Bremilham
| Bremilham | |
| Wiltshire | |
|---|---|
 Bremilham Church, Cowage Farm | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST903860 |
| Location: | 51°34’23"N, 2°8’28"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Malmesbury |
| Postcode: | SN16 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Wiltshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North Wiltshire |
Bremilham, also known as Cowage or Cowich, is a small settlement and ancient parish in the Malmesbury Hundred of Wiltshire. It is near the hamlet of Foxley in the civil parish of Norton. The nearest town is Malmesbury, about two miles away to the north-east.[1]
The place-name 'Bremilham' is first attested in 1065, as 'Bremelham', and means 'village where brambles or blackberries grew'.[2] In 1831, the population of the parish was 33. On some present-day maps, only Cowage Farm is shown.[3]
Bremilham was a civil parish[4] until 1893 when it was united with that of Foxley.[5] In 1934 Foxley (with Bremilham) was transferred to the civil parish of Norton.
Church
There was probably a chapel at Bremilham in 1179, when Amesbury priory was granted the tithes; by 1289 there was a rector.[4] In 1874 the benefice was united with Foxley,[6] and from 1951 Foxley with Bremilham was held in plurality with that of Corston with Rodbourne.[7] Today the parish is part of the Gauzebrook group of churches.[8]
Bremilham's tiny Church of England church claims to be the smallest in England, measuring ten feet by eleven feet. It is either the surviving part of a 15th-century church (Historic England)[9] or a mid-nineteenth century rebuild on the site of the chancel of the demolished church, for use as a mortuary chapel (Victoria County History).[4] The building was recorded as Grade-II listed in 1986.[9]
One service is held each year.[10] The church has no dedication and the parish registers go back only to 1813.[11]
References
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bremilham) |
- ↑ Bremilham gazette page at genuki.org.uk, accessed 6 January 2011
- ↑ Eilert Ekwall, Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, p. 63.
- ↑ Bremilham at genuki.org.uk, accessed 6 January 2011
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Victoria County History – Wiltshire – Vol 14 pp9–13 – Parishes: Bremilham". University of London. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol14/pp9-13. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
- ↑ "Norton". Wiltshire Council. http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getcom.php?id=173. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
- ↑ London Gazette: no. 24095, p. 2575, 15 May 1874.
- ↑ London Gazette: no. 39333, p. 4826, 14 September 1951.
- ↑ "Foxley with Bremilham". https://sites.google.com/site/gauzebrookchurches/our-churches/foxley-with-bremilham. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 National Heritage List 1023220: Former chancel of Bremilham church
- ↑ "Foxley Parish Church, Foxley w Bremilham". Church of England. http://www.achurchnearyou.com/foxley-bremilham/. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
- ↑ "Bremilham Church, Norton". Wiltshire Council. http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getchurch.php?id=1326. Retrieved 20 March 2015.