Church of St Mary and St Ethelbert, Luckington
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Luckington is a village and civil parish in the southern Cotswolds, in north-west Wiltshire, England, about west of Malmesbury. The village is on the B4040 road linking Malmesbury and
Old Sodbury Old Sodbury is a small village and former civil parish in the valley of the River Frome just below and to the west of the Cotswold escarpment and to the east of Chipping Sodbury and Yate, now in the parish of Sodbury, in the South Gloucestershi ...
. The parish is on the county border with Gloucestershire and includes the village of Alderton and the hamlet of Brook End.


Geography

The
Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...
are designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) which means it is recognised as containing some of Britain's finest countryside. As such it is protected as a special landscape of national importance. The area covers 790 square miles, of which some 80% is farmland. The region is delineated by the belt of rich limestone – the source of building materials for cottages, fine buildings and churches. The limestone
Cotswold stone The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...
in the northern Cotswolds is a rich honey coloured brown which gradually grades creamier towards the south at Luckington.
Badminton House Badminton House is a large country house and Grade I Listed Building in Badminton, Gloucestershire, England, which has been the principal seat of the Dukes of Beaufort since the late 17th century. The house, which has given its name to th ...
is just across the county border, about southwest of Luckington village. Parkland of the Badminton estate extends a short distance into Luckington parish. In a valley to the south of the village, seasonal springs are the source of the Bristol Avon. The Avon, from Luckington, passes through Malmesbury and
Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...
towards Bath and Bristol. The 17th-century writer John Aubrey was probably referring to one of these springs when he wrote: "In this village is a fine spring called Hancock's-well… It cures the itch and Scabbe; it hath done much good to the eies," and again the editor Jackson adds: "Hancock's well is still resorted to for the cure of sick dogs, bad legs and the like". J H P Pafford et al. tell us that at the time of writing the well still had the reputation of being good for the eyes. Hancock's well still flows strongly in its stone culvert down to the river close by.


History

Evidence of Neolithic settlement includes Giant's Cave, a chambered long barrow in the west of the parish. The
Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis (Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bath), Corini ...
Roman road forms part of the parish boundary in the southeast. Five roads meet at Luckington, principally the former Oxford-Bristol road via Malmesbury and Sherston. The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded two manors with 21 households at ''Lochintone'' and two manors with 15 households at ''Aldritone''. From 1141 until the 14th century, the manor of Luckington was held by the Earls of Hereford; from the 17th century until the early 19th it was owned by a Fitzherbert family, who enlarged Luckington Court c.1700. Alderton was acquired by the Montagu family of Lackham, then bought in 1827 by Joseph Neeld. When the estate was sold in 1966, most was bought by the
Duke of Beaufort Duke of Beaufort (), a title in the Peerage of England, was created by Charles II in 1682 for Henry Somerset, 3rd Marquess of Worcester, a descendant of Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, legitimised son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of So ...
. A school was built in Alderton at Joseph Neeld's expense in 1844, some materials coming from the renovation of St Giles' church. In 1858 there were 20–30 children. The school closed in 1923, with pupils transferred to Luckington. A National School was built in Luckington in 1874, with two classrooms. This school continues as Luckington Community School. A
Primitive Methodist The Primitive Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination with the holiness movement. It began in England in the early 19th century, with the influence of American evangelist Lorenzo Dow (1777–1834). In the United States, the Primiti ...
chapel was built in Luckington in 1903 in " tin tabernacle" style, and today is part of the North Wiltshire circuit. The Badminton railway line was opened across the parish in 1903, running just south of Alderton where it passes through the
Alderton Tunnel The Alderton Tunnel sits on the South Wales Main Line The South Wales Main Line ( cy, Prif Linell De Cymru), originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is ...
. The track continues in use as part of the South Wales Main Line, although the local stations – Hullavington was closed in 1965, and Badminton closed in 1968.


Parish church

The parish church of St Mary and St Ethelbert dates from c. 1200; the surviving parts from that date include a three-bay arcade and a two-bay arcade to the southeast chapel, both much restored. The lower stages of the tower are from the same century. The tower was completed in the 15th century, and the windows and roof of the nave and aisle are from the same period.
Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...
in 1872 by A.W. Blomfield included the rebuilding of the chancel and southeast chapel. The tower has four bells: one dated c. 1520 and the others from the 17th century. The church was designated as
Grade I 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 ...
in 1959. The parish is now one of eight served by the Gauzebrook group ministry.


