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The Long and the short of it: South Wraxall Manor and the Longs

Posted by: Blog Administrator on May 6, 2011

Tagged in: writer , Wiltshire , William Wellesley-Pole junior , widow , wealth , Vol. IX , Visitors Book , Thomas Larkins Walker , Thomas Critchley , Stag’s Horn , St. James’ Palace , South Wraxall Manor , son , Sir Walter Long , shooting , school , Samuel Sneade Brown , Rood Ashton and Draycot , Rev. Jackson , Rev. Dr. F. , retirement , reputation , relation , pupils , prosperous , property , poet , plaisaunce , Pedigree , partridge , pamphlet , owned , notorious , nephew , Mrs Knight , Mr Thomas Knight , Motto , Miss Knight , Miss Katherine Long , Medlicott , Long family , Long , letter , Kilvert , John Taylor , inherit , infatuated , India , horseracing , Gentleman’s Magazine , Gateway of South Wraxall Manor , frontispiece , fortune , folly , family , extravagance , Exeter , events , Etching , estates , Envy will lye , egotism , Duran Duran , Duke of Wellington , Draycot House , diary , destitute , debts , Dan Cruickshank , clothiers , clergyman , Charter House , Charlotte Anna Long , Catherine Tylney-Long , Bradford on Avon , bookseller , Bath , bass guitarist , Aubrey , article , Archives

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.


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

 
 Letter from Medlicott to Walter Long
947/1062, 1878
Letter from Medlicott to Walter Long















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The Great Flood of 1841

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Jan 21, 2011

Tagged in: Wylye valley , WSA 1336/98 , World War 1 , Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre , Wiltshire , William McGonagall’s , weather , waterproofs , Warminster , verses , Tilshead , The Great flood , thaw , Terry Bracher , Tay Railway Bridge disaster , story , Stoke Winterbourne , stanzas , souls , snow storm , Shrewton , Sarum , Salisbury Plain , River Wylye , River Till , records , rebuild , Project group , poetic , poem , Orcheston , newspapers , Maddington , local , letter , investigating , indexes , homeless , historical record , Hanging Langford , Flood Cottages , flash flood , event , Elston House , Elston , drowning , doggerel , document , disasters , destitute , currents charity , county , compassion , communities , commemorating , collections , Codford , Blewdon’s House , author , Ann Doughty , 1841 , 1789

I just happened to be trawling through some indexes to our records when a subject caught my eye - the Great flood in the Wylye Valley 1841. Now I am just about to visit the Wylye World War 1 Project group, one of several trips to the south of our county this week, and have an eye on the weather since the heavy rain over the last few days. Investigating this story in more detail it appears that the flood took place 170 years ago, almost to the day!  (Apparently there was a similar flood in 1789 around the same time of year - I am taking my waterproofs).  What particularly drew me to the reference was a note concerning a piece of doggerel about the event.

 

I have always been curious about doggerel and other poetic forms as an historical record commemorating events (and people), especially disasters, such as William McGonagall’s poem on the Tay Railway Bridge disaster of 1879. But what I found was even more astonishing; forget the 8 verses by McGonagall, our document contains 51 verses, in part 1, and a further 25 in part 2, a grand total of 76 stanzas detailing an event that, according to contemporary local newspapers, lasted a mere 12 hours, though with such force and hugely disastrous consequences for the local communities. The document (WSA 1336/98) is a transcript of a letter by Ann Doughty of Hanging Langford to her mother some days after the flood with a doggerel rhyme by an unknown author.

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So, just what Do our visitors come to see?

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Oct 1, 2010

Tagged in: wool , Wiltshire Wills Project , Wiltshire , wills , William Small , Walter Long , wages account books , visitors , Victoria County History , Urban District Council Committee Minutes , trade , tithe awards , Swindon New Town , survey , student , strong rooms , servant , search rooms , samples , Salisbury , road , resignation , researchers , requests , records , quest , Quaker Meeting House , publication , production team , pre-order , pattern book , parish , papers , painter , original , ordnance survey , ordination , order , Methuen , material , marriage , maps , manorial , Maiden Bradley , Long family , Local Studies Assistant , letter , Julie Davis , Japanese , inventory , interest , household , history group , Helpdesk Team , glazier , genealogists , estate , Edward Seymour , documents , diary , curate , Corsham Court , correspondence , cloth , church goods , church , catalogues , Archivists , Archives , admissions registers

I thought it may be of interest to take a look on your behalf at the kind of original documents visitors order out when they visit our search rooms, to give you an idea of the wide range of requests we receive for documents each day. I chose a day last week at random, and got peeking!

 
Pattern Book, Ref: 947/1802

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News from the Archives

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Sep 24, 2010

Tagged in: WSA3613 , WSA 490/909 , Winterslow , Wiltshire Record Society , volume 63 , village history , transport , Tisbury , threat of invasion , stone masons , Steve Hobbs , South Marston , source , social structure , securing , Savernake estate , registers , records , Quakers , preservation , photographs , parishioners , parish , News , national census , Napoleonic Wars , names , museum , marriages , Malmesbury , Ludgershall , Lloyd , letter , Joseph Ashe , John Snow , horse , History Centre , Great Bedwyn Friendly Society , Great Bedwyn , Gleanings from Wiltshire parish registers , full assessments , football , family , evacuation , Downton , Donhead St Mary , Devizes , deposited , compulsory rating , Claire Skinner , church rate book , Charlton , business , burials , bowls teams , Ben Lloyd , Beckhampton Down , baptisms , autopsy , assessments of tax , Assessed Taxes schedule , arrested , arms , Archives , Anglican , Amesbury , aliens , 3825/1 , 337/6/2 , 1847-1857 , 1695 , 1667

The registers and records of South Marston parish were recently deposited in the History Centre. Although the impact of this is somewhat lessened by the fact that we have had microfiche copies of the registers pre 1900 for over twenty years, nevertheless it is significant because it leaves only one Wiltshire parish, Ludgershall, outside the fold of the History Centre, quite an achievement in securing the permanent preservation of these vital records. Along with the registers, which go up to 1991, are records including a church rate book, 1847-1857, which is a useful source of names of parishioners at the end of the period of compulsory rating for Anglican churches.


 A 'Defence of the Realm' register entry found in the Winterslow parish registers. It shows the Wiltshire returns of 1803.
A 'Defence of the Realm' register entry found in the Winterslow parish registers. It shows the Wiltshire returns of 1803.



If you are interested in parish registers, you might like to look at a new publication by our very own Steve Hobbs: “Gleanings from Wiltshire parish registers”, which forms volume 63 in the excellent series of Wiltshire Record Society publications, available for use in the History Centre. Steve has uncovered a wealth of information about life in Wiltshire which goes beyond the bare facts of baptisms, marriages and burials. For example, did you know that the 1695 assessments of tax on births, marriages and burials provided the first national census? Very few of the full assessments survive, but the register of Donhead St Mary includes the full asessment, and records the status of all parishioners and amount of tax due. The population of that parish in 1695 is stated as 814. To find out more, please 'read more'...








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