Semington

The Semington Brook, a westward-flowing tributary of the Avon,{{Cite web|url=https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/WaterBody/GB109053022200|title=Semington Brook, lower part|website=Catchment Data Explorer|publisher=Environment Agency|access-date=2020-01-17}} forms the east and north boundaries of the parish. Sometime after 1818, the central part of the northern boundary was realigned to follow the Kennet and Avon Canal.

Semington village developed along the main road from Melksham to Westbury which became the A350 primary route. In 2004 a bypass was opened, taking the A350 {{convert|0.4|mi|km}} east of the village.{{cite web|title=Bypass set to open to fanfare of celebrations|url=http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/7283608.print/|access-date=18 April 2015|location=Brighton|date=26 March 2004}}

Little Marsh (or Littlemarsh) is a hamlet south of Semington, along the old course of the A350. Littleton is no longer populated, and the only area currently designated as belonging to Littleton is the roundabout at the A350 and A361 road crossing.

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.

Anciently, Semington and Littleton were each tithings of Steeple Ashton parish (Semington village being about {{convert|2+1/4|mi|km|0}} north of Steeple Ashton village). In the late 19th century the civil parish of Semington was formed from the two tithings, and in 1894 the ancient parish of Whaddon was added to it.{{cite web|website=British History Online|title=Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 8 pp198–218 – Steeple Ashton|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol8/pp198-218|publisher=University of London|year=1965|access-date=17 January 2020}} Whaddon was transferred to Hilperton in the late 20th century.{{cite web|website=Wiltshire Community History|title=Hilperton|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Community/Index/118|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=14 January 2020}}

The population of the parish was in the range 400 to 500 for many years, from the 1841 census to that of 1931. Numbers then gradually increased to reach 930 in 2011.{{cite web|website=Wiltshire Community History|title=Semington census information|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Census?communityId=198|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=14 January 2020}}

File:Semington-lock15-cottage.jpg attract frequent pleasure craft traffic]]

The Kennet and Avon Canal crosses marshy ground on an embankment on the northern edge of the village.

The two Semington locks were built between 1794 and 1802 under the supervision of the engineer John Rennie.{{Cite web|url=http://www.reedboats.co.uk/canals/ken/kenh.html|title = Reed Hotel Boats}} They have a combined rise/fall of 16 ft 1 in (4.9 m).{{cite book |last=Pearson |first=Michael |title=Kennet & Avon Middle Thames:Pearson's Canal Companion |year=2003 |publisher=Central Waterways Supplies|location=Rugby |isbn=0-907864-97-X}}

The two locks at Semington are known as Buckley's (numbered 15) and Barrett's (16).{{cite book |last=Allsop |first=Niall |title=The Kennet & Avon Canal |year=1987 |publisher=Millstream Book |location=Bath |isbn=0-948975-15-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/kennetavoncanalu0000alls }}

Next to the locks is the point at which the Wilts & Berks Canal left the Kennet and Avon. The Wilts & Berks is disused but the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust is restoring it. East of the locks, the canal travels across the 2004 Semington Aqueduct, built to allow the A350 to bypass Semington village. Another aqueduct carries the canal over Semington Brook.{{NHLE |num=1252241 |desc=Semington Aqueduct |access-date=25 October 2006}}

The canal, towpath and adjacent hedges are good for wildlife and in August 2007 water voles were seen.{{cite web |title=Watervoles |work=UK Biodiversity Action Plan |url=http://www.ukbap.org.uk/UKPlans.aspx?ID=115 |access-date=17 March 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070226173207/http://www.ukbap.org.uk/UKPlans.aspx?ID=115 |archive-date=26 February 2007 |df=dmy-all }}

The Devizes Branch Line was built {{convert|0.6|mi|km}} north of the village in 1857. A small station (Semington Halt) was opened in 1906 where the railway crossed both the A350 and the Wilts & Berks canal; the station and the line were closed in 1966.

