Norton is a small village and

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 ...

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, about south-west of

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

. The parish includes the hamlets of Foxley and Bremilham (also known as Cowage). The Sherston branch of the Bristol Avon forms the north boundary of the parish.

History

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

ring ditches and signs of early

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

settlement are in the east of the parish, near Cowage Farm. 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 ( Bat ...

Roman road forms the west boundary of the parish, where it is a

bridleway A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now serve a wider ...

. The east–west road between Malmesbury and Sherston passes through Foxley and Bremilham. From the late 17th century until 1756 this was the main route between Oxford and Bristol. Foxley and Bremilham were separate ecclesiastical parishes until 1893 when Bremilham was united with Foxley. In 1934 Foxley (with Bremilham) was transferred to the civil parish of Norton.

Religious sites

Norton

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 All Saints at Norton 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 ...

. There was probably a church in the 13th century, which was rebuilt in the 15th and restored in 1854 for Joseph Neeld of Grittleton House. A font from the late 12th or early 13th century survives from the earlier church. Today All Saints, together with the churches at Foxham and Bremilham, is part of the Gauzebrook group of churches.

Foxley

There was a church at Foxley in the 12th century or earlier, perhaps linked to

Malmesbury Abbey Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, is a former Benedictine abbey dedicated to Saint Peter and Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul. It was one of the few English religious houses with a continuous history from the 7th century throug ...

. There was a rector by 1300. The small church, which has no dedication, is built of coursed rubble with some herringbone masonry. Thirteenth-century work survives in the north arcade and the font is from the same period. The church was altered and re-roofed in the 15th century, and the tower built or rebuilt. In the 17th century the south aisle and north chapel were demolished, and around 1708 the south porch with stone pediment was added. A clock by Charles Frodsham & Co was installed in the tower in 1873. The interior of the church was renovated in the early 20th century; it was recorded as Grade I listed in 1959. In 1874, the benefice was authorized to be united with Bremilham, and this became effective in 1893; by that time parishioners of Bremilham attended Foxley church. At the same time Foxley's cracked bell was swapped with the intact one at Bremilham. From 1951 the benefice of Foxley with Bremilham was held in plurality with that of Corston with Rodbourne.

Bremilham

The small church at Cowage Farm, Bremilham is the remainder or partial rebuilding of a 15th-century church, used for a time as a mortuary chapel.

Manor houses

There are two manor houses. Norton Manor is from the early 17th century and is Grade II* listed. Foxley Manor is from a similar date and is Grade II listed. (Not to be confused with Foxley House, next to the church and also Grade II listed).

Local government

There is no elected parish council, instead an annual

Parish meeting A parish meeting is a meeting all the electors in a civil parish in England are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish council, with ...

is held. The parish is in the area of

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire in South West England, and has its headquarters a ...

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

, which is responsible for all significant local government functions.

Amenities

Norton 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 ...

and restaurant, the Vine Tree.

References

External links

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