Chippenham Without is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershir ...

, England, created as a separate entity from the parish of

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town in northwest Wiltshire, England. It lies northeast of Bath, west of London, and is near the Cotswolds Area of Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon and some form of settlement is ...

by the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level u ...

and largely consisting of farmland to the west of Chippenham, towards

Biddestone Biddestone is a village and civil parish in northwest Wiltshire, England, about west of Chippenham and north of Corsham. The parish includes the smaller settlement of Slaughterford. Geography The Bybrook River forms the western boundary of th ...

. Of note within it are the ancient settlements of Allington and Sheldon, the latter with its

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 held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals with ...

. The population taken at the 2011 census was 208.

History

There is evidence of occupation of the area over a 5,000 year period, with the most recent historical remains being

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. When created in 1894, the parish covered (as it does today) land to the west of Chippenham, and an area of comparable size east of the town, stretching south from Tytherton Lucas through

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

to the area now known as

Pewsham Pewsham is a small village and former civil parish just south-east of the town of Chippenham on the A4 national route towards Calne in Wiltshire, southwestern England. Description Although signposted as Pewsham on the main road at both ends ...

. By 1901, the parish contained 394 houses. The parish was reduced in size in 1914, when the built-up area (584 acres, population 1,961 in 1921) in the south-west of Chippenham was transferred to Chippenham Within; at the same time 70 acres of farmland were transferred to

Lacock Lacock is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) south of the town of Chippenham, and about outside the Cotswolds area. The village is owned almost in its entir ...

parish. A further reduction took place in 1934, when the whole eastern area (2,378 acres, population 260 in 1931) was transferred to Pewsham parish. In 2009, following westward expansion of Chippenham, the

A350 The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the A330 ...

western bypass became the boundary with Chippenham Without.

Allington

Allington hamlet, west of Chippenham and just north of the

A420 road The A420 is a road between Bristol and Oxford in England. Between Swindon and Oxford it is a primary route. Present route Since the opening of the M4 motorway, the road has been in two sections. The first section begins on Old Market Str ...

towards Bristol, has always been part of Chippenham Without. Nearby, Bolehyde Manor is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

17th-century

Fowlswick

A farm, formerly a manor held by

Malmesbury Abbey Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, is a religious house dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It was one of the few English houses with a continuous history from the 7th century through to the dissolution of the monasteri ...

. A substantial

moated A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

mansion was replaced by Fowleswick Farmhouse in the 17th century.

Sheldon

The site of a

deserted medieval village In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the conv ...

, the principal remains of which are the Grade I listed Sheldon Manor, which dates to the 14th century; the adjacent small private chapel was built around 1450.

Sheldon School Sheldon School (formerly Chippenham Boys' High School) is a large mixed secondary school and sixth form in Chippenham, Wiltshire for students aged 11 to 18 and is the largest school in Wiltshire. Since April 2011, it has been an Academy. It i ...

, a secondary school in Chippenham, takes its name from here.

Governance

The parish elects a parish council. It is in the area of

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council is a council for the unitary authority of Wiltshire (excluding the separate Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of Borough of Swindon, Swindon) in South West England, created in 2009. It is the successor authorit ...

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...

, which is responsible for all significant local government functions. The parish is part of Kington electoral division, which also covers several rural parishes north of Chippenham, and elects one Wiltshire councillor. The parish falls within the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the Parliamentary sovereignty in the United Kingdom, supreme Legislature, legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of We ...

constituency of

North Wiltshire North Wiltshire was a local government district in Wiltshire, England, formed on 1 April 1974, by a merger of the municipal boroughs of Calne, Chippenham, and Malmesbury along with Calne and Chippenham Rural District, Cricklade and Wootton B ...

References

External links

Parish Council
{{Commons category inline Civil parishes in Wiltshire