Wilcot

Giant's Grave on Martinsell Hill above Oare is a promontory fort, probably from the Iron Age.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1005696|desc=Giant's Grave (Martinsell Hill)|access-date=14 January 2021}} Roman coins were found in 2000 at the site of Stanchester villa. Domesday Book in 1086 recorded a sizeable settlement of 43 households at Wilcote on land held by Edward of Salisbury;{{OpenDomesday|SU1460|wilcot|Wilcot}} and 14 households at Draicote on land held by Geoffrey, bishop of Coutances.{{OpenDomesday|SU1462|draycot-fitzpayne|Draycot Fitzpayne}}

The ancient parish of Wilcot consisted of three tithings: Wilcot with East Stowell, Draycot Fitz Payne, and Oare.{{cite web|website=British History Online|title=Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 10 pp190-204 – Parishes: Wilcot|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|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol10/pp190-204|publisher=University of London|year=1975|access-date=12 January 2021}} Hare Street, now a minor road passing east of Wilcot village, was once part of the route from Upavon to Marlborough. Its name is thought to reflect its origin as a herepath (military road) in Saxon times.{{cite web|date=December 2004|title=Wilcot Conservation Area Statement|url=https://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/Data/Planning%20Policies%20Executive%20Committee%20(KDC)/20050120/Agenda/$WILCOT%20-%20Cttee%20Draft.doc.pdf|access-date=13 January 2021|website=Wiltshire Council|publisher=Kennet District Council}} Another ancient route was Workway Drove, a drovers' road from Pewsey, through Wilcot and northwest to Knap Hill.

The Kennet and Avon Canal was built through the parish in the early years of the 19th century. Susannah Wroughton, owner of Wilcot Manor, persuaded John Rennie to route the canal further north to take it away from the house, and to provide an ornate limestone bridge known as Ladies Bridge{{National Heritage List for England|num=1366119|desc=Ladies Bridge|access-date=14 January 2021|fewer-links=yes}} (1808, today carrying a farm track) next to a wider stretch of the canal known as Wide Water.{{cite web|title=Kennet & Avon Canal|url=http://wilcotandhuish-pc.gov.uk/kennet-avon-canal-planned-and-built/|access-date=14 January 2021|website=Wilcot and Huish Parish Council|publisher=y}}

The parish was described as follows in The National Gazetteer (1868):

{{quote|WILCOT, a parish in the hundred of Swanborough, county Wilts, 6 miles S.W. of Marlborough, 10 E. of Devizes, and 1½ mile N.W. of Pewsey. The village is situated close to the Avon and Kennet canal. There are about 200 acres of open downs. The soil is generally a rich loam, and the land chiefly arable. The parish includes the tythings of Draycott-Foliat, Care, and Stowell, or Towel. At the time of the Norman survey it had a church, vineyard, and seat of Edward de Salisbury, and subsequently came to the Lovells, by whom it was held till the reign of Henry VII. There are several chalk pits. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury, value £150. The church is dedicated to the Holy Cross. Colonel Wroughton is lord of the manor.[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/WIL/Wilcot/Gaz1868.html WILCOT, Wiltshire] at genuki.org.uk, accessed 20 August 2011|author=|title=|source=}}

As noted by the Gazetteer, at the time of the Domesday Book Wilcot was one of the manors of Edward of Salisbury, who was High Sheriff of Wiltshire from 1070 to 1105 and had a "very good house" there.Judith A. Green, The Aristocracy of Norman England (2002), p. 62

Edward's son Walter founded Bradenstoke Priory, some {{convert|14|mi|km|0}} northwest of Wilcot, and Walter's son Patrick gave Wilcot manor to the priory. The land was retained by the priory until the Dissolution, and in 1549 was bought by John Berwick (died 1572), who was part of the Seymour entourage and had sat as Member of Parliament for Great Bedwyn and Marlborough.{{cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=BERWICK, John (by 1508-72), of Wilcot, Wilts.|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/berwick-john-1508-72|url-status=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=6 January 2021|website=History of Parliament Online}} In the 19th century the land passed by inheritance and marriage to the Montagu family, including Admiral George Montagu (1750–1829). The Montagus sold the farmland in the early 20th century.

There is a 17th-century legend that Wilcot vicarage was haunted by the incessant sound of a tolling bell. It is said that a wizard caused the tolling at a request of a drunkard, who wanted to revenge himself on the vicar for refusing to ring his bells late at night.{{cite book |last=Ash |first=Russell |date=1973 |title=Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain |publisher=Reader's Digest Association Limited |page=188 |isbn=9780340165973 }}

A village at East Stowell was deserted in the early 19th century, coinciding with the building of Stowell Park.

The first tier of local government in the parish of Wilcot, Huish and Oare is the parish council, which has nine councillors.{{Cite web|date=May 2020|title=Community Governance Review 2019/20: Draft Recommendations of the Electoral Review Committee|url=https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/media/4531/CGR-Draft-Recommendations-Document/pdf/CGR_Draft_Recommendations_May_2020.pdf|url-status=|access-date=20 June 2021|website=Wiltshire Council}} Prior to the merger of Wilcot{{cite web|title=Wilcot CP/AP|url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit_page.jsp?u_id=10413862|access-date=20 June 2021|website=A Vision of Britain through Time|publisher=University of Portsmouth}} and Huish parishes in 2020, there was a joint parish council called 'Wilcot and Huish (with Oare)'.{{cite web|date=November 2013|title=Standing Orders|url=http://www.wilcotandhuish-pc.gov.uk/uploads/policies/Standing%20Orders%20%28Part%20One%29%20Nov%202013.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122192827/http://www.wilcotandhuish-pc.gov.uk/uploads/policies/Standing%20Orders%20%28Part%20One%29%20Nov%202013.pdf|archive-date=22 January 2017|website=Wilcot and Huish (with Oare) Parish Council}} The parish falls within the area of the Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which is responsible for all significant local government functions.

Rainscombe, in the northeast, was transferred from North Newnton parish in 1885.

Domesday Book recorded a church at Wilcot in 1086. The present parish church of the Holy Cross, in the south of the village, has 12th-century origins: its earliest part is the chancel arch, from about 1200 although restored,{{cite web|title=Holy Cross, Wilcot|url=https://www.crsbi.ac.uk/view-item?i=8298|access-date=13 January 2021|website=The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland|publisher=King's College London}} and four 12th-century stones were reset when the chancel was rebuilt in 1825.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1364663|desc=Church of the Holy Cross|access-date=13 January 2021|fewer-links=yes}} The west tower was added in the 15th century. After the church was badly damaged by fire in 1876, the nave was partly rebuilt and the chancel rebuilt and lengthened.{{cite web|title=Church of the Holy Cross, Wilcot|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Church/Details/1518|access-date=13 January 2021|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council}}

The church is built in rubble and ashlar, and has a monument dated 1574 to John Berwick and brasses for the 19th-century Montagus. In the churchyard are several listed monuments, including chest tombs from the 18th and 19th centuries.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1035732|desc=Group of 3 Gamman and another monuments in churchyard|access-date=14 January 2021|fewer-links=yes}}{{National Heritage List for England|num=1286253|desc=Group of 3 monuments in churchyard|access-date=14 January 2021|fewer-links=yes}} The building was designated as Grade II* listed in 1964.

Holy Trinity church at Oare was built as a chapel of ease in 1858,{{cite web|title=Oare: Holy Trinity: About Us|url=https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/9737/about-us/|access-date=13 January 2021|website=A Church Near You|publisher=Church of England}} and in 1892 a separate ecclesiastical parish was created for it.{{London Gazette

| issue = 26269

| date = 18 March 1892

| pages = 1597-1598

}} In 1928, in connection with changes to Alton Barnes parish, the hamlet of West Stowell was transferred from there to Wilcot.{{London Gazette

| issue = 33369

| date = 23 March 1928

| pages = 2106-2018

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}}

The benefices of Oare and Huish were later combined, and Wilcot was added to the union in 1962. {{London Gazette

| issue = 42864

| date = 21 December 1962

| page = 9981

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}} In 1972 a team ministry was established for the local area, {{London Gazette

| issue = 45614

| date = 3 March 1972

| page = 2705

| nolink = y

}} and today the church is part of the Vale of Pewsey Churches, a group of 16 churches.{{cite web|title=Holy Cross Wilcot|url=https://www.valeofpewsey.org/churches/wilcot-holy-cross/|access-date=29 April 2023|website=Vale of Pewsey Churches}}

Wilcot village developed in two parts: the early settlement in the south with the church and manor house, and houses to the north around Wilcot Green, built from the 18th century.

