Alvediston
| Alvediston | |
| Wiltshire | |
|---|---|
 The Crown, Alvediston | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST976236 |
| Location: | 51°-0’43"N, 2°2’10"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 106 (2011[1]) |
| Post town: | Salisbury |
| Postcode: | SP5 |
| Dialling code: | 01722 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Wiltshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
South West Wiltshire |
Alvediston is a small village and parish in the Chalk Hundred of Wiltshire, about seven miles east of Shaftesbury and 11 miles south-west of Salisbury. The area is the source of the River Ebble and is within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 to 1957 and won the 1955 general election for the Conservatives, lived at Alvediston Manor from 1966 until his death in 1977.[2] He was buried in St Mary's churchyard.[3]
History
Prehistoric sites in the parish include three Bronze Age bowl barrows on Trow Down[4] and a field system from the same era at Elcombe Down.[2]
Much of the land was granted to the nuns of Wilton Abbey in 955.[2] Fragmentary records from Saxon times indicate that the Ebble valley was a thriving area. The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded the division of the Chalke Valley into eight manors: Chelke (Chalke), Eblesborne (Ebbesbourne Wake), Fifehide (Fifield Bavant), Cumbe (Coombe Bissett), Humitone (Homington), Odestoche (Odstock), Stradford (Stratford Tony) and Trow. Alvediston emerged in 1156 as Alfweiteston, formed from the western part of Ebbesbourne Wake and the small manor of Trow.[5] The manor passed to the Crown at the Dissolution, then in 1541 to Sir William Herbert who became Earl of Pembroke. Alvediston manor remained with the Pembrokes until 1918 when it was sold as two farms, Church Farm and Elcombe Farm.[2]
Norrington manor was recorded as held from the king in 1210-1212.[2] It was owned by the Gawen family from 1377 to 1658 and then by the Wyndham family until 1952.[6]
Religious sites
The Church of England parish church of St Mary[7] is Grade-II* listed.[8] It was rebuilt in 1866 by T.H. Wyatt using elements from an earlier church dating back to the 12th century.[9]
A Primitive Methodist chapel was built in 1894 and closed sometime before 1951.[10] As of 2019 the building was standing but unused.
Notable buildings
Norrington Manor is a Grade-I listed 14th-century Manor House.[11]
The Crown Inn (built as a pair of cottages in the mid-17th century)[12] and the Manor House (mid-18th)[13] are Grade II listed.
Amenities
Alvediston has a pub, the Crown Inn. The parish has no school; a small National school was built in 1872 and closed in 1922.[14]
References
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Alvediston) |
- ↑ "Wiltshire Community History - Census". Wiltshire Council. http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getcensus.php?item=Alvediston. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Victoria County History - Wiltshire - Vol 13 pp6-16 - Parishes: Alvediston". University of London. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol13/pp6-16. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
- ↑ "Anthony Eden (1897 - 1977) - Find A Grave Memorial". Findagrave.com. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11440. Retrieved 2014-02-27.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1020956: Three bowl barrows on Trow Down
- ↑ Meers, Peter (2006). "Ebbesbourne Wake Through the Ages" (PDF). Southwilts.com. http://www.southwilts.com/site/Ebbesbourne-Wake-Through-The-Ages/EWTTA3.pdf. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
- ↑ "Alvediston". Wiltshire Council. http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getcom2.php?id=6. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
- ↑ "Alvediston - St Mary's". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304222331/http://www.chalkevalley.org.uk/alvediston/. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1318670: Church of St Mary, Alvediston
- ↑ "Church of St. Mary, Alvediston". Wiltshire Council. http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getchurch.php?id=1594. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
- ↑ "Primitive Methodist Chapel, Alvediston". Wiltshire Council. http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getchurch.php?id=1595. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1318666: Norrington Manor
- ↑ National Heritage List 1300374: The Crown Inn, Alvediston
- ↑ National Heritage List 1130703: The Manor, Alvediston
- ↑ "National School, Alvediston". Wiltshire Council. http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getschool.php?id=1527. Retrieved 28 August 2015.