Hullavington is an English village in Wiltshire, just to the north of the M4 motorway, 5 miles south-south-west of Malmesbury and 7 miles north of Chippenham.
Contents |
Hullavington is first attested as Hunlavintone in the Domesday Book of 1086.[1] The place-name means 'the town of Hunlaf's people'.[2]It appears that the Marcher Lord "Ralph de Mertemer" (Ranulph de Mortimer) owned a house in Hullavington.[3]
The population at the beginning of the nineteenth century was 395 (1801 census), rising to 823 in 1901 and was 1,247 in 2001.[4]
It has a garage, a shop, a pub and two churches, one of which meets in the village hall. The hall was recently opened by James Gray, the MP for North Wiltshire, after the previous one burnt down because of an electrical fault.
There is also a Church of England village school which has about 150 pupils and is headed by Sue Tudge. Children from the army camp make up a fair proportion of the school and the army provides entertainment and fireworks on November 5 which is attended by people from many surrounding villages.
There are many community events such as the Village Fete which is always well attended and many other meeting and concerts; there are fitness classes, line dancing, concerts, art classes etc, which take place in the village hall.
There are currently three Girlguiding UK units in Hullavington, Brownies and Rainbows, and a Guide unit which opened in September 2007. The Brownies now meet in the village hall and the Rainbow and Guide units meet on the army camp (Buckley Barracks) but are also open to girls from non-military families.
There is a Sunday morning football team who play in the Chippenham and District Sunday Football League Division 2. The current Hullavington Football Club has been running since 1989 and up until recently played in the village. Since 2007/2008 the team has played at Buckley Barracks which is around 2 miles away on the way towards the M4 junction.
There is a military base in Hullavington, situated next to the village, which was formerly RAF Hullavington but today is the home of 9 Supply Regiment of the Royal Logistic Corps. It has been renamed Buckley Barracks after the VC winner John Buckley of the former Royal Army Ordnance Corps. There are also two Air Cadet Volunteer Gliding Squadrons that operate out of Hullavington Airfield, 621VGS and 625VGS.
The village is represented in parliament by James Gray and in Wiltshire Council by Jane Scott, both Conservatives.
Jazz pianist Jamie Cullum used to live there.[5] The former MP Neil Hamilton and his wife Christine moved there in October 2004.
It is thought likely that Hannah Twynnoy, believed to be the first person in Britain to have been killed by a tiger, came from Hullavington.