Corsham

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Corsham


The historic High Street is typical of a Cotswold town
Corsham (Wiltshire)
Corsham

Corsham shown within Wiltshire
Population 12,000[1]
OS grid reference ST869702
District North Wiltshire
Shire county Wiltshire
Region South West
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Corsham
Postcode district SN13
Dialling code 01249
01225
Police Wiltshire
Fire Wiltshire
Ambulance Great Western
European Parliament South West England
UK Parliament Chippenham (c. 2009)
North Wiltshire (2005)
Website: http://www.corsham.gov.uk/
List of places: UK • England • Wiltshire

Coordinates: 51°26′N 2°11′W / 51.43, -2.19

Corsham is a small mediæval town in northwest Wiltshire, England. It is at the southwestern extreme of the Cotswolds, between Bath (7.5 miles, 12 km) and Chippenham (4.5 miles, 7 km.)

The civil parish of Corsham includes the neighbouring communities of Chapel Knap, Easton, Gastard, Hartham, Leafield, The Linleys, Neston, The Ridge, Rudloe and Thingley.

In the past, Corsham was a centre for the wool industry, and remains a source for quarrying Bath Stone. It includes numerous historic buildings, such as the stately home of Corsham Court. In World War II and the Cold War, it became a major administrative and manufacturing centre for the Ministry of Defence, with numerous establishments both above ground and in the old quarry tunnels. The early 21st century saw some growth in Corsham's role in the film industry.

Contents

[edit] History

Corsham derives its name from 'Cosa' village', where hām is the Old English for homestead, or village. The town is referred in the Domesday book as Cosseham; the letter 'R' appears to have entered the name later under Norman influence.

One of the towns that prospered greatly from Wiltshire's wool trade in mediæval times, it maintained its prosperity after the decline of that trade through the quarrying of Bath stone, with underground mining works extending to the south and west of Corsham.

There was once a priory in Corsham, which was destroyed, then replaced with a Georgian house (now Heywood School) located on Priory Street. Corsham also contains the historic Georgian house, The Grove, opposite the high street, a typical example of upper middle-class Georgian architecture.

The town of Corsham was the inspiration for Charles Dickens's novel The Pickwick Papers. The name Pickwick is likely to have come from that of a nearby farm, Pickwick Lodge Farm. Pickwick was once a separate community—now the northwestern part of the town—on the A4, formerly the main turnpike road from London to Bristol.[2]

Corsham never had a town charter. Instead it was officially a village until 1999, when the parish council took advantage of the right (given to English parishes in 1972) to rename itself to Corsham Town Council.

[edit] Features

Corsham's small town centre includes the Martingate Centre, a late 20th century retail development, which also houses offices and a small teaching facility for Wiltshire College, a further education institution.

The stately home of Corsham Court can also be found in the town centre. Standing on a former Saxon Royal Manor, it is based on an Elizabethan manor home from 1582. Since 1745, it has been part of the Methuen estate. The house has an extensive collection of Old Masters, rooms furnished by Robert Adam and Thomas Chippendale, and parks landscaped by Capability Brown and Humphry Repton. The house is open to the public all year round excluding December and is famed locally for its collection of peacocks.[3] The owner of Corsham Court in the mid-seventeenth century was the commander of the Parliamentarian New Model Army in Wiltshire. His wife built what came to be known as the Hungerford Almshouses in the centre of town. These famous almshouses were recently featured on the BBC's Restoration television series.

Corsham is the site of the disused entrance to Tunnel Quarry, which used to be visible off Pockeredge Drive.

[edit] Community

The town has its own festival. Corsham also started a jazz festival (separate from the town festival) in 2004, which included a performance by the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. The event however was not as successful as the organizers would have hoped, bands across the seven venues had to compete with each other and turnout was lower than expected. In 2005 the festival was reduced to just two venues and a much reduced lineup. In 2006, the festival reduced in size once again, with only the Royal Oak Pub hosting the event, and the Stan Tracey Trio as principal headliners.

