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Purton is a large village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about northwest of the centre of
Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, 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 un ...
. The parish includes the village of
Purton Stoke Purton Stoke is a small village in north Wiltshire, England, within the civil parish of Purton. The village is located along a side road off the Purton to Cricklade road, approximately north of Purton village. A small country lane gives acces ...
and the hamlets of Bentham,
Hayes Knoll Hayes Knoll is a hamlet between Swindon and Cricklade in north Wiltshire, England. It is in the civil parish of Purton, about west of the village of Purton Stoke and south of Cricklade. The North Wilts Canal, which linked the Wilts & Berks Can ...
, Purton Common, Restrop, The Fox and
Widham Widham is a hamlet now encompassed within the village and parish of Purton, Wiltshire, England. Originally, Widham consisted of a few houses north of Purton along the Cricklade road, parts of Witts Lane, and the toll house at Collins Lane, with ...
. The River Key, a tributary of the Thames, crosses the parish near Purton Stoke. The village is a linear settlement along the old road between the historic market towns of Cricklade, to the north, and Royal Wootton Bassett, to the south. It is now on a minor road, from junction 16 of the
M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...
. The village is on the brow of a hill, with views across to Cricklade and the Thames floodplain. Nearby, Bradon Forest stretches out to Minety in the west. 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
Saint Mary the Virgin Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
is unusual in having two towers, one with a spire.


History

The toponym Purton is derived from the
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''pirige'' for "pear" and ''tun'' for "enclosure" or "homestead".


Early history

Ringsbury Camp Ringsbury Camp is an Iron Age hill fort, thought to date from approximately the year 50 BC, in the civil parish of Purton in Wiltshire, England. The site is a scheduled monument. Structure Ringsbury is a multivallate fort, as it has a double ...
has evidence of settlement during the Neolithic period but is considered to be an Iron Age hill fort dating from about 50 BC. There is a suggestion that the remains of a Roman villa lie under the soil at Pavenhill, on the Braydon side of Purton. At the Fox on the east side of the village, grave goods and bodies from a pagan Saxon cemetery have been excavated. The earliest known written record of Purton dates from AD 796 when the Saxon King
Ecgfrith of Mercia Ecgfrith was king of Mercia from 29 July to December 796. He was the son of Offa, one of the most powerful kings of Mercia, and Cynethryth, his wife. In 787, Ecgfrith was consecrated king, the first known consecration of an English king, probab ...
gave 35 hides from Purton to the Benedictine Malmesbury Abbey. The Abbot of Malmesbury continued to be the chief landlord of Purton throughout Saxon and
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
times, suggesting that an earlier church stood at Purton. The ancient royal hunting forest of Bradon stretches out to Minety in the west. In ancient times it encompassed about 30,000 acres.


Civil War

It is thought a battle took place during the English Civil War in the Restrop area. A cannonball was discovered in the area and several place names refer to a battle, including the alternative name of Restrop Road, Red Street (which may signify the road was covered in blood) and Battlewell. A mile away are Battle Lake in Braydon Wood, and Battlelake Farm.


19th century

The
Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway The Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway was a railway company intended to link Cheltenham, Gloucester and Swindon, in England. It was authorised in 1836 but it found it very hard to raise money for the construction, and it opened only a p ...
which runs south-east to north-west through the parish was opened in 1841, and was absorbed 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 ...
in 1843. Purton station opened in 1841 to the north of the village, in the hamlet of
Widham Widham is a hamlet now encompassed within the village and parish of Purton, Wiltshire, England. Originally, Widham consisted of a few houses north of Purton along the Cricklade road, parts of Witts Lane, and the toll house at Collins Lane, with ...
. The station closed in 1963 but the line remains open. The tithing of
Braydon Braydon is a civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, about northwest of Swindon, between Purton and Minety. A thinly-populated farming area with no settlements apart from the farms, it is best known for sharing its name with Braydon Forest. T ...
, in the west of the parish, became a separate civil parish in 1866.


Second World War

There are a number of concrete pillboxes in the parish, which were part of the defences of Southern England during the Second World War. They form part of the GHQ Line Red, along which an anti-tank trench also ran, between Ballards Ash near Royal Wootton Bassett and the River Ray near
Blunsdon railway station Blunsdon railway station is a former railway station, now operating as a heritage railway station. It was built to serve the village of Blunsdon, north of Swindon in Wiltshire, England, although located within the boundaries of Purton. Histor ...
.
RAF Blakehill Farm Royal Air Force Blakehill Farm or more simply RAF Blakehill Farm is a former Royal Air Force station southwest of Cricklade in Wiltshire, England, operational between 1944 and 1952. History The station was originally allocated to the United S ...
, north of Purton Stoke, was a
RAF Transport Command RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 1967. ...
station that operated from 1944 until 1946. United States troops were stationed in Braydon Wood, and attended dances at the Angel Hotel. Anti-tank devices (chains across the road, set in concrete blocks) were installed on the parish boundary across Tadpole Bridge that spans the River Ray. The Cenotaph on Purton High Street is a memorial to those who died in both world wars.


Local studies

A study of the interconnections of people within the parish, based on the registers and other historical evidence, since the earliest recorded period, is being prepared (2006) under the working title, ''The Plenteous Pear Tree: Pedigrees and Progress of Purton's People Past and Present, a parish
prosopography Prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a group of people, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable. Research subjects are analysed by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line an ...
of Purton, Wiltshire, with ramifications elsewhere in North Wilts. and beyond'', under the auspices of Richard Carruthers-Żurowski, a Canadian-based, Oxford-trained historian and genealogist. Volume 18 of the Wiltshire Victoria County History, published in 2011, covers Purton.


Religious sites

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 Mary the Virgin appears at one time to have been dedicated to
Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...
. The building is from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries and was
restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard ...
by William Butterfield in 1872. In 1955 it 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 ...
. There was a
Friends' meeting house A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), where meeting for worship is usually held. Typically, Friends meeting houses are simple and resemble local residential buildings. Steeples, spires, and ...
at Purton Stoke during the late 17th century and early 18th century. There was a Congregational chapel, licensed in 1829, where the Scout Hut is now in Purton High Street. Congregational use ceased in the 1920s and it was demolished in 1969. There were two Methodist chapels in Purton village. The
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 at Upper Square in 1856 and enlarged in 1893; the Wesleyan Methodist chapel at Play Close was built in 1882, replacing a smaller chapel from the 1870s. By 1969, after declines in numbers, the two congregations united. The Play Close chapel was renovated and reopened in 1973 as Purton Methodist Church, then the Upper Square chapel was sold for residential use. There was a Methodist church opposite Dairy Farm in 1832 at Purton Stoke. It was demolished in 1868 and rebuilt in Pond Lane. This building was sold in 2011 and converted for residential use.


Governance

An
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 t ...
in the same name exists, covering the parishes of Purton and
Braydon Braydon is a civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, about northwest of Swindon, between Purton and Minety. A thinly-populated farming area with no settlements apart from the farms, it is best known for sharing its name with Braydon Forest. T ...
. The population of the ward taken at the 2011 census was 4,271.


Education

There are two schools in Purton: * St Mary's Church of England Primary School is housed in a modern building opened in 2012, funded by the government's Primary Capital Programme and built on the site of the former junior school. Previously the school was split between two sites, with infants taught in the original Victorian building which opened in 1861 while juniors were in nearby buildings which opened in the early 1970s, along with the school's swimming pool. * Bradon Forest School is the secondary school. It was built in 1962 and caters for pupils from Purton parish,
Lydiard Millicent Lydiard Millicent is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about west of the centre of Swindon. The parish contains the hamlets of Lydiard Green, Lydiard Plain, Greatfield and Green Hill; in the northeast the parish extends to Com ...
, Cricklade, Ashton Keynes and West Swindon. The school has no sixth form, so students go on to either Royal Wootton Bassett Academy,
Cirencester College Cirencester College is a sixth form college based in the town of Cirencester in the South Cotswolds. It is a specialist sixth form provider serving communities in Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire. Cirencester Col ...
,
Swindon College Swindon College is a further education college in Swindon, England. Its campus is at North Star, just north of the town centre. The college offers HNC/Ds and Foundation Degrees, through to B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ...
or New College,
Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, 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 un ...
. Until 1978,
Purton Stoke Purton Stoke is a small village in north Wiltshire, England, within the civil parish of Purton. The village is located along a side road off the Purton to Cricklade road, approximately north of Purton village. A small country lane gives acces ...
had its own primary school, on the Purton to Cricklade road. It opened in 1894 and at its peak had 100 pupils. However, numbers dropped continually from the 1930s when older pupils were educated in Purton, until there were only around 30 pupils left in the 1970s. The school closed in 1978. The building is now used for the Jubilee Gardens Project, a charity which provides education and training for adults with learning difficulties.


