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Westwood is a large village and a
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 west
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. The village is about southwest of the town of
Bradford-on-Avon Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset. The town's canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restauran ...
. Upper Westwood, on a ridge crest to the north, was a distinct settlement from Lower Westwood but 20th-century housing filled the gap. The parish includes most of the village of
Avoncliff Avoncliff is a small village in west Wiltshire, England, in the north of Westwood parish about southwest of Bradford-on-Avon. It is the point at which the Kennet and Avon canal crosses the river and railway line via the Avoncliff Aqueduct, w ...
, namely the portion south of the Avon, and the hamlet of Lye Green.


Location

The Avon forms most of the northern boundary of the parish; Avoncliff railway station is just over the boundary. The
Kennet and Avon canal The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of Navigability, navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than sol ...
crosses the parish to the north, as far as the
Avoncliff Aqueduct Avoncliff Aqueduct () carries the Kennet and Avon Canal over the River Avon and the Bath to Westbury railway, at Avoncliff in Wiltshire, England, about west of Bradford-on-Avon. It was built by John Rennie and chief engineer John Thomas, bet ...
. To the northeast lies Bradford on Avon parish, and to the west is the county boundary with
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
which follows the valley of the River Frome. Neighbouring villages are
Winsley Winsley is a large village and civil parish about west of Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Conkwell, Turleigh, Little Ashley and Great Ashley. History The area was probably farmed in Roman times, ...
and
Turleigh Turleigh is a hamlet in west Wiltshire, England. It lies immediately south of the village of Winsley, overlooking the Avon valley, about west of Bradford on Avon. The Kennet and Avon Canal and Avoncliff railway station are below the hamlet in ...
to the north, and Freshford to the west.


History

Westwood's recorded history begins in 983 AD, when King Ethelred's charters granted various pieces of land to his servant Aelfnoth, and four years later to his huntsman Leofwine. In Norman times, Westwood was one of the estates assigned for the support of the monks at
Winchester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity,Historic England. "Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity (1095509)". ''National Heritage List for England''. Retrieved 8 September 2014. Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun, commonly known as Winches ...
, and the residents of the manor continued to be tenants of Winchester until it was dissolved by
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
. The medieval population of Westwood, as recorded 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 ...
of 1086, consisted of just 13 households, growing to 45 recorded taxpayers in the late 14th century. Mills were built on the Avon at Avoncliff, and on the Frome at Iford, and were most active in cloth-making and
fulling Fulling, also known as tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelt waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate ( lanolin) oils, ...
from the 16th century. The parish gained 116 acres on the break-up and abolition of Bradford Without civil parish in 1934.


Quarries

The earliest records of a substantial quarrying industry at Westwood are in 1649. By the mid-19th century, the quality of Westwood stone had earned a good reputation, and over the next half-century, output increased at a great rate. Westwood stone went to build many houses in
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 ...
, as well as Holy Trinity church in Trowbridge (1838). A
narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter cur ...
was constructed to transport the huge blocks of rough cut stone from the quarry to the cutting-yard at Avoncliff railway station. Nowadays, all that remains from the centuries of intensive quarrying is the labyrinth of tunnels, eight feet high and twelve feet wide. They have been put to a number of imaginative uses, especially after they were taken over by the
Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed on 1 August 1939 by the Ministry of Supply Act 1939 ( 2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 38) to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Ministe ...
in 1939. For example, the eastern part of the quarry tunnels had since 1928 been used for growing mushrooms, as the relatively stable ambient temperatures and the high humidity of the underground were found perfectly suitable. From 1941, about six hundred workers manufactured gun-control equipment at an underground factory which had been located in the tunnels to defend against
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
raids. Additionally, by the end of 1942 the Westwood tunnels had "probably housed the greatest and most valuable collection of cultural and artistic artifacts assembled in one location anywhere in the world", including exhibits from the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
, pictures from the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...
, tapestries from the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
, the
Elgin Marbles The Elgin Marbles ( ) are a collection of Ancient Greek sculptures from the Parthenon and other structures from the Acropolis of Athens, removed from Ottoman Greece in the early 19th century and shipped to Britain by agents of Thomas Bruce, 7 ...
, and the
Wright brothers The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation List of aviation pioneers, pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flyin ...
' aeroplane. An air conditioning plant had to be installed to control the humidity underground.


Local government

The civil parish elects a parish council. It 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 ...
, 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; the parish forms part of the council's Winsley and Westwood electoral division.


Religious sites


Parish church

A
chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...
of Bradford-on-Avon at Westwood was mentioned in 1299. The present church, now dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, was built in ashlar rubble in the 15th century; restoration in 1840 included rebuilding the south side of the chancel. A reused stone over a door in the north wall of the chancel may be from the late 12th or early 13th century. There is 15th-century stained glass in the chancel. The church was designated as
Grade I 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, Hi ...
in 1962. Pevsner describes the elaborately decorated 16th-century west tower as "splendid"; at its southeast corner is a prominent octagonal stair turret with a domed top. In 1876, Westwood was constituted as a parish and separated from Bradford. In 1975 a group ministry centred on Holy Trinity at Bradford was formed, which continues today as the benefice of Bradford on Avon Holy Trinity, Westwood and Wingfield.


Former chapels

The stone-quarrying community at Upper Westwood was largely Methodist. A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was opened there in 1862 and closed circa 1960. A
Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
chapel was opened at Lower Westwood in 1865 and extended with a schoolroom, with capacity for 200 children, in 1885. At first a
Sunday school ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...
, the room later became the infant school for the village, continuing until 1976 when a new school was built on a different site.


Notable buildings

Westwood Manor, in Lower Westwood next to the church, is a Grade I listed 15th-century
manor house 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 usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
owned by the
National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
. Greenhill House in Upper Westwood is from the 18th century and is Grade II* listed.
Iford Manor Iford Manor () is a manor house in Wiltshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building sitting on the steep, south-facing slope of the Frome valley, in Westwood parish, about southwest of the town of Bradford-on-Avon. Its Grade I registere ...
, in the Frome valley, is a Grade II* listed manor house from the 15th or 16th century; its gardens by
Harold Peto Harold Ainsworth Peto FRIBA (11 July 1854 – 16 April 1933) was a British architect, landscape architect and garden designer, who worked in Britain and in Provence, France. Among his best-known gardens are Iford Manor, Wiltshire; Buscot ...
, who lived there from 1899, are Grade I listed. The gardens were the setting for an annual summer music festival, the Iford Arts Festival, until 2019 when the festival moved to a higher-capacity venue at Bradford-on-Avon. A group of 1790s three-storey weavers' houses next to the canal at Avoncliffe was bought in 1835 by the guardians of the Bradford Poor Law Union, and converted into a
workhouse In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as Scottish poorhouse, poorh ...
with capacity for 250; a chapel was added and later a schoolroom. The building was sold in 1923, used for a time as a hotel, and converted into houses in the 1980s.


Amenities

The Parish Rooms, next to the Church of St Mary the Virgin, is used by the church after services and is available for private hire. The Social Club, between Lower and Upper Westwood, is a paid members club and is home to a local skittles league.


References


External links


Westwood Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire