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.

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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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WSA has a very large number of maps, from 16^th-20^th centuries, mainly manuscript surveys of individual parishes and estates. They come in various sizes, but one of the largest, was recently found in the attic of the parish office in Calne. Measuring 12 feet x 9 feet (3.6m x 2.75m), the equivalent of a good sized room in a modern house, it was so long that the only way to get it out of the house was for it to be lowered from a first floor window to the street below.

The map laid out on a row of tables

It is a beautifully drawn and accurately surveyed map of the parish of Calne also including Blackland and Calstone Wellington that was made by land surveyor Thomas Cruse in 1827 and 1828 at a scale of 20inches to the mile. The archive team at WSHC was alerted and brought it to the History Centre. It is a very important discovery because of the wealth of topographical information it provides about Calne more than 180 years ago. A copy of the schedule giving details of owners/occupiers field names, acreages and state of cultivation is held the archives as is the associated map of the borough. Years of neglect have taken its toll and the map cannot be available until it has been cleaned and conserved, although it is complete and there will virtually no loss of detail.

Detail of damage the map has sustained

It presents quite a challenge to the archive conservators as it is bigger that the vertical wall board on which maps are repaired, and will have to be repaired in sections. However, they are experienced in handling some large items, and once cleaned and mounted on a new cloth backing it will be available for researchers to use in the History Centre.

If you have enjoyed this article, the following entries may also be of interest:

The 200 Year Old Time Capsule

Why was Wiltshire 1st?

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Documents in WSA suggest that the famous Time Lord may have spent time in Malmesbury in the mid 17^th century.

A Dr Qui [the Latin for who] is mentioned several times between 1657 and 1675, and was an important person in the town. He was described as a surgeon in his marriage licence bond, when aged 40 he took a bride aged 26 from Wroughton. In Easter 1673 he signed a letter filed in the Quarter Sessions records as Alderman (Mayor) of Malmesbury.

He was buried in Malmesbury abbey church yard 1675, and his will was proved in the following year. However as fans of the TV series know only too well the Doctor has been re-incarnated at least ten times so evidence of his death may well have been exaggerated.

Alderton deeds saved for Wiltshire
Although most of the archives placed in our care are deposited on loan or outright gift, we do purchase material of particular importance. In August we were alerted to sale of about 150 medieval deeds relating to the estates of the Gore family of Alderton, a small parish in North West Wiltshire. Unfortunately in order to maximise the vendor’s profit they were broken up into many separate lots. Principal archivist Claire Skinner spent a stressful but exciting morning bidding by telephone at an auction taking place in Norfolk, and managed to purchase about half of the lots (95 deeds) which covered the earliest documents. This was achieved by a combination of our own budget and generous contributions from the Friends of the National Libraries, and Wiltshire Family History Society.

Close-up of the earliest Alderton deed purchased in 2009 – reference 3815/1/1
Grant by William Lycame of Alderton (spelt Aldrynton here) to John Bovetoun and Christine his wife, of the rent of a grain of wheat for a tenement, dated 1332. The deed is in Latin, which was the language of the law until 1733.

Many of the deeds have seals attached which illustrate the craftsmanship and vitality of medieval small scale sculpture. A good example is the punning seal of William Gore which has a bull’s head between his initials. To find out more and see if you can help us with identifying a family and church in some photographs dating back to the 1950s please 'read more'...

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