Amenities

Village amenities include several shops, a sub-post office, a library with a small museum above, two hair salons, public houses and restaurants, a GP's practice, dentist and veterinary surgery. The village has grown such that its retailers are not all concentrated in one centre. A few shops are on the main road at the junction with Pavenhill, and a few are around the bend in the road near the village hall. A zero waste shop, operating within the pre-existing butchers, opened in August 2021.


Nature reserves

There are four Wiltshire Wildlife Trust nature reserves in the parish: #Brockhurst Meadow is at the end of Brockhurst Lane, just below
Ringsbury Camp Ringsbury Camp is an Iron Age hill fort, thought to date from approximately the year 50 BC, in the civil parish of Purton in Wiltshire, England. The site is a scheduled monument. Structure Ringsbury is a multivallate fort, as it has a double ...
. A rushy hay meadow with signs of ridge and furrow farming. Wildlife includes many wildflowers of wet meadows:
ragged robin ''Silene flos-cuculi'' (syn. ''Lychnis flos-cuculi''), commonly called ragged-robin, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. This species is native to Europe and Asia, where it is found along roads and in wet meadows and p ...
,
sneezewort ''Achillea ptarmica'' is a European species of herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the genus ''Achillea'' of the daisy family Asteraceae. Common names include the sneezewort, sneezeweed, bastard pellitory, European pellitory, fair-maid-of-Fr ...
, meadowsweet,
marsh thistle ''Cirsium palustre'', the marsh thistle or European swamp thistle, is a herbaceous biennial (or often perennial) flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. ''Cirsium palustre'' is a tall thistle which reaches up to in height. The strong stems ha ...
, common spotted orchid,
heath spotted orchid ''Dactylorhiza maculata'', known as the heath spotted-orchid or moorland spotted orchid, is an herbaceous perennial plant of the family Orchidaceae. It is widespread in mountainous regions across much of Europe from Portugal and Iceland east to ...
,
adder's-tongue fern ''Ophioglossum'', the adder's-tongue ferns, is a genus of about 50 species of ferns in the family Ophioglossaceae. The name ''Ophioglossum'' comes from the Greek meaning "snake-tongue".
, sedge species and the insects which feed on them such as the marbled white butterfly. . #Blakehill Farm, partly in Purton parish, is the former
RAF Blakehill Farm Royal Air Force Blakehill Farm or more simply RAF Blakehill Farm is a former Royal Air Force station southwest of Cricklade in Wiltshire, England, operational between 1944 and 1952. History The station was originally allocated to the United S ...
airfield from the Second World War. Its grasslands are habitat for mammals including roe deer and brown
hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...
, birds including kestrel, skylark, wheatear, whinchat and
stonechat ''Saxicola'' (Latin: ''saxum'', rock + ''incola'', dwelling in.), the stonechats or chats, is a genus of 15 species of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World. They are insectivores occurring in open scrubland and grassland with scatte ...
and butterflies include small copper and
brown hairstreak The brown hairstreak (''Thecla betulae'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. The range includes most of the Palaearctic. Description The following description of this butterfly was written by Adalbert Seitz in 1909: ''Z. betulae'' L. B ...
. The trust bought the site from the
Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
to form a large meadow of about , and opened it to the public in 2005. It rears a small quantity of
organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...
grade beef, usually rare breeds such as longhorn cattle. These cattle ensure grasses and other common plants do not begin to dominate over the other rarer plants. . #
Stoke Common Meadows Stoke Common Meadows () is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in north Wiltshire, England. The 10.2 hectare site is in Purton parish, west of Purton Common hamlet and south-west of the town of Cricklade. The SSSI was notified i ...
are at the end of Stoke Common Lane in
Purton Stoke Purton Stoke is a small village in north Wiltshire, England, within the civil parish of Purton. The village is located along a side road off the Purton to Cricklade road, approximately north of Purton village. A small country lane gives acces ...
. A small wood and grasslands, with ancient hedgerows and ditches. The meadows are habitat for many wildflowers including pepper saxifrage, sweet vernal-grass,
heath spotted orchid ''Dactylorhiza maculata'', known as the heath spotted-orchid or moorland spotted orchid, is an herbaceous perennial plant of the family Orchidaceae. It is widespread in mountainous regions across much of Europe from Portugal and Iceland east to ...
, adder's-tongue fern (''Ophioglossum''), bugle, ox-eye daisy and common knapweed. Some of the fields are a
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 ...
. . #Red Lodge Pond is at the beginning of Red Drive in Braydon Wood, just off the
B4042 road B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A road A roads may be *motorways or freeways, usually where the local word for motorway begins with A (for example, ''Autobahn'' in German; ''Autostrada'' in Italian). * ma ...
between
Braydon Braydon is a civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, about northwest of Swindon, between Purton and Minety. A thinly-populated farming area with no settlements apart from the farms, it is best known for sharing its name with Braydon Forest. T ...
Crossroads and Minety Crossroads. The reserve includes a large pond and a small meadow with a concrete platform in the middle: the remains of an old sawmill. Wildlife includes plants such as
water horsetail ''Equisetum fluviatile'', the water horsetail or swamp horsetail, is a vascular plant that commonly grows in dense colonies along freshwater shorelines or in shallow water in ponds, swamps, ditches, and other sluggish or still waters with mud b ...
, common spotted orchid; and woodland butterflies including
Eurasian white admiral ''Limenitis camilla'', the (Eurasian) white admiral, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in woodland throughout southern Britain and much of Europe and the Palearctic, extending as far east as Japan. Adult white admirals ha ...
and
silver-washed fritillary The silver-washed fritillary (''Argynnis paphia'') is a common and variable butterfly found over much of the Palearctic realm – Algeria, Europe, temperate Asia, and Japan. Description The silver-washed fritillary butterfly is deep orange with ...
. .
Restrop Farm and Brockhurst Wood Restrop Farm and Brockhurst Wood () is a 56.5 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire, England, about south-west of Purton village. The SSSI was notified in 1992, for its diverse habitat which includes unimproved hay ...
is a
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 ...
. It is at the end of Mud Lane, or at the end of Brockhurst Lane, but is mainly private land. Brockhurst Meadow is part of the farm.


