Hi there I'm Dorothy Treasure and I'm the Building Recorder for Wiltshire County Council.  

It's funny how you think you get to know a place like Chippenham and then it surprises you. I was asked to look at the Rose and Crown pub in the town centre the other day with Mike Stone, curator of Chippenham Museum. This very fine hostelry has recently changed hands and the new owner, Dave Purton, was keen to find out as much as possible about the historic fabric. It dates from the 14^th or 15^th centuries and was originally timber-framed in a very ancient way using crucks - a form not seen in Wiltshire after about 1500. I wasn't expecting to do more than explore the ground and first floors so was dressed in my usual office garb of dress and best coat. I hadn't reckoned on Dave's intrepidity! Mike and I were persuaded to climb through a tiny loft opening to investigate. A good many years had passed since the last gymnast had navigated the timbers of that ancient roof and the dust had settled pretty thickly.

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Hi, I'm Michael Marshman, the County Local Studies Librarian. Claire Skinner (Principal Archivist) and I have been working with local school children recently. At King's Lodge School in Chippenham we helped two Year 5 classes prepare for their individual local history project by working with a 2 thousand year time line, maps, newspapers and old photographs. At Pinehurst in Swindon we worked with 60 Year 3 children on old maps and photographs, while children from Gorse Hill School came to the History Centre to learn about life at home during the Second World War. I've also visited North Bradley School to talk about Roman life in Britain and the villa at Bradford on Avon using models made by pupils from St. Laurence's School, Bradford.

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In the last two years the Archaeology Service staff have been involved in a really exciting project just outside Chippenham. About five years ago, the remains of a small Roman building came to light, located in a hidden valley near Castle Combe. 

Below  is the plan of Truckle Hill Roman bath house: the three phases of construction as discovered in 2007.

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