-day civil parish of Atworth was created in 1884 from four former parishes or

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 ...

Atworth

Atworth was a tithing in the northeast of the large ancient parish of

. This land forms the northern half of the modern parish, with the

Roman road from Silchester to Bath The Roman road from Silchester to Bath connected Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) with Aquae Sulis (Bath) via Spinae ( Speen), Cunetio (near Marlborough) and Verlucio (near Sandy Lane). The road was a significant route for east–west travel and ...

as its northern boundary. A

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

(excavated in 1937 and 1971) was a short distance northwest of the present village of Atworth. Poplar Farmhouse is from the 15th century and Manor Farmhouse is from the early 18th century. At Church Farm the farmhouse is late 18th century, and a seven-bay barn which is probably 16th-century is

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 I ...

. A clock tower was erected at the side of the Bath Road in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria's

golden jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু� ...

, and later served as the parish war memorial.

Great Chalfield

(or East Chalfield), to the south of Atworth, was a separate parish until 1884.

Great Chalfield Manor Great Chalfield Manor is an English country house at Great Chalfield, about northeast of the town of Bradford on Avon in the west of the county of Wiltshire. History Pevsner describes Great Chalfield as "one of the most perfect examples of t ...

was built in the mid-15th century and is Grade I listed; nearby is a barn which is partly 17th-century and also Grade I listed.

Little Chalfield

Little Chalfield (or West Chalfield) was a separate manor and, in the 14th and 15th centuries, a separate parish. There was a church or chapel, recorded in conveyances up to 1701, but then lost without trace. Little Chalfield became an

extra-parochial area In England and Wales, an extra-parochial area, extra-parochial place or extra-parochial district was a geographically defined area considered to be outside any ecclesiastical or civil parish. Anomalies in the parochial system meant they had no ch ...

until the civil parish of Little Chalfield with Cottles was created in 1857. Little Chalfield Manor is from the early 19th century.

Cottles

Cottles (or Atworth Cottles) was part of the ancient parish of Bradford, then became extra-parochial until 1857. There is no present-day settlement but the name continues in Cottles Wood and Cottles House, a 16th-century country house in limestone ashlar, occupied since 1939 by

Stonar School Stonar School, founded in 1895, is a non-denominational UK independent school, independent day and boarding school, at Cottles Park, near Atworth, Wiltshire, Atworth, Wiltshire, south-west England. The school occupies 80 acres of parkland and ga ...

Geography

The South Brook, a small tributary of the

Bristol Avon The River Avon is a river in the south west of England. To distinguish it from a number of other rivers of the same name, it is often called the Bristol Avon. The name 'Avon' is a cognate of the Welsh word , meaning 'river'. The Avon ...

, passes close to Atworth and through Purlpit. Chalfield Brook, another tributary, passes both Chalfields and forms part of the southern boundary of the parish. The

Neston Park __NOTOC__ Neston Park is an English country house and estate in the village of Neston, some 2 miles (3 km) south of Corsham, Wiltshire. The name of the village of Neston is derived from the name of the house. The present house dates fr ...

estate extends south into Atworth parish.

Religious sites

The

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

of St Michael and All Angels is at the west edge of the village, where a church has stood since the 11th century. The church was rebuilt in 1451 but only the tower survives, next to an 1832 building by H.E. Goodridge, who around the same time designed the enlargement of Cottles House.

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 ...

was unimpressed with the newer church: "The exterior has merits, the interior hardly". The three bells in the tower were cast in c.1350, 1606 and 1786; at present they are unringable. The church is Grade II* listed, and several monuments in the churchyard are Grade II listed. Atworth church, with

South Wraxall South Wraxall is a village and a civil parish in Wiltshire, England, north of Bradford on Avon. The village is to the east of the B3109 road from Bradford on Avon to Corsham. The parish includes the village of Lower Wraxall, to the south of So ...

annexed, was anciently 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 It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel of ease (chapel) which was the commu ...

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

; it became a

perpetual curacy Perpetual curate was a class of resident parish priest or incumbent curate within the United Church of England and Ireland (name of the combined Anglican churches of England and Ireland from 1800 to 1871). The term is found in common use mainly du ...

in 1847. In 1962, part of the area of the benefice of Atworth with South Wraxall was transferred to

Monkton Farleigh Monkton Farleigh is a village and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, on high ground northwest of Bradford-on-Avon, and a similar distance east of the city of Bath. The parish includes the hamlets of Farleigh Wick and Pinckney Green. In t ...

Shaw Shaw may refer to: Places Australia *Shaw, Queensland Canada * Shaw Street, a street in Toronto England *Shaw, Berkshire, a village * Shaw, Greater Manchester, a location in the parish of Shaw and Crompton * Shaw, Swindon, a suburb of Swindon ...

was added to the benefice in 1972, and today the church is part of the benefice of Atworth with Shaw and Whitley, alongside Christ Church at Shaw. Atworth Independent Chapel was built in the 1790s. It is affiliated to the

Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) is a network of 639 independent, evangelical churches mainly in the United Kingdom that preach an evangelical faith. History The FIEC was formed in 1922 under the name ''A Fellowship ...

. A Baptist church, Ebenezer Church, was opened at Atworth in 1864 and closed in 1979. All Saints church at

is Grade I listed and dates from the 14th century. Today it is linked to the churches at

Broughton Gifford Broughton Gifford is a village and civil parish about west of Melksham in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Norrington Common and The Common. History Formerly much of Broughton Gifford and the surrounding area was covered ...

and

Holt Holt or holte may refer to: Natural world *Holt (den), an otter den * Holt, an area of woodland Places Australia * Holt, Australian Capital Territory * Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...

Amenities

Atworth has a primary school called Churchfields, The Village School (not to be confused with Churchfields Academy, Swindon). The school building dates from 1828; until 1953 the school took pupils of all ages. Following the closure in 2006 of small schools at

and

, the school has two sites: Atworth and Monkton Farleigh.

at Cottles Park is an

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British En ...

for

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: ** Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where ho ...

and day pupils of all ages. Atworth has a

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 ...

, the White Hart.

Landmarks

At least three village pumps survive.

Freedom of the Parish

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Parish of Atworth.

Individuals

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

David Webb: 20 April 2014.

References

External links

*
Explore Atworth
Bradford on Avon Museum
Atworth village website
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire