Stanton St Bernard

Evidence of prehistoric activity in the area includes earthworks on Milk Hill.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1004735|desc=Earthwork enclosure on Milk Hill|access-date=28 January 2016}} The Wansdyke early medieval earthwork crosses the north of the parish. The boundaries of the parish were defined in Saxon times and remain largely unchanged.{{Cite book |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol10/pp146-155 |series=Victoria County History |title=A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 10 |chapter=Parishes: Stanton St. Bernard |pages=146–155 |editor-first=Elizabeth |editor-last=Crittall |author-first1=A. P. |author-last1=Baggs |author-first2=D. A. |author-last2=Crowley |author-first3=Ralph B. |author-last3=Pugh |author-first4=Janet H. |author-last4=Stevenson |author-first5=Margaret |author-last5=Tomlinson |date=1975 |via=British History Online |publisher=University of London |access-date=3 May 2021}}

The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded 46 households at Stantone, held by Wilton Abbey, within Swanborough hundred.{{OpenDomesday|SU0962|stanton-st-bernard|Stanton}} The manor continued to be held by the abbey until its dissolution in 1539. The manor was granted to Sir William Herbert in 1544, who was created Earl of Pembroke in 1551, and the estate remained with the Pembrokes until 1917. Tenants of the demesne farm included the Prater family. Anthony Prater (1545-1583) was subject to litigation for extortion and was excommunicated from the Catholic church.{{cite web|title=Anthony Thomas Prater (GENT)|url=http://prathergenealogy.com/TNG-hmpj/getperson.php?personID=I409&tree=mpfamily|website=Prater / Prather Genealogy|access-date=25 August 2016}}

The former manor house{{National Heritage List for England|num=1033725|desc=Manor Farmhouse|access-date=28 January 2016|fewer-links=yes}} and Mill Farmhouse (a former watermill){{National Heritage List for England|num=1193907|desc=Mill Farmhouse|access-date=28 January 2016|fewer-links=yes}} are from the 17th century; Church Farmhouse is from the late 18th.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1033724|desc=Church Farmhouse|access-date=28 January 2016|fewer-links=yes}}

The Kennet and Avon Canal was built through the parish in 1807. The wharf at Honeystreet, just over the eastern boundary, served the area.

A small school was built in 1849, next to the church. It closed in 1970 and the children transferred to the school at Woodborough; the building became the village hall.

Population of the parish peaked in the late 19th century, with 371 recorded at the 1871 census and 373 in 1891, then declined throughout the 20th century.

A church, which became the parish church of All Saints, was first mentioned in 1267. The tower was added in the 15th century, then in 1832 all except the tower was rebuilt in Gothic style; a further rebuilding of the chancel became necessary in 1859.{{cite web|website=Wiltshire Community History|title=All Saints, Stanton St. Bernard|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Church/Details/1536|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=28 January 2016}}{{National Heritage List for England|num=1365968|desc=Church of All Saints|access-date=28 January 2016|fewer-links=yes}} The church has a 13th-century stone font{{Cite web |title=All Saints, Stanton St Bernard, Wiltshire |url=https://www.crsbi.ac.uk/view-item?i=7447 |access-date=26 February 2023 |website=The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland |publisher=King's College London}} and a richly coloured east window by Lavers & Barraud, 1867.{{Cite book |last1=Orbach |first1=Julian |title=Wiltshire |last2=Pevsner |first2=Nikolaus |last3=Cherry |first3=Bridget |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-300-25120-3 |series=The Buildings Of England |location=New Haven, US and London |page=654 |oclc=1201298091 |author-link2=Nikolaus Pevsner |author-link3=Bridget Cherry}}

The benefice was united with that of Alton Barnes with Alton Priors in 1928,{{London Gazette

| issue = 33369

| date = 23 March 1928

| pages = 2106-2108

}} with the parsonage house at Stanton St Bernard to be sold, taking effect on the next vacancy (which occurred in 1932). A team ministry was established for the area in 1975,{{London Gazette

| issue = 46552

| date = 22 April 1975

| page = 5166

| nolink = y

}} and today the parish is part of the Vale of Pewsey Churches, alongside 15 others.{{cite web|title=Churches|url=https://www.valeofpewsey.org/churches/team-churches/|access-date=3 May 2021|website=Vale of Pewsey Churches}}

A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1841 and closed in the early 20th century.

The civil parish elects a parish council. All significant local government services are provided by Wiltshire Council, a unitary authority with its headquarters in Trowbridge, and the parish is represented there by Paul Oatway.{{Cite web |date= |title=Your Councillors |url=https://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=WARD&VW=LIST&PIC=0 |access-date=25 August 2024 |website=Wiltshire Council |language=en}}

Scholarly vicars of Stanton St Bernard include Robert Parker, from 1594 until 1604; he fled into exile in 1607 after expressing nonconformist views.{{DNB|wstitle=Parker, Robert (1564?-1614)|display=Parker, Robert (1564?–1614)}} His son Thomas (1595–1677) began a career as a teacher, then emigrated to New England in 1634, alongside a number of Wiltshire men; there he was a pastor, teacher, and writer, and after his death a river was renamed after him.{{DNB|last=Tedder|first=Henry Richard|wstitle=Parker, Thomas (1595-1677)|volume=43|inline=1}} Thomas's sister Elizabeth was a prophet who disputed theological matters with her brother.{{cite ODNB|id=69074|first=Jane|last=Baston|title=Avery [née Parker], Elizabeth}}

Robert Parker was succeeded by Richard Stephens,{{Cite web |title=Stephens, Richard: Stanton Barnard |url=https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/DisplayAppointment.jsp?CDBAppRedID=296932 |access-date=26 February 2023 |website=Clergy of the Church of England Database |publisher=King’s College London}} probably a brother of Robert's wife, Dorothy. Richard's son Nathaniel (c.1606–1678) was a controversial clergyman.{{DNB|wstitle=Stephens, Nathaniel}}

In the early 19th century, Robert and William Tasker, of Stanton St Bernard, established the Waterloo Ironworks in Hampshire. This developed into Taskers of Andover, making engines and heavy vehicles; the brand survived into the 1990s.

Naomi Corbyn (1915–1987), mother of Labour politician Jeremy Corbyn, lived in Stanton St Bernard from around 1980.{{Cite journal |last= |first= |date=1988 |title=Obituary: Naomi Corbyn |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/135844#page/213/mode/1up |journal=Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine |volume=82 |issue= |pages=203–204 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library {{open access}}}}

{{Reflist}}

• Nikolaus Pevsner, Bridget Cherry, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire (Penguin Books, 1975)

{{commons category-inline}}

• {{cite web|website=Wiltshire Community History|title=Stanton St Bernard|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Community/Index/207|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=28 January 2016}}
• [https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/WIL/StantonStBernard/index.htm Stanton St Bernard] at genuki.org.uk
• [https://www.stantonstbernard.org stantonstbernard.org] – parish website

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Category:Villages in Wiltshire

Category:Civil parishes in Wiltshire