Church of St Peter, Great Cheverell
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Great Cheverell is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, south of Devizes. In some sources the Latinized name of Cheverell Magna is used, especially when referring to the ecclesiastical parish. The parish includes Great Cheverell Hill, a biological
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
consisting of unimproved species-rich chalk grassland on the northern edge of
Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...
.


History

A large settlement of 111 households was recorded at ''Chevrel'' in the Domesday Book of 1086. There were 73 taxpayers in 1377. Population of the parish peaked around the time of the 1841 census, which recorded 295; then fell as agricultural employment decreased, reaching 174 at the 1951 census. Subsequent increases reflect housebuilding and employment at
HM Prison Erlestoke HM Prison Erlestoke is a Category C men's prison, to the east of the village of Erlestoke in Wiltshire, England. Erlestoke is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service, and is the only prison in Wiltshire. Erlestoke House The prison is built ar ...
. Two manors, Cheverell Burnell and Cheverell Hales, came into the ownership of the Hungerford family in the 15th century and were given as endowments to Heytesbury almshouse until 1863, when much of the parish was acquired by Simon Watson Taylor as an addition to the
Erlestoke Erlestoke is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, on the northern edge of Salisbury Plain. The village lies about east of Westbury and the same distance southwest of Devizes. Erlestoke Prison, the only prison in Wiltshire, is wit ...
estate bought by his father,
George Watson-Taylor George Watson-Taylor (1771 – 6 Jun 1841), of Saul's River, Jamaica, was the fourth son of George Watson. From 1810 he was the husband of Anna Susana Taylor, the daughter of Jamaican planter Sir John Taylor, 1st Baronet, and heiress of her brothe ...
. After the son's death in 1902 the holdings were divided and sold. Small streams meet in the northeast corner of the parish to form a tributary of the Semington Brook. A water-powered corn mill was recorded here in 1449; in the 16th and 17th centuries the mill was used for fulling. Edge-tools were made here in the early 19th century, and later a flour mill and an iron mill were in operation. A three-storey 19th century mill building is still standing. The Manor House, next to the church, dates from c. 1690 with enlargement and alteration in the 18th century. Southwest of the house is a Grade II* listed game larder and gazebo of similar date. Glebe House, a former farmhouse north of the church, is from the late 17th century and early 18th. The Stert and Westbury Railway was built through the parish by 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 ...
Company in 1900, providing routes from London to Weymouth or Taunton. There was a station called Lavington, just beyond the east boundary of the parish, about one mile by road from Great Cheverell village. The line remains open but the station was closed in 1967 and no local stations remain; the nearest are Pewsey and Westbury. To the south the parish extends onto higher ground at Cheverell Down, where the southernmost part has been part of the Imber Range military training area since 1933.


Parish church

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 St Peter is faced with limestone
ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
except for the oldest part, the chancel of
malmstone Greensand or green sand is a sand or sandstone which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called ''glauconies'' and co ...
and flint, which is probably from the 11th century. The nave and west tower are from the 14th century; in the 15th the south porch was added and the tower was raised, and gained an octagonal stair-tower.
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 1868 by W.H. Woodman of Reading included re-roofing of the chancel, rebuilding of the chancel arch and addition of a north vestry. The octagonal font is 13th century. The tower carries six bells: one of c. 1500 and three from the 18th 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 1962. Today the parish is part of the benefice of the Lavingtons, Cheverells & Easterton. The parish registers, now held at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, cover the years 1653-1987 (baptisms), 1654-1994 (marriages), and 1654-1987 (burials).


Chapels

A Baptist chapel was built on the High Street in 1837. Known as Little Zoar, it was used until 1907 when it became the Parish Room, continuing in the same role today as the Village Hall. A new chapel was built in red brick and stone in 1911, a short distance to the east; it was in use in 1973 but is now a private residence.


Schools

Under the Will of J. Townsend, a charity school was established at Great Cheverell in 1725 which provided for six poor children of the parish to be taught reading and the principles of the Church of England, free of charge. By 1834, the school also had about another forty "pay-scholars", for whom a charge was made. A new two-room school for 50-60 pupils was built in 1844 on a High Street plot provided by the rector, R. M. Atkinson, with assistance from the Townsend charity for running costs. This became a National School in 1845, a Board school in 1876 and a Church of England school in 1903. Attendance fell to 35 in 1955 but by 1973 had risen to 51. A larger school, now called Holy Trinity CE Primary Academy, was opened on the south side of the village in 1980 to serve Great Cheverell and nearby parishes including Little Cheverell, Erlestoke and Coulston.


Local government

Great Cheverell (or Cheverell Magna) is a civil parish with an elected parish council. It is in the area of the Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which is responsible for most significant local government functions.


Amenities

There are playing fields with a modern pavilion, used for community functions. The village has a pub with accommodation, the ''Bell Inn'', a late 18th-century building.


Notable residents

*
Jane Gregory Jane Gregory (née Jane Bredin 30 June 1959 – 1 April 2011), was an international equestrian. She first rode for her country in 1994, competing in the World Equestrian Games of that year, and competed for Great Britain in Dressage at the A ...
(1959–2011), Olympic
dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...
rider * Sir Charles Carter Chitham (1886–1972), policeman in British IndiaA. P. Baggs, D. A. Crowley, Ralph B. Pugh, Janet H. Stevenson and Margaret Tomlinson,
Parishes: Great Cheverell
, in ''A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 10'', ed. Elizabeth Crittall (London, 1975), pp. 41-53


References


Further reading

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External links

{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire