Aldbourne

Aldbourne
St. Michael's parish church and village green
Aldbourne  Aldbourne shown within Wiltshire
Population	1,833 (2011 Census)
OS grid reference	SU265756
Unitary authority	Wiltshire
Ceremonial county	Wiltshire
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Marlborough
Postcode district	SN8
Dialling code	01672
Police	Wiltshire
Fire	Wiltshire
Ambulance	South Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Devizes
Website	The Aldbourne Net
List of places UK England Wiltshire

Aldbourne is a village and civil parish about 6 miles (10 km) northeast of Marlborough in Wiltshire, England. It is in a valley in the south slope of the Lambourn Downs, part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. From here an unnamed winterbourne flows and joins the River Kennet 4 miles (6 km) south near the village of Ramsbury. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,833.

The parish includes the hamlets of Upper Upham and Woodsend, and part of the hamlet of Preston which straddles the boundary with Ramsbury parish. The small village of Snap was deserted in the early 20th century.

History

Lewisham Castle

Lewisham Castle is a small medieval ringwork about south-west of the village. It is not certain whether it was in fact a castle.

In the English Civil War a Royalist force led by Prince Rupert fought a Parliamentarian force in a skirmish at Aldbourne Chase on 18 September 1643, two days before the First Battle of Newbury.

A Baptist chapel was opened in 1841 in Back Lane and rebuilt as New Zoar Chapel in 1868. The chapel was sold in 1914 and demolished at some time after 1931; its burial ground survives.

A Primitive Methodist chapel opened in West Street in about 1840, and a new chapel was built on the same site in 1906. Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel in Lottage Road in 1807, which was rebuilt in 1844. In 1968 both groups of Methodists combined to build Aldbourne Methodist Church in a newly built hall in Lottage Road; the old chapel in West Street was demolished in 1982.

Easy Company of the US Army 101st Airborne Division was based at Aldbourne in 1944, in the months before D-Day and before Operation Market Garden. The company was featured in the HBO series Band of Brothers.

Two disused village pumps survive in the village.

St Michael's parish church

The Church of England parish church of Saint Michael overlooking the village green is medieval and a Grade I listed building. The nave and aisles were built around 1200, although some earlier Norman arches and other traces remain. There are four arches on the north arcade and three on the south. The chancel is Early English, with north and south chapels, and a sanctuary with lancet windows.

The Perpendicular Gothic three-stage tower was added in 1460. It is ashlar, has angled buttresses and transomed three-light bell openings, with gargoyles above. There are also transepts with three-light windows, a tall south porch – originally two-storey – and a bay between the porch and south transept. There was also a north porch until the building was restored by William Butterfield in 1863-67. The external walls are of flint and limestone with some chequer work and sarsen, and are crenellated. The roofs are lead and slate. The interior contains a number of monuments and monumental brasses.

Bell foundry

For at least 130 years Aldbourne had a bell foundry. Master-founders at Aldbourne included Robert Cor (active 1694–1724), William Cor (active 1696–1722), Oliver Cor (active 1725–27), John Cor (active 1728–50), John Stares (active 1744–46), Edward Read (active 1751–57), Edne Witts (active 1759–74), Robert I Wells (active 1760–81), Robert II Wells (active 1781–93) and James Wells (active 1792–1826). Bells cast by the Cor and Wells families survive at parish churches including Alvescot, Ashbury, Berwick St John, Blewbury, Church Hanborough, East Challow, Drayton, East Lockinge, Faringdon, Great Coxwell, Horspath, Lechlade, Marcham, Marsh Baldon, Seend, Sutton Courtenay, West Hanney and others.

Governance

The Crown pub

The civil parish elects a parish council. It is in the area of Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which is responsible for all significant local government functions.

The parish is in the Aldbourne and Ramsbury electoral ward, which includes Baydon in the north, Froxfield in the south and Ramsbury to the southwest of Aldbourne. The 2011 Census recorded the ward's population as 5,231.

Amenities

Aldbourne has two public houses: the Blue Boar and The Crown, and a sports and social club. There is a Co-Op supermarket and a village shop which houses a Post Office and a cafe. Aldbourne has had a village library since the 1930s, which has been in its present location on South Street for nearly 30 years.

The village has a primary school, St. Michael’s C of E (Aided) School. Built in 1963, the school is on the site of a National school which opened in 1858.

Heritage Centre

Aldbourne Heritage Centre

Main article: Aldbourne Heritage Centre

Next to the Crown Inn is the Heritage Centre, a museum run by the Aldbourne Community Heritage Group. It exhibits a changing array of artefacts and displays from Aldbourne's history ranging from Stone Age flints, through copies of mediaeval documents to an extensive collection of 19th- and 20th-century photographs.

People

People from Aldbourne are nicknamed "Dabchicks", after the little grebe.

The Aldbourne Band is an award-winning brass band that has won numerous national competitions.

Aldbourne has been the home of the novelist Mavis Cheek since 2003. Earlier residents include Hilda Beatrice Currie (1872-1939), Liberal politician; Ruth Dalton (1890-1966), Labour politician; Gerald Brenan (1894-1987), author and historian; and Anthony Marreco (1915-2006), barrister and founding director of Amnesty International.

Popular culture

In 1971, Aldbourne was the location for the filming by BBC Television of the Doctor Who story The Dæmons, starring Jon Pertwee. The village in the story was called Devil's End.

Aldbourne was the location for the filming of the 2014 E4 television drama Glue, portraying the village of Overton.

External links

• The Aldbourne Net
• The Aldbourne Youth Council
• Aldbourne Heritage Centre
• Aldbourne in the Domesday Book

• Pevsner & Cherry 1975, p. 82