A little while back Wiltshire Buildings Record carried out a group-effort recording at Bushton, Clyffe Pypard. This was a day where members who are interested in picking up recording skills and recognising Wiltshire features in vernacular houses can go along and learn informally, whilst gathering information for the Record.

Cruck apex

The exterior of the main house is of 2 storeys of whitewashed brick and rubble with a netted thatched roof. Nothing was discerned of the medieval origins of this house from outside. Inside the old hall was a bacon smoking chamber, the lower part still accessible. There may have been access at first floor level to hang the meat for curing. The hearth there was of chalkstone and brick. What is curious is that in the centre are a group of taper burn marks, or hot poker marks alongside the initials ‘TP’. In the world of vernacular architecture debate has long ranged about how these marks came about and why. They are found in many farmhouses and cottages, not only in Wiltshire, but nationally. At last, with determined study by Nick Hill and others at English Heritage it is now thought that these singe marks were done deliberately to ward off accidental fires in the same way that we inoculate our children with a weakened disease agent to guard against a more virulent form taking hold later on. This may be difficult for us to comprehend in our largely secular, scientifically-run society, but in the not so very distant past people were superstitious, and as well as believing in witches they thoroughly believed in magic. It is instances like this that make our interpretation of the past so tricky as we instinctively judge with our own modern values until we learn better.

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 Pinhills is an old farmhouse tucked away in the heart of the Bowood Estate. It has a very interesting history. There are a number of ancient trees in the woodlands around, including at one time the pine trees which John Aubrey claimed gave the settlement its name, a corruption of ‘Pine hill’. However, the name is now thought more likely to be simply a corruption of ‘Pen’, the Celtic word for hill, reflecting the settlement’s prominent position, to which over time the repetition of ‘hill’ has been added, when understanding of the meaning of ‘pen’ faded, as has happened with Pendle Hill, in Lancashire.

 
Taken from the Calne tithe map, 1844

The manor of Pinhills was held for a long time by the Blake family, who had connections with other noble local families, such as the Goddards, Baynards and Hungerfords. Their coat of arms could be seen in a stained glass window in Calne Church until the steeple fell in on it in 1639.

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Just before Christmas WBR looked at a farmhouse in the hamlet of Southcott, within the parish of Pewsey. It was the usual story – an old farm which was worked by generations of farmers is no longer viable. The lands are sold off and the farmhouse is turned into a country hideaway for busy people. The transition from rural dwelling to sophisticated mansion necessitates a good lot of tweaking of the original fabric to bring it up to date, as well as extending the accommodation to provide services such as our rustic forbears would never have dreamed of (Southcott has a swimming pool and sauna!).

The hamlet of Southcott, c.1960
Ref: P48999

Part of our remit is to look into the history of those that lived there before, and take a peek at what they were doing, partly to inform us as to how the building might have been used at a particular time, and although not strictly necessary, what sort of people they were.

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