The manor house, close to the west end of the church, dates from the early 17th century with remodelling in the 18th. It is built in brick with tall chimney stacks, and is Grade II* listed.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1364664|desc=Wilcot Manor House|access-date=14 January 2021|fewer-links=yes}} In the grounds to the south are a small lake and a circular stone dovecote dated 1737.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1286233|desc=Dovecote at Wilcot Manor House|access-date=14 January 2021|fewer-links=yes}} Wroughtons and Montagus owned the manor until the property was sold in 1919.{{cite web|title=Wilcot Manor|url=http://wilcotandhuish-pc.gov.uk/wilcot-manor/|access-date=14 January 2021|website=Wilcot and Huish Parish Council|publisher=y}}{{cite web|title=Wroughtons and Montagus|url=http://wilcotandhuish-pc.gov.uk/wroughtons-and-montagus/|access-date=14 January 2021|website=Wilcot and Huish Parish Council|publisher=y}} Later owners include Lord Ernest St. Maur (d.1922; son of the 14th Duke of Somerset) and, from 1950 to 1951, the actor David Niven.{{cite web|title=David Niven|url=http://wilcotandhuish-pc.gov.uk/1461-2/|access-date=14 January 2021|website=Wilcot and Huish Parish Council|publisher=y}} Manor Farmhouse, in red and blue brick just north of the manor house, is from the mid to late 18th century.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1364665|desc=Manor Farmhouse|access-date=14 January 2021|fewer-links=yes}}

Admiral Sir George Montagu (1750–1829) built Stowell Lodge (now Stowell Park House) in 1813.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1035739|desc=Stowell Park House|access-date=14 January 2021|fewer-links=yes}}{{cite web|title=Stowell Park|url=http://wilcotandhuish-pc.gov.uk/stowel-park-built/|access-date=14 January 2021|website=Wilcot and Huish Parish Council|publisher=y}} The ashlar limestone house is five bays wide and three deep, and parkland was designed around it, extending south to the recently completed canal. Around 1845 an iron and steel suspension bridge was erected to carry a footpath from the park over the canal.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1193314|desc=Suspension Bridge by Cannings Cottage|access-date=14 January 2021|fewer-links=yes}} The house was sold by Admiral Montagu's grandson in 1901.{{cite web|title=Stowell estate properties sold|url=http://wilcotandhuish-pc.gov.uk/stowell-estate-properties-sold/|access-date=14 January 2021|website=Wilcot and Huish Parish Council|publisher=y}} In 1970 it was owned by Sir Philip Dunn.

The Golden Swan public house was built at Wilcot Green in 1859, in malmstone under a thatched roof.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1364671|desc=Golden Swan Public House|access-date=14 January 2021|fewer-links=yes}}

Rainscombe House, below Oare Hill, was built around 1816 to designs of Thomas Baldwin; its main block is five by three bays. {{As of|2019}} the house is owned by businessman Robert Hiscox.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=About Us|url=https://sites.google.com/view/wapguk/about|url-status=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-13|website=WAPG}}

The village has a pub, the Golden Swan.{{cite web|title=The Golden Swan, Wilcot|url=http://www.thegoldenswan.co.uk/|access-date=18 July 2015}} The Kennet and Avon Canal passes close to the village.

A school was built at Wilcot Green in 1841, closed in 1969 and is now the village hall;{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Wilcot Village Hall|url=http://wvha.org.uk/listing/wilcot-village-hall/|url-status=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-14|website=Wiltshire Village Halls Association|language=en-US}} the nearest primary school is at Oare.{{cite web|title=Wilcot Church of England School|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/School/Details/1467|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=18 July 2015}}

The opening of the Reading–Taunton line through Pewsey Vale in 1862, with a station at Pewsey, brought a railway connection to London.

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• [https://wilcotandhuish-pc.gov.uk/ Wilcot and Huish with Oare parish council]

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Category:Villages in Wiltshire

Category:Former civil parishes in Wiltshire