Blunsdon is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Borough of Swindon The Borough of Swindon is a unitary authority area with borough status in Wiltshire, England. Centred on Swindon, it is the most north-easterly district of South West England. History The first borough of Swindon was a municipal borough, ...

, in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England, about north of the centre of

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

, with the

A419 The A419 road is a primary route between Chiseldon near Swindon at junction 15 of the M4 with the A346 road, and Whitminster in Gloucestershire, England near the M5 motorway. The A419 is managed and maintained by a private company, Road Manage ...

forming its southern boundary. Its main settlement is the village of Broad Blunsdon, with Lower Blunsdon nearby; the hamlet of Broadbush is now contiguous with Broad Blunsdon. Blunsdon is the eastern half of the former Blunsdon St Andrew civil parish. In April 2017, that parish was divided and the western half became a new

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

parish.

History

Blunsdon has been inhabited at least since the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

. Castle Hill is the site of a

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

and is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

. In

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times, a travellers' resting place existed on the site of the present-day Cold Harbour

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

. The main A419 road follow the course of a

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

known as

Ermin Way Ermin Street or Ermin Way was a Roman road in Britain. It linked Glevum (Gloucester) and Corinium (Cirencester) to Calleva ( Silchester). At Glevum it connected to the road to Isca (Caerleon), the legionary base in southeast Wales. At Cori ...

that linked the historic Roman towns of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

(

Glevum Glevum (or, more formally, Colonia Nervia Glevensium, or occasionally ''Glouvia'') was originally a Roman fort in Roman Britain that became a " colonia" of retired legionaries in AD 97. Today, it is known as Gloucester, in the English county ...

) and

Silchester Silchester is a village and civil parish about north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about south-west of Reading. Silchester is most notable for the archaeological site and Roman town of ...

(

Calleva Atrebatum Calleva Atrebatum ("Calleva of the Atrebates") was an Iron Age oppidum, the capital of the Atrebates tribe. It then became a walled town in the Roman province of Britannia, at a major crossroads of the roads of southern Britain. The modern vi ...

), via

Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...

(

Corinium Corinium Dobunnorum was the Romano-British settlement at Cirencester in the present-day English county of Gloucestershire. Its 2nd-century walls enclosed the second-largest area of a city in Roman Britain. It was the tribal capital of the Do ...

). The

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 records a manor of ''Bluntesdone'', comprising three settlements across Blunsdon Hill on either side of Ermin Street, with altogether ten households and a total value of £5 17s. Broad Blunsdon is first mentioned as ''Bradebluntesdone'' in 1234, in the "Calendar of the

Feet of Fines A foot of fine (plural, feet of fines; Latin: ''pes finis''; plural, ''pedes finium'') is the archival copy of the agreement between two parties in an English lawsuit over land, most commonly the fictitious suit (in reality a conveyance) known a ...

for Wiltshire for 1195–1272". The L-shaped

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

, just west of the church, was built and enlarged in the 17th century; it has two fireplaces from c.1600, and a staircase also from that century. In 1870, Broad Blunsdon was recorded as having a population of 806 in 198 households, and covering 2,260 acres, and was valued at £2,194. It lay in the

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

Highworth Highworth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, England, about north-east of Swindon town centre. The 2021 Census recorded a population of 8,258. The town is notable for its Queen Anne and Georgian buildings, dating ...

. The village included the

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

of Bury Blunsdon, population 17, now marked only by the farms of upper and lower Burytown. Two areas of Broad Blunsdon village, one encompassing the church, were designated as a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

in 1990.

Parish church

St Leonard's, the

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

, is in the north-east of the village. The stone rubble building has 13th-century origins, seen in the four-bay south arcade and a small two-light window in the south aisle. The west tower is from the 15th century; the elaborate wooden screen under the tower is 17th-century. A monument to John Potenger (died 1733), in white and grey marble with cherub heads, is signed by

Peter Scheemakers Peter Scheemakers or Pieter Scheemaeckers II or the Younger (10 January 1691 – 12 September 1781) was a Southern Netherlands, Flemish sculptor who worked for most of his life in London. His public and church sculptures in a classicism, classici ...

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a British Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was bo ...

carried out extensive restoration in 1870, when the chancel was rebuilt and the south-east chapel and north-east vestry were added. The building was designated as

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

in 1955. There is a ring of eight bells, cast in 1913 and 2002. The stone-built former rectory, east of the church, was built in 1867–1868 to designs of

Ewan Christian Ewan Christian (1814–1895) was a British architect. He is most frequently noted for the restorations of Southwell Minster and Carlisle Cathedral, and the design of the National Portrait Gallery (London), National Portrait Gallery. He was Arch ...

. Today the parish is within the benefice of Highworth with Sevenhampton and Inglesham and Hannington, centred on St Michael's church at

Castle Hill

Castle Hill, to the east of the church, is an

and a

. The site comprises earthworks typical for the period, with a single ditch and rampart surrounding the enclosure. It is triangular in plan and covers in extent. The site is on a slight promontory with views over the valley to the north and north west. The site includes a series of parallel agricultural terraces, known as

lynchet A lynchet or linchet is an Terrace (earthworks), earth terrace found on the side of a hill. Lynchets are a feature of ancient field systems of the British Isles. They are commonly found in vertical rows and more commonly referred to as "strip lyn ...

s, which are thought to date from the medieval period.

Sport

The village has a football team, Blunsdon F.C., which has youth development squads as well as senior ladies and men's sides playing in the

Wiltshire League The Wiltshire Football League, also known as the Wiltshire League and the Wiltshire Senior League, is a Association football, football league in England which was formed by amalgamation in 1976. All clubs are affiliated to a County Football Ass ...

Governance

Blunsdon parish covers Broad Blunsdon and the area west of the A419. In the southeast, the boundary with St Andrews leaves the A419 and follows the A4311 Cricklade Road, so that the Groundwell industrial estate is in Blunsdon parish. The estate is the location of the Motorola headquarters building, which featured in the 1999

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film ''

The World is Not Enough ''The World Is Not Enough'' is a 1999 spy film, the nineteenth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 agent Jam ...

''. Until April 2017, the whole area was the civil parish of Blunsdon St Andrew. The parish lies within the

, and is part of the Blunsdon and Highworth ward which elects three members of

Swindon Borough Council Swindon Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Swindon in the ceremonial county of Wiltshire, England. It was founded in 1974 as Thamesdown Borough Council, and was a lower-tier district council until 1997. In 1997 it was re ...

. For Westminster elections, the parish is part of the

Swindon North Swindon North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Will Stone, a Labour politician. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was formally ...

constituency.

Shop

After the last privately owned shop in the village closed in 2002, a village public meeting convened and agreed to open a new community shop, which was opened in 2003 in the car park of the village hall. Run mainly by volunteers, in 2010 the shop won third place for 'Best Village Shop' at the ''Wiltshire Life Magazine'' Awards. In 2023, the shop moved to new premises at Unit 1, Blunt Rise, Blunsdon, SN26 7DA and expanded to include a cafe.

Transport

A bypass was built between the autumn of 2006 and spring 2009. This reunited Broad Blunsdon village with the portion that was southwest of the former A419.

References

External links

Blunsdon Parish Council
{{Authority control Civil parishes in Wiltshire Borough of Swindon