The local association football club, Corsham Town F.C., were founded in 1884. They came second in the Western Football League Premier Division in 2006.

Wiltshire Police has a station in the town that is headed by a sergeant, and is a base for five local and rural neighbourhood policing teams.[4]

Hartham Park manor house was designed by James Wyatt (1746–1813)
Hartham Park manor house was designed by James Wyatt (1746–1813)

[edit] Neighbouring villages

Corsham Town Council's boundaries include several neighbouring communities: Biddestone, Chapel Knap, Easton, Gastard, Hartham, Leafield, The Linleys, Neston, The Ridge, Thingley, part of Rudloe, and a small part of Chippenham south of the A4 road.[5]

Hartham Park is a Georgian estate that includes a rare stické court.

Neston village was established around Neston Park, a country estate whose house was built c.1790.[2] Neston Park is home of the Fuller family, who give their name to the Fuller, Smith and Turner brewery in London, known for Fuller's London Pride cask ale.[6]

[edit] Transport

There is a local campaign to reopen the railway station near Station Road
There is a local campaign to reopen the railway station near Station Road

Corsham is connected to Bradford on Avon by the B3109 road, to Melksham by the B3353, and to Chippenham and Bath by the A4 Bath Road, a former turnpike from London to Bristol. Four public car parks in the town centre are operated by North Wiltshire District Council for a small fee.[7] Bus companies, including Coachstyle, Faresaver and FirstGroup plc, operate local services, as well as buses to all nearby towns.[7]

The Great Western Main Line railway from London to Bristol passes through Corsham, though the local station closed in the 1960s. Nearby stations, and most passenger trains, are operated by First Great Western. Some local services call at the nearest station at Melksham (4.5 miles, 7.2 km) while Chippenham station (4.7 miles, 7.5 km) offers frequent express services and connections. The eastern portal of Box Tunnel, built as the longest railway tunnel of its time, by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Railway, is at Hudswell on the western edge of the town. Corsham Railway Cutting carries the main line westward through Corsham to Box Tunnel; in 1971 6.6 hectares of land in the cutting were designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for notable geology.

[edit] Economy

[edit] Defence

The Ministry of Defence operates a number of locations in the vicinity of Corsham:

  • Basil Hill Site (Formerly Basil Hill Barracks and RAF Rudloe Manor).
  • Copenacre Site (Formerly Royal Naval Stores Depot Copenacre).
  • DE&S ISS Integrated Project Teams.
  • Rudloe Manor Site (Formerly RAF Rudloe Manor).
  • Accommodation and site facilities.

Joint Service Unit Corsham provides administrative support & facilities management in all three locations. In 2006 a Private Finance Initiative contract was let to Inteq for the renewal and expansion of the Basil Hill and Rudloe Site facilities began, valued at around £800M..[8]

  • Corsham Families Centre, Army Welfare Service.

Former facilities include:

  • RAF Rudloe Manor, established during WWII as a non-flying station for administrative and command & control purposes:
  • HQ Number 10 Fighter Group.
  • RAF Regional Command.
  • Headquarters RAF Police & Security Services.
  • No1 Signals Unit.
  • Controller Defence Communications Network.
  • Number 1001 Signals Unit, detachment.
  • Royal Naval Stores Depot Copenacre, using significant underground workings.
  • HMS Royal Arthur (shore establishment), a leadership training establishment.
  • Hawthorn (development of the Bath stone quarries for defence purposes

A number of defence contractors are either co-located or in the vicinity of the MOD sites, such as Leafield Engineering[1] and Serco Defence, Science and Technology.

The UK military communications satellite constellation called Skynet, a PFI arrangement, is controlled by contractor, Paradigm Services, from the location of the former 1001 SU Det on Skynet Drive. The ground segments in support of the constellation are located at Bordon, Hampshire and Colerne Airfield, Colerne, Wiltshire (formerly RAF Oakhanger and RAF Colerne.)

