Following the death in October of David Croft, co-creator of the much loved classic TV series Dad’s Army which was based on his own experiences as a member of the Home Guard, I was interested to find out how the Home Guard operated in Wiltshire.

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 As the New Year is now upon us, I thought to take a look at how some of our previous Wiltshire inhabitants spent their New Years’ Day by taking a look at their diary entries. The authors’ backgrounds range from lords to schoolboys, schoolmasters to reverends, and how different their experiences of New Year were…

Advert from the Wiltshire Times, 1st January, 1910, p.7

It was the plague that was the main concern at the beginning of January in 1666 when Sir Edward Bayntun of Bromham noted in his Commonplace Book on January 6^th  :

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The Wiltshire Community History web site – http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/ - has scored a century this week. 100 completed communities are now on the site with the recent appearance of Langley Burrell. This is the parish where the diarist Francis Kilvert served his father as curate in the 1870s and recorded many local people and events.

The Church of St. Peter, Langley Burrell, where the diarist Francis Kilvert was curate

Every completed community has short histories of the civil parish and of each church, chapel and school. There are maps from 1773, prints and photographs old and new, population tables, and information on historic buildings, local authors and literary associations. Links take you to all archaeological sites in each parish and to all wills proved at Salisbury Diocesan Court between the 1530s and 1857.
You can also ask us local history questions and get e-mailed replies, look at about 9,400 pages from important early books on Wiltshire, find the words of over 1,000 folk songs and over 40 Mummers’ plays collected in the county, and see locations of photographs and sites plotted on aerial photographs and maps.
Back in Langley Burrell you find information on another famous resident, Maud Heath. In 1474 she gave property and land to finance a causeway from the top of Wick Hill in Bremhill to Chippenham Market. The trust she set up continued to maintain it and you can still walk this 15th century pathway today.


Part of the 1811 structure of 64 arches that carries Maud Heath’s Causeway over the lowlands by the river Avon



In 1698 the Maud Heath Trust erected this 12 foot high monument by the river at Kellaways. This features a three faced block sundial with Latin inscriptions


1966 Memorial plaque to Francis Kilvert in Langley Burrell Church

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