Bradenstoke is a village in

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, lying to the north of the former

RAF Lyneham Royal Air Force Lyneham otherwise known as RAF Lyneham was a Royal Air Force station located northeast of Chippenham, Wiltshire, and southwest of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The station was the home of all the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transpor ...

airbase and northwest of Lyneham. Originally lying within Braydon Forest, the "stoke" means "settlement". Largely consisting of a long and narrow main street, the village has a church, one chapel (it used to have two chapels but the Methodist Chapel has been converted into a dwelling), a village hall and 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 Post Office closed in 2008.

History

Bradenstoke is the oldest community in the present-day parish, with 42 households recorded at ''Stoche'' in

Domesday Book 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 ...

. In 1866, the ecclesiastical parish of Bradenstoke-cum-Clack was created for the newly built church. The name Bradenstoke was revived in the mid-twentieth century and is now used exclusively. A medieval limestone village cross stands at the side of the road near the church, having been moved from the middle of the road in the 20th century. Now headless, its base serves as a war memorial. An independent congregation built a chapel in the village in 1777, in brick with stone quoins and window dressings, which was later named Providence Chapel and used by

Particular Baptist Reformed Baptists (sometimes known as Particular Baptists or Calvinistic Baptists) are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation). The first Calvinist Baptist church was formed in the 1630s. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith w ...

s. In 2018 the chapel continues in use. The church of St Mary the Virgin was built in 1866 at the expense of Gabriel Goldney to designs of C.F. Hansom, as 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 communi ...

of the parish church at Lyneham. In the same year an ecclesiastical parish called Bradenstoke-cum-Clack was created for the new church, from parts of the parishes of Lyneham and

Christian Malford Christian Malford is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. The village lies about northeast of the town of Chippenham. The Bristol Avon forms most of the northern and eastern boundaries of the parish. The hamlets of Tho ...

. Since 1954 the parish has been Lyneham with Bradenstoke.

Local government

The civil parish elects a parish council called Lyneham and Bradenstoke Parish Council. The parish 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.

Priory

The former Bradenstoke Priory was founded in 1142 by Walter D’Evereaux,

sheriff of Wiltshire This is a list of the Sheriffs and (after 1 April 1974) High Sheriffs of Wiltshire. Until the 14th century, the shrievalty was held '' ex officio'' by the castellans of Old Sarum Castle. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Go ...

, for the

Augustinians Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...

. Having fallen into disrepair after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it was dismantled in 1930 to provide building material for the renovation of

St Donat's Castle St Donat's Castle ( cy, Castell Sain Dunwyd), St Donats, Wales, is a Middle Ages, medieval castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, about to the west of Cardiff, and about to the west of Llantwit Major. Positioned on cliffs overlooking the Bristol Ch ...

in Wales, which had been bought by

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

. Most of the priory, including the roof, was unused and its whereabouts is now unknown. BradenstokeUndercroft

A 15th-century timber-framed building in Bradenstoke village is reputedly a guesthouse for the priory; it was converted to a house in the 16th century and divided into three cottages in the 18th, and is now

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 Irel ...

. Bradenstoke Abbey Farmhouse carries a date of 1780 and has some reused stonework from the priory.

Clack Mount

Close to the priory are earthworks known as Clack Mount ("clack" meaning "hill"). The site may pre-date the priory, and has ditches and ponds which were probably fishponds for the priory. A mound – 19m in diameter and 1.5m high – has been described as a

motte-and-bailey castle A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

although its early history is uncertain.

Sources

References

External links

Lyneham and Bradenstoke Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire