After thousands attended the official ceremony last Sunday, during which Princess Anne presented Letters Patent on behalf of the Queen, we here at the History Centre would also like to pay tribute to the role the town has made on behalf of the repatriated military personnel and their families.

To do this I thought we could take an eclectic look back at some other moments in time when Wootton Basset people also played their part…

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Hello, my name is Terry Bracher, Archives and Local Studies Manager and along with my colleague Laurel Miller, who is our Heritage Education Officer, one of my favourite jobs is to help co-ordinate one of the History Centre’s big annual events, which is our Open Day. It takes place on Saturday 1st October from 10am – 4pm. Last year we had over a thousand people visit the History Centre at our Open Day participating in a range of family fun activities and this year looks like being as popular.

The Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre

Of course, a lot of planning goes into the event, but did you know that we start almost once the previous Open Day has ended? First we have to review the activities that took place and look at your wonderful and informative feedback to see what was successful and if anything worked less well, so that we can make improvements the following year.

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 Just recently I and a friend were offered the brilliant opportunity to work at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre for two days a week in August. Initially hoping to gain just some kind of work experience during the holidays, we expected very little, so to be able to access the archives and undertake research at one of the country’s best resources for history has been a great privilege.

Mere's celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee

            What immediately has impressed us upon entry to the centre was the sheer enthusiasm of the staff, in particular Terry Bracher, who immediately set us out on a project. Due to the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 10 months, we were tasked with gathering as much information as possible about festivities that occurred in Wiltshire on the day of Queen Victoria’s same celebration a mere 115 years prior. This provided us with a fascinating insight into the life of a historian, as we were trawling through countless school log books, to occasionally find a golden nugget of information. For instance, we discovered that Church of England Schools seemed to value this day far more, with far more detailed accounts, possibly showing that even then the monarchy was not as widely received by the mass public.               

After initially utilising some of the 8 mile long archives for our research, we then moved on to the microfilm, giving us an example of how much media has changed over the last century. Still accessing information on the activities of June 20^th 1897, we used the newspapers to extract more detailed accounts of events such as the processions and street gatherings, in and around Wiltshire. For example, the Swindon Advertiser gave a terrific description of what the celebrations in London as well as Swindon, while another paper interviewed an Indian serviceman who was ‘mesmerised’ by the wonderful sense of occasion nationwide. Accessing terrifically vivid photos as well, we have been able to truly learn about a fascinating time in Britain’s history.

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Over 100 people attended two key events organised by the Archaeology Service as part of the annual Festival of British Archaeology fortnight.

Barbury Castle Iron Age hillfort
The first, on 31^st July, centred on Barbury Castle Iron Age hillfort near Wroughton, followed by a guided 5km walk along the historic Ridgeway to the white horse hill figure on Hackpen Hill.


Hackpen Hill.

The chalk and downland landscape in this part of Wiltshire boasts a rich mix of prehistoric and medieval archaeology and provided plenty of opportunity for questions and discussion from the 30-strong group, as well as endless photo opportunities. Informative and enjoyable, this walk through time, from the Neolithic to Queen Victoria, showed how nature and heritage combine to give Wiltshire its very special environment.


Littlecote Roman villa

The following day, some 70 people joined a guided tour of Littlecote Roman villa near Hungerford. A guided talk focussed on the famous “Orpheus” mosaic, influenced by the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as fine examples of Roman villa architecture, resulting in plenty of “oohs” and “aahs” at this very photogenic private site. The group included a broad range of ages and backgrounds, united by their appreciation of the very special archaeological features on display, all brought to life through this event. The site was fully excavated between 1978-1991, with publication of the results due out soon. To find out more, please 'read more'...

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Hello, I am Terry Bracher, Archives and Local Studies Manager here at the History Centre.  Browsing through part of photographic collection I came across a photo of elephants bathing in the River Avon in Chippenham town centre in 1906. The elephants were part of a travelling circus and the Avon at Chippenham clearly provided a welcome break for the elephants as they walked to the venue for their next performance. Now I have always had an interest in historical curiosities and this led me to ask colleagues if they had come across any other curious animal related tales throughout Wiltshire, with the aim of creating our top ten animal tales, so long as they followed a simple rule - the animals could not be farm animals (unless they did something especially curious) and they had to have been see alive and well at some point in Wiltshire’s history.

The Elephants in Chippenham, 1906

But let’s start with animals that do not count. I would have liked to include the dancing bears of Lacock. They were a familiar site in the nineteenth century, being led into the village along with musicians and other entertainers. Looking through the book “Chippenham and Lacock in Old Photographs” I was astonished to see a picture of a dancing bear in the late 1930’s. Sadly, on closer inspection this was a photo of the 1938 pageant with a Mr Bob Vines in convincing pose playing the part of the bear, together with his “handler” his brother Eric Vines. This could be a whole new category in itself. 'Read more' to find out about some dramatic events involving animals in Wiltshire....

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