WBR’s latest exploits have led us to Highworth, in the north-east of Wiltshire. This pretty Cotswold town was planted in the 13^th century with a market place, main street and a church behind, laid out in a regular pattern. The property boundaries of the original burgage plots are still to be seen preserved in the modern boundaries.

We were called to look at 23 High Street, coincidentally just next door to the rather spectacular Inigo House, (which had no connection with Inigo Jones by the way, it is merely a very distinguished-looking town house) which Wiltshire Buildings Record looked at two years before.

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Archive conservation staff are to be reunited with an ‘old friend’ with their latest project.

The letters of John Russell in the Eyre-Matcham archive document his career as a naval administrator at Woolwich, then Deptford, as Consul General in Lisbon and Consul in Morocco.

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Can you guess what it is? If a previous member of Wiltshire Buildings Record hadn’t identified this feature I doubt I would have been able to. The team was called to look at Littleton House, Littleton Pannell, in the parish of West Lavington.

The Feature in Question...

This old farmhouse had been owned by generations of Pococks who farmed the land for sheep and arable. The house itself goes back to the 17^th century at least, and successive owners have each put their own stamp on it. Narrow mullioned windows gave way to broad, airy sashes in the 18^th century, and chunky, louring beams to fine plastered ceilings in the 19^th century.

As time went on the living accommodation proliferated, with more specialised functions being carried out in different rooms. By the end of the 19^th century there were in addition to the usual reception rooms and kitchens a dairy, butler’s pantry, pump house, brew house, coal and wood house, as well as separate cellars for wine and for beer. To find out the identity of the feature, please 'read more'...

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It is always hard to single out any particular collection as a favourite, but some are obviously outstanding due to the sheer scope and variety of their contents. One of the great treasures at Wiltshire and Swindon Archives is the archive of the Earls of Radnor, of Longford Castle, near Salisbury in Wiltshire. Part of the archive is an uncatalogued collection referenced 1946, which has recently been added to thanks to a very generous loan of archive material from the current Earl. This is the subject of a bid for funding to enable us to catalogue and make this fascinating archive more accessible to everyone.

This autograph letter of Elizabeth I forms part of the collection

The uncatalogued archives of the Earls of Radnor in collection 1946 supplement the earlier deposit 490 (see: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a). The material in 490 contained mainly estate material, and 1946 also includes some manorial and other estate records which will be of enormous importance for local history and will benefit the continuing production of the Victoria County History of Wiltshire. Importantly, however, 1946 broadens the scope of 490, as it also contains a lot of unique material relating to the building, maintenance and governance of Longford Castle and its household, which will be of great interest to anyone researching either the house or its contents, including its famous art collection. The records also include family and personal material. However, the records do not just shed light on nobility but will also be of interest to family historians wanting to find out about ancestors who were involved with the Radnor family. The records include wage books and accounts for both household servants and agricultural labourers, dating back to the early 19th century. Please 'read more' to find out which other interesting documents can be found in the collection...

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This week I was asked to look at King John’s hunting lodge in Lacock. As might be expected from its position next to St Cyriac’s Church this rather unprepossessing building, now a tea-room, was likely to be a building of some importance. Documentary research so far has been unsuccessful in establishing the early history, so it is not known for certain whether King John enjoyed forays into the forest of Melksham from this spot. Lacock was only a small settlement when the Conqueror took his Domesday survey. The village seen today is supposed to have been planted or planned by Ela, the first Abbess of Lacock, which itself was situated at this previous settlement.

 
The Hunting Lodge

The front of the lodge building is of earlier 18^th century appearance in a comfortable, cottagey style, having a rubblestone construction with stone mullioned windows. The upper floor windows peep forwards from a deep tiled roof. The proprietor, Mrs Vaughan, lives in the Lodge and keeps her tea-room in the old stable at the rear. The stable itself is 19^th century in date but the lodge holds all the early interest. A heavy timber cross-frame seen in the entrance hall is all that is left of 13^th century two-storeyed timber building. One pointed-arched doorway of a group of 4 remains today. It must have once led into a now-vanished buttery or pantry, with the upper pair of doorways leading into bed-chambers or solar. The ground level has also since risen so one can imagine mediaeval ghosts passing through the doorway up to their knees in concrete, perhaps dragging a deer carcase into the larder. Please 'read more'...

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