Public houses

There are four pubs in the parish: * Angel Hotel in the High Street, thought to be the oldest pub in the village, dating from 1704. * Royal George at Pavenhill, the west end of the village. * The Bell at
Purton Stoke Purton Stoke is a small village in north Wiltshire, England, within the civil parish of Purton. The village is located along a side road off the Purton to Cricklade road, approximately north of Purton village. A small country lane gives acces ...
and the * Purton Red House on Church Street. There is one members club: The working men's club, now Purton Club, on Station Road. Several former pubs in Purton have closed: * Blue Pig was on Purton's boundary at the Brinkworth to Minety and Purton to Garsdon crossroads near to Ravensroost Wood. It closed in the late 20th century. * Forester's Arms was next door to the Royal George in Pavenhill. It closed in 1904. * Another pub called the Forester's Arms was situated on the parish boundary at Common Platt. It closed in 2010. * Fox Inn served the Fox area. * Railway Hotel was renamed the Ghost Train after
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 rai ...
ways closed
Purton railway station Purton railway station was in operation on the Swindon to Gloucester line in Wiltshire, England, between 1841 and 1964. The Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway through Purton parish was opened in 1841 and was absorbed by the Great Wester ...
in 1963. The pub closed in 2008. * Hope Inn at the Collins Lane junction was closed in 1995 and is now the Elmgrove Saddlery. * Live and Let Live in Upper Pavenhill had the best views of any pub in the parish, looking over the
Braydon Braydon is a civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, about northwest of Swindon, between Purton and Minety. A thinly-populated farming area with no settlements apart from the farms, it is best known for sharing its name with Braydon Forest. T ...
area. It closed in 1967. * Mason's Arms was in a house in the Upper Square. It was a pub until 1945. * New Greyhound in Pavenhill. It closed in early 2008. * Queen's Arms was near the sub-post office in the High Street.


