Atworth

The present-day civil parish of Atworth was created in 1884 from four former parishes or tithings.

Atworth was a tithing in the northeast of the large ancient parish of Bradford on Avon. This land forms the northern half of the modern parish, with the Roman road from Silchester to Bath as its northern boundary.{{cite web|website=British History Online|title=Victoria County History - Wiltshire - Vol 7 pp4-51 - Parishes: Bradford-on-Avon|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol7/pp4-51|publisher=University of London|access-date=6 September 2015}}

A Roman villa (excavated in 1937 and 1971) was a short distance northwest of the present village of Atworth.{{cite PastScape |mnumber=207925 |mname=Roman villa (site of), Atworth |access-date=8 September 2015}} Poplar Farmhouse is from the 15th century{{National Heritage List for England entry|num=1250571|desc=Poplar Farmhouse, Atworth|access-date=6 September 2015|fewer-links=yes}} and Manor Farmhouse is from the early 18th century.{{National Heritage List for England entry|num=1263123|desc=Manor Farmhouse, Atworth|access-date=6 September 2015|fewer-links=yes}} At Church Farm the farmhouse is late 18th century,{{National Heritage List for England|num=1263059|desc=Church Farmhouse|access-date=7 July 2021|fewer-links=yes}} and a seven-bay barn which is probably 16th-century is Grade II* listed.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1250764|desc=Barn at Church Farm|access-date=7 July 2021|fewer-links=yes}}

A clock tower was erected at the side of the Bath Road in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, and later served as the parish war memorial.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1263131|desc=The Clock Tower|access-date=7 July 2021|fewer-links=yes}}

Great Chalfield (or East Chalfield), to the south of Atworth, was a separate parish until 1884.{{cite web|website=British History Online|title=Victoria County History - Wiltshire - Vol 7 pp59-66 - Parishes: Great Chalfield|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol7/pp59-66|publisher=University of London|access-date=6 September 2015}} Great Chalfield Manor was built in the mid-15th century and is Grade I listed;{{National Heritage List for England|num=1250902|desc=Great Chalfield Manor|access-date=7 July 2021|fewer-links=yes}} nearby is a barn which is partly 17th-century and also Grade I listed.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1263048|desc=Barn at Great Chalfield Manor|access-date=7 July 2021|fewer-links=yes}}

Little Chalfield (or West Chalfield) was a separate manor and, in the 14th and 15th centuries, a separate parish. There was a church or chapel, recorded in conveyances up to 1701, but then lost without trace. Little Chalfield became an extra-parochial area until the civil parish of Little Chalfield with Cottles was created in 1857. Little Chalfield Manor is from the early 19th century.{{National Heritage List for England entry|num=1263050|desc=Little Chalfield Manor|access-date=6 September 2015|fewer-links=yes}}

Cottles (or Atworth Cottles) was part of the ancient parish of Bradford, then became extra-parochial until 1857. There is no present-day settlement but the name continues in Cottles Wood and Cottles House, a 16th-century country house in limestone ashlar,{{National Heritage List for England|num=1263046|desc=Stonar School|access-date=7 July 2021|fewer-links=yes}} occupied since 1939 by Stonar School.

The South Brook, a small tributary of the Bristol Avon, passes close to Atworth and through Purlpit. Chalfield Brook, another tributary, passes both Chalfields and forms part of the southern boundary of the parish.

The Neston Park estate extends south into Atworth parish.

The Church of England parish church of St Michael and All Angels is at the west edge of the village, where a church has stood since the 11th century.{{cite web|title=Church of St. Michael, Atworth|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Church/Details/984|access-date=6 September 2015|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council}} The church was rebuilt in 1451 but only the tower survives, next to an 1832 building by H.E. Goodridge,{{National Heritage List for England entry|num=1250853|desc=Church of St Michael and All Angels, Atworth|access-date=6 September 2015|fewer-links=yes}} who around the same time designed the enlargement of Cottles House.{{Cite web|title=Cottles|url=http://www.bradfordonavonmuseum.co.uk/cottles|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-07|website=Bradford on Avon Museum|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024195312/http://www.bradfordonavonmuseum.co.uk/cottles |archive-date=24 October 2020 }} Pevsner was unimpressed with the newer church: "The exterior has merits, the interior hardly".{{cite book|last1=Pevsner|first1=Nikolaus|title=Wiltshire|last2=Cherry|first2=Bridget (revision)|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1975|isbn=0-14-0710-26-4|edition=2nd|series=The Buildings of England|place=Harmondsworth|page=96|authorlink1=Nikolaus Pevsner|orig-date=1963}} The three bells in the tower were cast in c.1350, 1606 and 1786; at present they are unringable.{{cite web|title=Atworth|url=https://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?tower=12484|access-date=6 July 2021|website=Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers}} The church is Grade II* listed, and several monuments in the churchyard are Grade II listed.{{Cite web|title=Listed Buildings in Atworth, Wiltshire|url=https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/england/atworth-wiltshire|access-date=2021-07-06|website=britishlistedbuildings.co.uk}}

