My name is Beth Werrett and I am a conservator for the Wiltshire Conservation Service. I recently treated an extremely unusual table, which was inlaid with fossils; the object was so popular in our building it seemed like an excellent candidate for discussion on our blog.

 
Condition of the table before any conservation work was carried out

Background

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 Wiltshire was largely ignored by the 19^th century collectors of folk songs and it was left to a South Marston man, Alfred Williams, the hammerman poet of Swindon Railway Works. He was self educated, fluent in several languages, translated poetry from Asiatic languages and published several books, despite remaining a poor working man all his life. Between 1914 and 1916, owing to poor health he collected 600 songs from people in the Upper Thames Valley before joining the Royal Field Artillery.

 
Illustration of Score (truly local carol)

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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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With the longest day and the solstice celebrations at Avebury and Stonehenge our thoughts have turned to summer and summers past. In a rural county this was an important time with a succession of harvests that involved whole families for many weeks. In the 19^th century the school summer holiday was known as Harvest Holiday and was often adjusted if the grain harvest was early or late.

18th century representation of a Wiltshire shepherd

Children were often kept away from school to help in the fields, bring refreshments to their working parents or look after younger siblings. Women who apparently had no job according to census records would work long hours in the fields at such seasonal work. To find out more about how the season has made its mark on the Wiltshire landscape, please 'read more'...

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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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