Woodford, Wiltshire

Woodford

Village Hall of Middle Woodford
Woodford
 Woodford shown within Wiltshire
Shire countyWiltshire
RegionSouth West
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town Salisbury
Postcode district SP5
Police Wiltshire
Fire Wiltshire
Ambulance South Western
EU Parliament South West England
List of places
UK
England
Wiltshire

Coordinates: 51°08′03″N 1°49′29″W / 51.134033°N 1.824587°W

Woodford is a parish in southern-central Wiltshire, England. It is divided into three villages,[1] Lower Woodford, Middle Woodford and Upper Woodford, the last of which is the largest of the three. In 1871, the population was 523;[1] in 1951, this had decreased to 405 people.[2]

In 972, the name was recorded as Wuduforda, which in Old English means "ford in or by a wood", from wudu + ford.[3] In the nineteenth century it was pronounced 'oodford.[4]

History

Woodford is mentioned in the days of Henry III, namely there being a knight, Sir William Woodford of Woodford.[5] A palace existed here, used by the Bishops of Salisbury, but only a few carved stones remain on the site;[1] the palace was the hiding place of Charles II after the Battle of Worcester in September 1651.[6] The buildings of Druid's Lodge (also known as Woodford Hut),[7] in the north-west of the parish, were used as a prisoner-of-war camp during the Second World War, but they no longer exist.[2] Nearby there is a small stone shelter, erected as a memorial to Lieutenant Colonel F. G. G. Bailey (d. 1951), who resided at Lake House, Wilsford.[2] Woodford Church of England Primary School was erected between 1833 and 1836, and increased in size in 1854.[2] In 1880 the chief landowners were Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and Robert Loder.[1]

Geography

Woodford is approximately 2,780 acres (1,130 ha) in size. It is located about 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Salisbury and about 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Amesbury. Situated on the west side of a valley,[1] the River Avon flows immediately to the eastern edge of the villages. The road passing through roughly follows the course of the river. Middle Woodford is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) east of the Wishford station on the Great Wishford railway.[1] On a hill slope southwest of Druid's Head, there is a large and old enclosure that was formed by a bank.[7]

Lower Woodford Water Meadows is a 23.9 hectares (59 acres) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Lower Woodford, notified in 1971. Of the working water-meadows in southern England that are associated with chalk streams, the best is situated at Lower Woodford.[8]

Landmarks

Heale House, Middle Woodford
The Wheatsheaf Inn, Lower Woodford
Upper Woodford

Upper Woodford contains the Bridge Inn and further to the north is Great Durnford which contains St Andrews Church and the manor house, Durnford House, which was once home to Dale Tryon, Baroness Tryon.[9][10] Willow Cottage lies near the banks of the Avon.

Middle Woodford

Middle Woodford contains the All Saints Church. Heale House is an example of Georgian architecture that dates to around 1730; it is surrounded by notable gardens.[11][12] Additions were made to Heale House in 1894 by Detmar Blow.[13] A notable Wiltshire monumental brass is that to Gerard Erington, dated 1596, in Woodford's church.[14]

Lower Woodford

Lower Woodford contains The Wheatsheaf Inn and Avon Cottage, a timberframed house originally built in the 15th century, but was recased in red brick in the late 18th or early 19th century, with 20th-century additions to the south and east.[2] The collar-beam roof was reconstructed in the late 16th or early 17th century when a ceiling was added in the hall.[2]The Court House, on the eastern side of the road, was part of Woodford Manor estate until 1920 when it was sold to Major General Aston.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Kelly's directories, ltd (1880). Post office afterw. Kelly's directory of Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Wiltshire (the Isle of Wight, and the Channel Islands). (Public domain ed.). pp. 737–. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "Victoria County History:A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6". British History Online. 1962. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  3. ↑ Mills, Anthony David (6 November 2003). Oxford dictionary of British place names. Oxford University Press. pp. 746–. ISBN 978-0-19-852758-9. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  4. ↑ Urban, Sylvanus (1862). The Gentleman's Magazine or, Monthly Intelligencer for the year (Public domain ed.). Cave. pp. 168–. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  5. ↑ Hamilton, Adam (1904). The chronicle of the English Augustinian canonesses regular of the Lateran, at St. Monica's in Louvain (now at St. Augustine's priory, Newton Abbot, Devon) 1548-1644 (Public domain ed.). Sands & co. pp. 2–. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  6. ↑ Clarke, Benjamin (1852). The British gazetteer, political, commercial, ecclesiastical, and historical: showing the distances of each place from London and Derby--gentlemen's seats--populations ... &c. Illustrated by a full set of county maps, with all the railways accurately laid down ... (Public domain ed.). Published (for the proprietors) by H.G. Collins. pp. 1012–. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Murray, John (1869). Handbook for travellers in Wiltshire, Dorsetshire and Somersetshire (Public domain ed.). J. Murray. pp. 77–. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  8. ↑ Ratcliffe, Derek (11 August 2011). A Nature Conservation Review: Volume 1: The Selection of Biological Sites of National Importance to Nature Conservation in Britain. Cambridge University Press. pp. 193–. ISBN 978-0-521-20329-6. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  9. ↑ "The Bridge Inn". The Bridge Inn. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  10. ↑ Brayley, Edward Wedlake; Britton, John (1814). The Beauties of England and Wales, Or, Delineations, Topographical, Historical, and Descriptive, of Each County: pt. 1. Wiltshire. Printed by T. Maiden, for Vernor and Hood. p. 348. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  11. ↑ House & garden. Condé Nast Publications. 1931. p. 73. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  12. ↑ Country life. Country Life, Ltd. 2005. p. 53. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  13. ↑ Service, Alastair (1 February 1977). Edwardian architecture: a handbook to building design in Britain 1890-1914. Oxford University Press. p. 199. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  14. ↑ Kite, Edward (1860). Monumental brasses of Wiltshire: a series of examples ... ranging from the 13th to the 17th centuries; accompanied with notices descriptive of ancient costume & ... illustrative of the history of the country during this period (Public domain ed.). Henry. pp. 74–. Retrieved 24 February 2012.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Upper Woodford.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Middle Woodford.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lower Woodford.