Burbage 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 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 Salisbu ...

, Wiltshire, England. It is about south of Marlborough and west of Newbury. The parish includes the hamlets of Durley, Eastcourt, Marr Green, Ram Alley, Stibb Green, The Warren (which is close to Tottenham House), and Westcourt.

Local government

Burbage is a civil parish with an elected 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 ...

. Both councils are responsible for different aspects of local government. The parish is part of the 'Burbage and the Bedwyns'

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

. The ward starts in the north at

Little Bedwyn Little Bedwyn (also spelt Little Bedwin, and sometimes called Bedwyn Parva) is a village and civil parish on the River Dun in Wiltshire, England, about south-west of the market town of Hungerford in neighbouring Berkshire. The parish inclu ...

, stretches to

Great Bedwyn Great Bedwyn is a village and civil parish in east Wiltshire, England. The village is on the River Dun about southwest of Hungerford, southeast of Swindon and southeast of Marlborough. The Kennet and Avon Canal and the Reading to Taun ...

and Shalbourne then extends west to Grafton and Burbage. The population of the ward taken at the 2011 census was 4,829.

Geography

Burbage stands on a watershed at the eastern end of the Vale of Pewsey, with streams to the east draining to the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

via the Dun and

Kennet Kennet may refer to: Places in the United Kingdom *Kennet, Clackmannanshire, Scotland People *Baron Kennet, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom * D. Mark Kennet (born 1957), American economist *Josh Kennet (born 1987), English-Israel ...

; to the south draining to the Salisbury Avon via the River Bourne; and to the north and west direct to the Avon. The village High Street was the main north–south road from Marlborough to

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andov ...

, now the A346 primary route, until a bypass was built to the west in 1991. A more minor route from

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 ...

Hungerford Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, northeast of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the ...

and the M4 (designated A338 to the east and B3087 to the west) passes to the south of the village. Burbage no longer has a station on the nearby

Reading to Taunton line Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spellin ...

, the nearest stations being at

(which has commuter services to London) and . Burbage lies in the heart of the

North Wessex Downs The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The name ''North Wessex Downs'' is not a traditional one, the area covered being better kn ...

, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

History

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 cen ...

, completed in 1810, crosses the parish just north of the village, where it passes through the Bruce Tunnel. Burbage Wharf was further west, where the canal passes under the present-day A346. The

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

Berks and Hants Extension Railway Berks may refer to: Places * Berkshire, England * Berks, Nebraska, United States * Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Other uses * ''Berks'' (TV series), Filipino television series * Berks station, a SEPTA station in Philadelphia, Pennsy ...

from to was built close to the canal in the 1860s, eventually becoming part of the to section of the main line from in 1906. The GWR built north of the village, above the canal tunnel;

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

ways closed it in 1966 but the line remains in use. Until 1947 there was also a goods-only station at Burbage Wharf. The

Midland and South Western Junction Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' tr ...

opened from to in 1882, the latter station being situated in nearby West Grafton. The northern section of the M&SWJR line from

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon unitary authority area had a population ...

to had opened in 1881, and this was joined to the southern section from 1883 by using the Great Western Railway's branch between Savernake and . In 1898 the M&SWJR got its own route between Marlborough and Grafton and a new station opened at . The M&SWJR had therefore become a route between and

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

and the Midlands. British Railways closed it in 1961. The population of Burbage peaked at around 1600 with the building of the railway in 1860, declining to a low point of 1000 a century later. It has since increased steadily, regaining its 1860s level in the 21st century. The first school in the village was built at Eastcourt in 1806, rebuilt in 1856 and supplemented by a separate building for younger children in 1861. This school was taken over by the county council around 1906, and educated children of all ages until Marlborough secondary school opened in 1946. The 19th-century buildings (designated Grade II listed in 1988) were closed in 1989 upon the opening of the new school, and became a private residence.

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 All Saints was rebuilt in 1854 by T.H. Wyatt, then extended with a south aisle in 1876. The original church was from the 12th century and was rebuilt in the 14th and 15th, when the tower was added; the porch was added in the 16th. The present church retains only the tower and porch of the earlier building. The church is now part of the Savernake team ministry. A small Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built at Eastcourt in 1822, and replaced by a larger building on the High Street in 1906. This closed in 1996 and is now a private house.

Amenities

Burbage Primary School serves the village and surrounding area. The school was built in 1989 on a centrally-located site, between the High Street and Eastcourt. Burbage has a village hall and a cricket club, Burbage and Easton Royal CC, who play in the Wiltshire division of the

West of England Premier League The West of England Premier League (WEPL) is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in the West of England and is a designated ECB Premier League. Since its inception in 1999, the most successful club has been Bath, having ...

. There is one pub: the ''White Hart'', on the High Street in the centre of the village.

References

External links

Burbage at Wiltshire Community HistoryBurbage Parish CouncilVillage website
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire