Staverton, Wiltshire
| Staverton | |
| Wiltshire | |
|---|---|
 Staverton Marina | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST857601 |
| Location: | 51°20’24"N, 2°12’22"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 1,868 (2011) |
| Post town: | Trowbridge |
| Postcode: | BA14 |
| Dialling code: | 01225 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Wiltshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Chippenham |
Staverton is a village in the west of Wiltshire, about two miles north Trowbridge's town centre and three miles east of Bradford on Avon.
The village has a pub, the Old Bear Inn.
Widbrook Wood is just outside the parish, on the other side of the Biss.
History
Staverton developed near a crossing point of the River Avon, on a road between Trowbridge and Holt. The road bridge may date from the 15th century and was rebuilt in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.[1] The Avon forms the entire north and west boundary of the parish, while its tributary the Biss is the boundary in the southwest. The Kennet and Avon Canal, built in 1804, is the boundary to the south and south-east.
The early settlement was around a watermill and on the nearby higher ground near the church. The Old Bear Inn is from the early 19th century,[2] and there are two rows of three-storey weavers' cottages from the 18th or 19th.[3]
An Ordnance Survey map of 1958 shows only the school and roadside dwellings south of the village, between the railway and the canal. Later in the 20th century, a great deal of housing was built here, followed by a marina for canal users, with waterside houses and apartments.[4] These developments made the built-up area contiguous with Hilperton, on the other side of the canal. The population of the parish increased from 453 at the 2001 census to 1,868 in 2011.
Railway
The Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway was opened through the parish on 2 September 1848, linking the Great Western Main Line at Thingley Junction with Trowbridge and Westbury, and forming a route from London to the West Country.
Near where the road passed over the line south of the village, a small station called 'Staverton Halt' was opened on 15 October 1905, largely to serve workers at Staverton Mill. At the time this was a factory producing condensed milk for the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Co. and a private siding to serve it was constructed in 1931, tankers being brought from Westbury after detachment from one of the Penzance to London milk trains.
A victim of the Beeching Axe, the halt closed on 16 April 1966 along with the three other stations between Chippenham and Trowbridge then still extant. Scheduled passenger services continued to use the line intermittently until 1978, after which time the line remained open to freight traffic and as a diversionary route.[5][6] Regular passenger services were restored to the line in 1985.
Churches
A chapel of ease at Staverton was recorded in the 14th century, belonging to the church of St James at Trowbridge. The chapel dedicated to St Paul was rebuilt and enlarged on the same site in 1826 and became a church in 1839 when Staverton became a separate ecclesiastical parish. The porch was added in 1861.[7]
Changes in 1954 brought St Mary's Church at Hilperton Marsh into the parish, and the name of the parish became Staverton with Hilperton Marsh. St Paul's closed in 2011 due to dwindling numbers and was offered for sale.[8][9] St Mary's continues as the parish church, now part of the Canalside Benefice.[10]
A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1824 and closed in 1985.[11]
Staverton Mill
- Main article: Staverton Mill
There has been a mill on the River Avon at Staverton since at least the 11th century, when it was mentioned in the Domesday Book.[12] Over the centuries the mill has been used for corn and for fulling woollen cloth; later the site became a rubber factory belonging to Stephen Moulton. Today it is the location of a Nestlé breakfast cereal factory, operated by subsidiary Cereal Partners UK. The large, landmark chimney at the factory was removed in November 2011.[13]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Staverton, Wiltshire) |
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1364101: Road bridge over River Avon (Grade II listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1364092: The Old Bear Inn (Grade II listing)
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Wiltshire, 1963; 1975 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09659-0page 480
- ↑ Staverton: Wiltshire Community History
- ↑ Oakley, Mike (2004). Wiltshire Railway Stations. Wimborne: The Dovecote Press. p. 123. ISBN 1904349331.
- ↑ Quayle, H. I. (March 1981). Open or Shut?. 127. Sutton: IPC Transport Press. 109–13.
- ↑ Church of St. Paul, Staverton: Wiltshire Community History
- ↑ "Staverton Church shuts its doors". 19 February 2011. http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/8862323.Staverton_Church_shuts_its_doors/.
- ↑ Church Commissioners (4 August 2015). "Explanatory note re disposal of Staverton St Paul". https://www.churchofengland.org/media/2270451/staverton%20scheme.pdf.
- ↑ "St Mary Magdalene, Hilperton Marsh". http://canalsidebenefice.org.uk/our-churches/hilperton-marsh/.
- ↑ Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Staverton: Wiltshire Community History
- ↑ "Wiltshire P-Z". The Doomsday Book Online. http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/wiltshire3.html.
- ↑ "Landmark chimney demolished". Wiltshire Times. 11 November 2011. http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/9358738.Landmark_chimney_demolished/.
