Hodson is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in a small valley, in the parish of

Chiseldon Chiseldon is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It takes its name from the Old English cisel dene, or gravel valley, being noted in the Domesday Book as ''Chiseldene''. The village lies on the edge of ...

, Wiltshire, England. The hamlet lies about half a mile northwest of the edge of Chiseldon village; 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 ...

runs a similar distance to the north, and the centre of the large town of

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 ...

is some to the northwest. By the 13th century, Hodson was part of Chiseldon manor. North of the hamlet is

Burderop Wood Burderop Wood () is a 48.5 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire, notified in 1971. The site contains wet ash-maple and acid pedunculate oak-hazel-ash woodland, and its notification as an SSSI due to this, particular ...

, c., designated 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 ...

in 1971 due to the wet ash-maple and acid pedunculate oak-hazel-ash woodland. Part of the

Swindon, Marlborough and Andover 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 ...

ran close to the north part of the hamlet (grid squares E2–F2 in the image). The line was no longer used after March 1964, and part of its route through Burderop Wood was used for the M4 motorway west of junction 15 in the 1970s. Hodson has a

public house 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 wa ...

, the Calley Arms.

References

Villages in Wiltshire {{wiltshire-geo-stub

See also

References