Sports and leisure

Purton has a
Non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...
team Purton F.C. who play at the Red House. Purton Youth Football Club has teams ranging from under sevens to under eighteens. The club has gained FA Charter Club Standard and is affiliated to
Wiltshire Football Association The Wiltshire Football Association is the governing body of football in the English county of Wiltshire. Affiliated members pay a fee commensurate with the level of competition they play in, and benefit from access to support and guidance on such ...
. Purton has a tennis club, based in the centre of the village. The
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
club, founded in 1820, claims to be the oldest in Wiltshire. A bowls club has also existed in the village since 1970.


Notable people

People connected with Purton include: *The Rt. Hon. Sir Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury *The Lady Anne Hyde, Duchess of York, first wife of James II of England * Dave Gregory, long-time guitarist and keyboard player in the English rock band XTC, spent his childhood in the village *The Right Honourable Sir Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon *James Kibblewhite, pre-Olympic English running champion *The Reverend Dr Nevil Maskelyne, D.D., 5th Astronomer Royal (from 1765 til his death in 1811), buried next to the parish church *Dr
Desmond Morris Desmond John Morris FLS ''hon. caus.'' (born 24 January 1928) is an English zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter, as well as a popular author in human sociobiology. He is known for his 1967 book ''The Naked Ape'', and for his televisi ...
, zoologist *The Reverend
John Papworth John Papworth (12 December 1921 – 4 July 2020) was an English clergyman, writer and activist against big public and private organizations and for small communities and enterprises. Life and work Born in London in December 1921, Papworth was ...
, clergyman, writer and activist * Billie Piper, singer and actress


Local families


Maskelyne

In the Tudor period the Maskelyne family were significant landlords and landowners in Purton, having inherited rights granted by the last Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey to the Pulley or Pulleyne family, from whom they descended on the distaff side. The Reverend Dr Nevil Maskelyne (1732–1811) was appointed Astronomer Royal in 1765. The Maskelynes were involved in Purton life for more than four centuries from the 16th century. Nevil Maskelyne was born in London, lived at Down Farm and is buried in Purton churchyard. A Miss Maskelyne who lived in the village died in the 1960s aged over 100.


Hyde and Ashley-Cooper

The Royalist statesman and author Edward Hyde, who served as MP for the nearby Wootton Bassett constituency in the 1630s, lived at College Farm in the centre of Purton. It is likely that his daughter Anne Hyde, first wife of
James II James II may refer to: * James II of Avesnes (died c. 1205), knight of the Fourth Crusade * James II of Majorca (died 1311), Lord of Montpellier * James II of Aragon (1267–1327), King of Sicily * James II, Count of La Marche (1370–1438), King C ...
also lived here for a time. After serving Charles II during his years of exile under the Commonwealth and Republic, Hyde later became Lord Chancellor of England, was ennobled as Earl of Clarendon, and appointed
Chancellor of the University of Oxford This is a list of chancellors of the University of Oxford in England by year of appointment. __TOC__ Chronological list See also *List of vice-chancellors of the University of Oxford *List of University of Oxford people * List of chancello ...
. Hyde's Whig arch-rival, Sir Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, also had property in Purton parish. The Ashley-Cooper family also held the advowson of St. Mary's parish church.


Sadler

By the late 19th century and into the early part of the 20th century, other local families had risen to the gentry level after becoming significant landowners in the parish. Among these was James Henry Sadler, Esq., D.L., J.P., (1843–1929) who, though a Purton native, lived in nearby Lydiard House in the neighbouring parish of
Lydiard Millicent Lydiard Millicent is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about west of the centre of Swindon. The parish contains the hamlets of Lydiard Green, Lydiard Plain, Greatfield and Green Hill; in the northeast the parish extends to Com ...
until his death. A strict but generous benefactor, Sadler gave the cricket ground and Working Men's Institute to the village. Described as the last unofficial ''Squire of Purton'', his father was Dr Samuel Champernowne Sadler, F.R.C.S., of Purton. In 1859 or 1860Critall, 1959, pages 386–388 Dr Sadler had the Pump House built at ''Salt's Hole'', a natural mineral water spring near Purton Stoke, used for medicinal purposes since the Middle Ages and possibly earlier. Under Dr Sadler and subsequent owners, attempts were made to develop this natural attraction as ''Purton Spa'', and to market the spring waters for their healing qualities.


References


Sources and further reading

* * (on Salt's Hole) * (on Purton Spa) * (on the ancient parish boundaries of Purton) * * * * *


External links


Purton Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire