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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England, about southwest 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 Bremilham, also known as Cowage or Cowich, is a small settlement and former civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is near the hamlet of Foxley in the parish of Norton. The nearest town is Malmesbury, about away to the north east. The place-na ...

(also known as Cowage). The Sherston branch of the

Bristol Avon The River Avon is a river in the south west of England. To distinguish it from a number of other rivers of the same name, it is often called the Bristol Avon. The name 'Avon' is a cognate of the Welsh word , meaning 'river'. The Avon ...

forms the north boundary of the parish.

History

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

ring ditches and signs of early

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

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

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 ( Bath), Corini ...

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 horses, riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now s ...

. 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 is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Church of All Saints at Norton is

Grade II 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 probably a church in the 13th century, which was rebuilt in the 15th and restored in 1854 for

Joseph Neeld Joseph Neeld (1789–1856) was Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom for the rotten borough of Gatton, Surrey from March to July 1830 and for Chippenham, Wiltshire, England from September 1830 to March 1856. Career Neeld was one of five b ...

Grittleton House Grittleton House is a country house in the village of Grittleton, Wiltshire, England, about northwest of the town of Chippenham. It is a building of historical significance and is Grade II* listed on the English Heritage Register. History On ...

. 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 religious house dedicated to Saint Peter and Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul. It was one of the few English houses with a continuous history from the 7th century through to the dissolution ...

. 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. 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 A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals wi ...

. 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, in England, is a meeting to which all the electors in a civil parish 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 cou ...

is held. The parish is in the area of

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council is a council for the unitary authority of Wiltshire (excluding the separate unitary authority of Swindon) in South West England, created in 2009. It is the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council (1889–2009) and the ...

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

, which is responsible for all significant local government functions.

Amenities

Norton has a

pub 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 was ...

and restaurant, the Vine Tree.

References

External links

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