[edit] Quarries

Underground extraction of Bath Stone continues in Corsham on a smaller scale. For example, Hanson plc operates Hartham Park Quarry in the Hudswell district (southwest of Pickwick.)

Other quarries have been re-used. Current examples include primarily defence establishments (see above), but also a wine cellar at Eastlays (near Gastard)[9] and storage for magnetic media (for Off-site Data Protection) at Monk's Park (near Neston.)[10]

[edit] Film and television

Another use for the quarries is the film industry. Underground scenes from the first episode of Blake's Seven were filmed at Eastlays, and disused tunnels form part of the studio complex of Corsham Media Park, a specialist business park that opened in 2001 adjacent to RAF Rudloe Manor.[citation needed][11]

Early 21st century growth of period drama location filming followed the examples of neighbouring Lacock and Atworth parishes. Neston Park hosted major outdoor film sets for the 2008 BBC television adaption of Lark Rise to Candleford, and the BBC also filmed scenes for a 2008 version of Tess of the D'Urbervilles in Church Street and Corsham Court grounds.[12][13]

[edit] Notable residents

A 1773 map shows Neston's earlier name of Corsham Side

The southern portion of the High Street is pedestrianized

[edit] See also

Neighbouring civil parishes (anticlockwise from the north):

  • Biddestone – small village north of Hartham
  • Colerne – medium-sized village northwest of Corsham and Pickwick
  • Box – village west of Corsham; parish includes part of Rudloe
  • Atworth – Neston Park Estate extends south beyond Atworth village
  • Lacock – historic village and abbey, largely owned by the National Trust, east of Gastard
  • Chippenham and Chippenham Without parishes – market town northeast of Easton

[edit] References

  1. ^ Council Tax 2005/06PDF (436 KiB), Corsham Town Council. Retrieved on October 5, 2006.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Corsham at Wiltshire Community History from Wiltshire County Council. Retrieved on October 4, 2006.
  3. ^ Corsham Net - Welcome
  4. ^ Katie Adams. "New sergeant at Corsham", Wiltshire Times, 2008-04-12. Retrieved on 2008-04-16. 
  5. ^ election-maps.co.uk, Corsham Civil Parish boundary on Ordnance Survey 1:50 000 colour raster layer. Retrieved on October 10, 2006.
  6. ^ The History of Fuller, Smith & Turner P.L.C. from the brewery's website. Retrieved on October 4, 2006.
  7. ^ a b Connect Corsham, Corsham Town Council newsletter, Issue 8, Autumn 2006.
  8. ^ Wiltshire Times, 25 October 2006. "£800m to be spent on military base", Craig Evry. Retrieved on October 27, 2006.
  9. ^ Corsham Cellars at Octavian Vaults corporate web site. Retrieved on March 16, 2008
  10. ^ Storage and Retrieval at Wansdyke Security Limited website. Retrieved on March 16, 2008
  11. ^ "£50 Million Media Park opens", 4rfv.co.uk, 2001-09-11. Retrieved on 2008-04-16. 
  12. ^ "Town switches centuries", Gazette and Herald, 2008-04-10. Retrieved on 2008-04-16. 
  13. ^ Scott McPherson. "Lark Rise returning", Gazette and Herald, 2008-03-11. Retrieved on 2008-04-16. 
  14. ^ Brakspear, Sir; Harold (b. Corsham, Wilts. 10 March 1870 - d. 20 November 1934). Who's Who 2006 and Who Was Who 1897-2005 (2005). Retrieved 10 October 2006. Available from xreferplus.

[edit] Further reading

  • McCamley, Nick (2000) Secret underground cities : an account of some of Britain's subterranean defence, factory and storage sites in the Second World War, Pen and Sword Books Ltd[2], ISBN 0-85052-733-3

[edit] External links

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Coordinates: 51°26′N 2°11′W / 51.43, -2.19