Atworth church, with South Wraxall annexed, was anciently a chapelry of Bradford; it became a perpetual curacy in 1847. In 1962, part of the area of the benefice of Atworth with South Wraxall was transferred to Monkton Farleigh.{{London Gazette

| issue = 42846

| date = 30 November 1962

| page = 9350

}} Shaw was added to the benefice in 1972,{{London Gazette

| issue = 45736

| date = 28 July 1972

| page = 9040

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}} and today the church is part of the benefice of Atworth with Shaw and Whitley, alongside Christ Church at Shaw.{{Cite web|title=The Benefice of Atworth with Shaw and Whitley|url=https://www.boasw.org/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-06|website=www.boasw.org|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516020356/http://boasw.org |archive-date=16 May 2013 }}

Atworth Independent Chapel was built in the 1790s.{{cite web|website=Wiltshire Community History|title=Independent Chapel, Atworth|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Church/Details/986|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=6 September 2015}} It is affiliated to the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.{{cite web|title=Atworth Independent Church|url=https://fiec.org.uk/churches/church/22|publisher=FIEC|access-date=6 September 2015}}

A Baptist church, Ebenezer Church, was opened at Atworth in 1864 and closed in 1979.{{cite web|website=Wiltshire Community History|title=Ebenezer Baptist Chapel, Atworth|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Church/Details/985|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=6 September 2015}}

All Saints church at Great Chalfield Manor is Grade I listed and dates from the 14th century.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1250904|desc=Church of All Saints|access-date=6 July 2021|fewer-links=yes}} Today it is linked to the churches at Broughton Gifford and Holt.{{Cite web|date=|title=Faith in Our Village|url=https://faithinourvillage.org/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-06|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805004613/https://faithinourvillage.org/ |archive-date=5 August 2020 }}

Atworth has a primary school called Churchfields, The Village School{{cite web|title=Churchfields, The Village School|url=http://churchfields.wilts.sch.uk/|access-date=8 September 2015}} (not to be confused with Churchfields Academy, Swindon). The school building dates from 1828; until 1953 the school took pupils of all ages. Following the closure in 2006 of small schools at Monkton Farleigh and South Wraxall, the school has two sites: Atworth and Monkton Farleigh.{{cite web|website=Wiltshire Community History|title=Churchfields, The Village School, Atworth|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/School/Details/1107|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=8 September 2015}}

Stonar School at Cottles Park is an independent school for boarding and day pupils of all ages.

Atworth has a 17th Century pub, the White Hart.{{cite web|website=The White Hart|url=https://whitehartatworth.co.uk/#About|access-date=30 March 2024 |title=The White Hart }}

At least three village pumps survive.{{cite web|title=Atworth|website=villagepumps.org.uk|publisher=R.K. Williams|url=http://www.villagepumps.org.uk/atworth.htm|access-date=6 September 2015}}

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Parish of Atworth.

{{Expand list|date=May 2022}}

• David Webb: April 2014.{{cite web |title=Atworth parish council stalwart in a league of his own after earning title |url=https://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/11158814.atworth-parish-council-stalwart-in-a-league-of-his-own-after-earning-title/ |website=The Wiltshire Times |date=20 April 2014 |access-date=1 May 2022 |language=en}}

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• {{cite web|website=Wiltshire Community History|title=Atworth|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Community/Index/10|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=6 September 2015}}
• [https://atworth.org/ Atworth Parish Council]
• [http://www.bradfordonavonmuseum.co.uk/archives/3548 Explore Atworth] – Bradford on Avon Museum

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Category:Villages in Wiltshire

Category:Civil parishes in Wiltshire