Luckington Court

Luckington Court, close to the parish church, dates from the 16th century. The house has been Grade II* listed building since December 1952. The listing states that it was built ca. 1700 "for H. Fitzherbert, on C16 or earlier core"; the family owned it until the early 1800s. A dovecote may be of the same period. Both the interiors and exterior were used to represent Longbourn, the Bennet family home, in the BBC's 1995 TV series ''
Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...
''. An earlier manor on the same site was used by King Harold II as a hunting box, prior to 1066. Some time before the current house was built, there was another house on the site, called Peach House. The current house was enlarged and remodelled in 1921 when it was owned by the Johnson-Ferguson family. The owner in 1995 and in 2013 was Angela Horn, according to published reports. In addition to the seven-bedroom house with six reception rooms, the property also includes a stable and outbuildings, five cottages and farm buildings.


Other listed buildings

Nearly half the buildings in the parish are Grade II listed. These include the Forge House (c.1700), Manor Farmhouse in Alderton (1676), Witches Cottage (17th century), North End House (1655 and c.1800), Luckington Manor (late 17th), and the Post Office Stores (17th and 18th century). There is also a small village lock-up from the 18th century, in ashlar with a stepped ashlar roof.


Village life

Luckington has a community school with fewer than fifty pupils taught by three full-time teachers and two teaching assistants. There is a children's playground located on Church Road near the Green, run as a charitable organisation. There are good playing fields (one soccer pitch) and a village hall, each run by committees. The farms which surround Luckington are both dairy and arable; some are owned by the Badminton Estate. The
Duke of Beaufort's Hunt The Duke of Beaufort's Hunt, also called the Beaufort and Beaufort Hunt, is one of the oldest and largest of the fox hunting packs in England.(Sohelmay) History Hunting with hounds in the area dates back to 1640, primarily deer but also foxes, ...
and the proximity of Badminton have a bearing on village culture. Luckington holds its own fête each year, usually early in July. The Old Royal Ship Inn is a popular village pub with walkers and cyclists, and the Beaufort Hunt meets there occasionally.


Notable people

* Sir Stewart Menzies (1890–1968) was Chief of MI6 ( SIS) during and after the Second World War, and on whom
Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...
based "M" of James Bond fame. In the 1920s he acquired Bridges Court, an 18th-century Grade II-listed Cotswold stone farmhouse, set in 30 acres adjoining the Badminton Estate. As a Major-General, he was President of the Luckington branch of the
British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in ne ...
and took the march-past of the Army Cadet Force at a ceremony in April 1948. After the war he retired and died in London in 1968. Now owned by Lady Melville, the 18th.c. Grade II Bridges Court is now a bed & breakfast hotel. * Guy N Vansittart (1893–1989), younger brother of diplomat Robert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart, was a director of
General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
Ltd on the continent and managed their HQ in London from 1938. He lived at Luckington Court in the 1940s, and was recruited into "Z” Network and the
SOE SOE may refer to: Organizations * State-owned enterprise * Special Operations Executive, a British World War II clandestine sabotage and resistance organisation ** Special Operations Executive in the Netherlands, or Englandspiel * Society of Opera ...
, headed by
Claude Dansey Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Claude Edward Marjoribanks Dansey, KCMG (10 September 1876 – 11 June 1947), also known as Colonel Z, Haywood, Uncle Claude, and codenamed Z, was the assistant chief of the Secret Intelligence Service known as ACSS, of th ...
. The Z organisation was supposed to operate independently of British embassies and thus avoid the attention of foreign internal security agencies. He moved to London post-war, continuing his career with General Motors and died in 1989. * Captain F. W. Hartman (1884–1942), together with his wife Dorothy (the former Lady Dalrymple), lived in Luckington Manor between 1939 and 1952. Dorothy also owned Home Farm Pinkney and Cowage Farm Foxley around the same time.
Bremilham Bremilham, also known as Cowage or Cowich, is a small settlement and former civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is near the hamlet of Foxley in the parish of Norton. The nearest town is Malmesbury, about away to the north east. The place-na ...
Church on Cowage Farm, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire, holds the Guinness World Record as the smallest "in service" church in the country. They were directors of Lendrum & Hartman Limited, London, sole concessionaires of imported
Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...
and
Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...
cars from North America. They supplied King Edward VIII with a custom-built Buick in 1936, which was transported with him by warship to France on his abdication. Captain Hartman died in September 1942. They were close business friends of Guy Vansittart. His widow continued running the company, and in 1953 moved to London and Stumblehole Farm in Surrey. One of the last house guests at Luckington Manor was
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
* Captain Robert Treeck (1899–?), a Baron and German agent, born in
Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
, who escaped during the October Revolution. He was possibly a member of the pre-war dissident group Schwarze Kapelle. Together with his Chilean wife, Baroness Violetta Schroeders (1920–?), he leased Luckington Manor in 1936. The Manor is immediately adjacent to Menzies' house, Bridges Court. He joined the
Duke of Beaufort's Hunt The Duke of Beaufort's Hunt, also called the Beaufort and Beaufort Hunt, is one of the oldest and largest of the fox hunting packs in England.(Sohelmay) History Hunting with hounds in the area dates back to 1640, primarily deer but also foxes, ...
, to which Menzies already belonged, and paid a handsome £150 into the hunt's funds for the 1937–1938 season. Treeck relinquished the lease at the end of the 1938–39 hunt season, and Captain Hartman (see above) took over the lease. Treeck lived a parallel life, as his main country residence was
Guilsborough House Guilsborough House is a country house in Guilsborough near Northampton, England. It is a Grade II listed building. History The house was built in 1632 and was extended in the 18th century and the 19th century. In the 19th century it came into the ...
in Northamptonshire, also leased, where he entertained lavishly and rode with the Pytchley Hunt. In September 1939, Treeck vanished, and Guilsborough and its contents were placed under the control of the Custodian of Enemy Property. * Actor John Thaw (1942–2002) and his second wife, actress
Sheila Hancock Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock (born 22 February 1933) is an English actress, singer, and author. Hancock trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before starting her career in repertory theatre. Hancock went on to perform in plays and musica ...
, bought the 17th-century Brook House in Church Road in 1990, "...or Lucky, as we called it, a Wiltshire village. John loved it, he hid away in it, curling up and shutting the world out." They lived there on a semi-permanent basis until Thaw's death. Hancock writes in her book, ''My life with John Thaw'': "Today at the Post Office two photographers started snapping at us. John was feeling peaky and just sighed but I was like a wild animal. Luckington has never seen such an unseemly display."The Two of Us: My Life with John Thaw, Sheila Hancock, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005 The house was sold in 2002 after Thaw's death. *
Basil Harwood Basil Harwood (11 April 1859 – 3 April 1949) was an organist and composer in the English church music tradition, best known today for his liturgical works, particularly his anthem ''O How Glorious is the Kingdom'' (1898) and his ''Service in ...
(1859–1949), English organist and composer, born in Gloucestershire, was inspired by Luckington when writing the hymn tune of that name, often used for ''Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King! The heavens are not too high, his praise may thither fly''. The tune features on the album "100 Best Hymns" by the York Minster Choir and is regularly aired on the BBC television programme ''
Songs of Praise ''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK. The series was first broadcast in October 1961. On that occasion, the venue was the Ta ...
''.


