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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Marlborough Mound has for so long been the subject of debate as to its true age. Was it constructed as a medieval motte (castle mound) or is it in fact substantially older, the same age in fact as nearby Silbury Hill, the iconic prehistoric earthwork?

18th Century Drawing of The Marlborough Mound

The Blog can now bring you the definitive answer – and it is reshaping how we understand the ancient Wessex landscape it inhabits. The mound, definitively used as a medieval fortified settlement, was already three-and-a-half thousand years old when the Normans arrived! This makes it the same age as the pyramids in Egypt!

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I have visited several churches recently and photographed some really interesting features in their interiors. When a church is unlocked you will often find some good architectural and artistic work that has survived many centuries and Victorian restorations. The font can often be the oldest surviving feature of the church and may be Saxon or Norman. There can also be wall paintings, remains of medieval stained glass, 17^th century woodwork, royal coats of arms, carved medieval stone heads and much, much more. I’d like share a few of my pictures with you.
 

A very fine early 15^th century rood screen in the Church of St. Swithin at Compton Bassett. Not at all what would expect to find in a small village church but it is believed to have been brought from Salisbury Cathedral, or possibly Winchester Cathedral, in the 18^th century.

 
The Rood Screen, St. Swithun's Church, Compton Bassett

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Dan Cruickshank has just taken a fascinating look at South Wraxall Manor, and to supplement his visit I thought I’d have a look in our archives for any quirky or unusual information on both the manor and Long family who initially made their fortune as clothiers.

P40652
South Wraxall Manor

A. C. Martin restored the gardens at South Wraxall Manor for Richardson Cox between 1900 and 1902. He laid out the gardens whilst restoring the manor. By 1968 a geometrical island and sundial had found their way into an earlier circular swimming pool.


 
947/1787/1 Gateway of South Wraxall Manor, 1860s

 
 
947/1062, 1878
Letter from Medlicott to Walter Long

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By the end of this year the volunteers of Purton Historical Society are hoping that the name and achievements of Nevil Maskelyne will be known throughout the land (or at least Wiltshire!).

The Society has managed to secure a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to commemorate the life of one of Purton’s greatest sons, the Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne who died 200 years ago in 1811.

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The Festival of British Archaeology, an annual nationwide event, takes place this year from Saturday 16 until Sunday 31 July.  The Archaeology Service are keen to build on the success of their events last summer and are running two further days for the public this year.  All events in The Festival aim to promote archaeology and are usually very well attended. To book your place or to find out more information, please see the contact details below via 'read more'.
 

Mere Castle and White Sheet Hill – Guided Walk

The first event is an exciting guided walk from Mere Castle, which is located just north of Castle Street in the village of Mere.  Mere lies at the extreme south western tip of Salisbury Plain, close to the borders of Somerset and Dorset.  The walk takes in the medieval castle and it’s adjacent Bronze Age round barrows as well as the prehistoric monuments of the down edge.  Surrounded by an incredibly beautiful landscape, the walk will continue across to the spectacular Neolithic Causewayed Camp of White Sheet Hill.

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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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“There is no place in England quite like it. Savernake is an epitome of every phase of beauty in our countryside”

                                                                                                                      Arthur Mee 

If you travel down “The King’s Way” from Marlborough you will pass through Savernake Forest. Before WWII Savernake was ‘one of the largest areas of virgin forest land in England, having a continuous wooded area greater than the New Forest [2].

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I feel I can safely say that almost no town, village or hamlet in the county has been untouched by fire at some point during its history. It must have been an ever-present fear for every community; all that was needed was one little spark. Barns and hayricks were often to be found in the proximity of dwellings, and fire could quickly spread…

 
Ramsbury Fire Brigade attending a house fire in Oxford Street, Ramsbury, early 20th century
Ref: P6106

All houses were constructed of flammable materials, with thatch roofs being particularly vulnerable. When added to this the presence of naked flames, it presented a high degree of risk to person, property and livelihood.

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