Rushall 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 ...
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, southeast of
Devizes
Devizes () is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-cent ...
and northwest of
Upavon on the
A342 between Devizes and
Andover. The village is near the
River Avon in the
Vale of Pewsey.
The parish extends southeast onto
Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, but st ...
and into the
military training area.
History
There is a prehistoric or medieval linear earthwork on Rushall Down, one of several archaeological remains on the Plain.
Rushall appears in
Domesday Book
Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
, as a large settlement of 105 households, with a church, at ''Rusteselue''. Before 1086 it was held by Gytha, the widow of Earl Godwin, or by Harold, her son, but by the time of the survey, it had been given to the
Abbey of St. Wandrille. There seems to have been a church present at that time. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the manor was held by the de Aunay family and subsequently changed hands several times. By 1404 it was in the hands of
Lord Hungerford, and his family remained in possession until it was sold in 1548 or 1549. By 1749 it had been sold to
Edward Poore, who set about rebuilding or replacing the manor house and
emparking the surrounding land.
Amenities
Rushall Church of England
Voluntary Aided
A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation) contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...
Primary School serves the surrounding villages, including Upavon and the British Army garrison at
Trenchard Lines.
The modern village hall is shared with the neighbouring village of
Charlton.
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 Matthew 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 ...
. Parts of a 14th-century building survive; the tower dates from the late 15th or early 16th century. In 1812 much of the church was rebuilt in brick, and in 1905 restoration was carried out by
C.E. Ponting. The benefice was combined with Upavon in 1924, but the parishes remained separate; today the parish is part of the Vale of Pewsey team ministry, which covers
Pewsey
Pewsey is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish at the centre of the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, about south of Marlborough, Wiltshire, Marlborough and west of London. It is within reach of the M4 motorway and the A303 and i ...
and many rural parishes.
Governance
The civil parish elects a
parish council. All significant local government services are provided by
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 ...
, 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 ...
with its headquarters in
Trowbridge
Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England; situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, close to the border with Somerset. The town lies south-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south-west of Swindon and south-east of Brist ...
, and the parish is represented there by Paul Oatway.
In the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
the parish is part of the
East Wiltshire
East Wiltshire is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the 2024 general election, when it was won by the Cons ...
constituency.
Further reading
*
*
References
External links
Rushall community website
{{authority control
Villages in Wiltshire
Civil parishes in Wiltshire