Books and further reading

*''Wiltshire Villages'' (The Village series), Brian J. Woodruffe, Robert Hale Ltd, 1982, / 0-7091-9745-4 *''Aubrey's Natural History of Wiltshire'', John Aubrey, David and Charles Reprints, 1969, *''Wiltshire: Cradle of our Civilisation'', Arthur Mee, Hodder and Stoughton, 1939 *''The Dovecots and Pigeon Lofts of Wiltshire'', John and Pamela McCann, Hobnob Press, 2011, *''The
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales The ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' is a substantial topographical dictionary first published between 1870 and 1872, edited by the Reverend John Marius Wilson. It contains a detailed description of England and Wales. Its six volumes h ...
embracing recent changes in counties dioceses parishes and boroughs general statistics postal arrangements railway systems &c. and forming a complete description of the country'', John M. Wilson, 1870, * Collectanea, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, Volume XII; Williams, N J (editor), Records Branch, Devizes, 1956 *''The Two of Us: My Life with John Thaw'',
Sheila Hancock Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock (born 22 February 1933) is an English actress, singer, and author. Hancock trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before starting her career in repertory theatre. Hancock went on to perform in plays and musica ...
, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005, *''Just Me'', Sheila Hancock, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2009 *''C: The Secret Life of Sir Stewart Menzies, Spymaster to Winston Churchill'', Anthony Cave Brown, Macmillan, 1987 *''The Unseen War in Europe: Espionage and Conspiracy in the Second World War'', John H. Waller, I B Tauis & Co., London 1996 *''Hitler's Spy Chief'', Richard Bassett, Orion Publishing 2005 *''Maud Coleno's Daughter: The life of Dorothy Hartman, 1898–1957'', John Dann, Matador/Troubador Leics. 2017, *''The True Story of the Murder of Harry Neal'', Bill Reed, Althelstan Museum, Malmesbury, 2018


References


External links

* {{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire Cotswolds