Manton is a suburb of the town of Marlborough in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England, just off the A4

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Road.

History

A settlement of twelve households and an estate held by Miles Crispin were recorded at ''Manetone'' in the 1087 Domesday Book. In the 17th century the estate came into the ownership of the earls and marquesses of Ailesbury, whose seat was nearby at

Tottenham House Tottenham House is a large Grade I listed English country house in the parish of Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, about five miles southeast of the town of Marlborough. It is separated from the town by Savernake Forest, which is part of the Tottenha ...

; their ownership continued into the 20th century. Manton was a

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

of Preshute parish until 1934, when it was transferred to Marlborough

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Local economy

A small industrial estate on the A4 to the west of Manton houses several businesses including the headquarters of P&M Aviation, a manufacturer of ultralight aircraft.

Amenities

The village primary school is Preshute Primary School, which feeds into St Johns Academy in Marlborough. The village has a

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

, the ''Oddfellows''. The

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Church of St George is east of the village, next to Preshute House. This settlement was identified as Preshute as recently as the 1961 (7th series) Ordnance Survey map but on current maps and road signs it is part of Manton. There was a church at Preshute in the 12th century, and possibly earlier; fragments of 12th-century masonry survive. The font of black

Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...

marble, 12th century, said to have been brought from St. Nicholas's chapel in Marlborough Castle in the 15th or 16th centuries, is described by Pevsner as a "truly amazing piece". The church was rebuilt, on the same foundations and retaining the 15th-century tower, by T.H. Wyatt in 1854; it is

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. Today the parish is part of the Marlborough Anglican Team, together with St Mary's in Marlborough and St John the Baptist at Mildenhall.

The Manton Estate

The Manton Estate is northwest of the village, on the

Marlborough Downs The North Wessex Downs are an area of chalk downland landscapes located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The North Wessex Downs has been designated as a National Landscape (formerly known as Area of ...

in the parish of Preshute. It includes Manton House, Manton Lodge and Manton House Stables, currently operated by

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

horse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them good behaviors and/or coaching them for events, which ...

Brian Meehan. The stables were established in the 1860s by Alec Taylor and then run by his son

Alec Taylor, Jr. Alec Taylor Jr. (1862–1943), known as the Wizard of Manton, was a British Thoroughbred racehorse trainer who followed in the footsteps of his highly successful father, Alec Taylor Sr. Family His father, Alec Taylor Sr., was a successful ho ...

The estate was purchased by Leeds-born soap manufacturer Joseph Watson (died 1922), who in 1921 won the Oaks with '' Love in Idleness'' and came 3rd in the

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

with ''Lemonora''; in 1922 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Manton. Later the estate was acquired by the Sangster family.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Wiltshire