Just west of the village is the former St George's Hospital, built in 1836–38 as a workhouse for the Melksham poor law union to designs of H. E. Kendall. The nine-bay north front in classical style has two storeys and a three-bay pediment; behind this, further ranges of one, two and three storeys surround four courtyards. The front is limestone ashlar and the rear ranges are dressed limestone.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1262030|desc=St George's Hospital|access-date=16 January 2020|fewer-links=yes}} Pevsner writes: "It is typical of the coming of the Victorian age how the classical and Grecian motifs get clumsy and extremely heavy".{{cite book|title=Wiltshire|last1=Pevsner|first1=Nikolaus|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=466|author-link1=Nikolaus Pevsner|author-link2=Bridget Cherry|orig-year=1963}}

In 1988, when the building was recorded as Grade II listed, it was in use as a hospital for people with learning disabilities. Today it is largely in residential use, while a charity providing advice to disabled people occupies the ground floor of one building.{{cite web|url=http://ilc.org.uk/|title=Independent Living Centre|access-date=16 January 2020}}

During the Second World War, Semington was on GHQ Line which followed the path of the canal. Semington was designated as a centre of resistance: extensive anti-tank ditches were constructed to the east, south, and west of the village, these were overlooked by a number of pillboxes. The defences were constructed as a part of British anti-invasion preparations.Foot, 2006, pp. 291–296.

File:Semington church.jpg

The Church of England parish church of St George is a Grade II listed building.{{NHLE |num=1262412 |desc=Church of St. George |access-date=25 October 2006|fewer-links=yes}} It dates from the 15th century and was largely rebuilt in 1860.{{cite web|title=Church of St. George, Semington|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Church/Details/1080|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=18 April 2015}} Anciently a chapelry of Steeple Ashton, Semington was made an independent parish in 2000, and today the parish is part of the Canalside Benefice alongside parishes in Hilperton and Whaddon.{{Cite web|url=https://canalsidebenefice.org.uk/our-churches/semington/|title=The Canalside Benefice - Semington|website=canalsidebenefice.org.uk|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-01-11}}

File:Somersetarmssemington.JPG

Within the village there are over 500 houses, a primary school,{{cite web|title=St George's Church of England Primary School, Semington|url=http://www.st-georges-semington.wilts.sch.uk/|access-date=18 April 2015}} a village hall,{{cite web|title=Semington Village Hall|url=http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/CharityWithoutPartB.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=305566&SubsidiaryNumber=0|publisher=The Charity Commission|access-date=18 April 2015}} public tennis courts and a park for children. Semington has a pub, The Somerset Arms, an 18th-century building.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1262379|desc=The Somerset Arms|access-date=17 January 2020|fewer-links=yes}}

National Cycle Route 4 follows the canal towpath, and at the road bridge just north of Semington village, route 403 branches north to Melksham and beyond.{{cite web |title=Route 403 |url=https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-a-route-on-the-national-cycle-network/route-403/ |website=Sustrans |access-date=17 January 2020}}

About 1 km north of the village, in Melksham Without parish, is Hampton Park West business park which has the corporate headquarters of companies such as G-Plan, Avon Rubber plc and a Wiltshire Police operations centre.

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File:Littlemarsh.jpg

• Isaac Gulliver (1745–1822), smuggler{{Cite web|title=The King of the Smugglers|url=http://www.thedorsetpage.com/history/Smugglers/Smugglers.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160710073822/http://www.thedorsetpage.com/history/Smugglers/Smugglers.htm|archive-date=2016-07-10|website=The Dorset Page}}
• Thomas Helliker (1784–1803), trade union martyr, hanged for his alleged role in burning Littleton mill{{Cite web|title=Mechanisation & Thomas Hiliker - Trowbridge Museum|url=https://www.trowbridgemuseum.co.uk/learning/our-history/mechanisation-thomas-hiliker/|access-date=2020-12-18}}

• {{cite book |last= Foot |first= William |title= Beaches, fields, streets, and hills ... the anti-invasion landscapes of England, 1940 |publisher= Council for British Archaeology |year= 2006 |isbn= 1-902771-53-2}}
• {{cite web|title=Semington|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Community/Index/198|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=18 April 2015}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

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• [https://www.semington.org.uk/ Semington Parish Council]
• [https://www.semington-village.co.uk/ Semington village]
• [https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-a-route-on-the-national-cycle-network/route-4/ National cycle route 4]

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Category:Villages in Wiltshire

Category:Civil parishes in Wiltshire