Crudwell is a village and

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 north

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. The nearest towns are

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

, about to the south-west, and

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 ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

to the north-east. Also to the north-east is Cotswold Airport. Kemble village, about away, has the nearest

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

, with services to and .

Links and extent

The village lies on the A429 linking Cirencester and Malmesbury. This route south to Malmesbury opened as a turnpike in 1778. The parish includes the hamlets of Chedglow, Chelworth, Eastcourt, Murcott and West Crudwell. The

Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia ( Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis ( Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bat ...

, originally a Roman road, forms part of the parish and county boundary. The population of the parish changed little between 1831 (604) and 1951 (618).

History

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 recorded a large population of 107 households at Crudwell, and smaller settlements at Chelworth and Chedglow. Most of the parish belonged to

Malmesbury Abbey Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, is a former Benedictine abbey dedicated to Saint Peter and Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul. It was one of the few English religious houses with a continuous history from the 7th century throug ...

's Brokenborough estate, which in the 13th century had a farmstead with a fishpond and a chapel. A large barn still stands to the south of All Saints' Church, probably dating from the 15th century and now

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 ...

. Manor Farm, east of the church, is probably from the 17th century, with additions in the 18th. The old rectory, now a hotel, is from the early 18th century, altered in the late 19th. A school was founded at Crudwell in the 17th century by Lord Lucas. The schoolroom and schoolhouse of 1670 survive in residential use, south-west of the church. A new school was built in 1857, alongside the older buildings, became a National School, and then in 1949 a

voluntary controlled A voluntary controlled school (VC school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a Christian denomination) has some formal influence in the running of the school. Such schools have less autonomy th ...

school. A small school also opened at Eastcourt in about 1858 and became a National School. It closed in 1923 due to falling pupil numbers. RAF Kemble opened in 1938 in the north of the parish and now serves as Cotswold Airport. It was a base for aircraft maintenance and ferrying, and later the home of the

Red Arrows The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force (RAF) based at RAF Waddington. The team was formed in late 1964 as an all-Royal Air Force team, replacing several un ...

aerobatics display team. In the 1980s the airfield became a maintenance base for the US Air Force. Military flying ended in 1993 when the site was used to store surplus equipment. It was sold into private ownership in 2001 and now houses businesses carrying out aircraft maintenance and dismantling, and technical training.

Parish church

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 ...

of All Saints, probably begun in the 11th century, is a

Grade I 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, Hi ...

building. Work from the 12th–15th centuries can be seen, with alterations and restoration in the 17th and 19th. The 15th-century stained glass in a north-east window depicts the

seven sacraments The expression seven sacraments mainly refers to: * Sacrament ** Sacraments of the Catholic Church ** Eastern Orthodox Church § Holy mysteries (sacraments) ** Anglican sacraments ** Sacrament § Hussite Church and Moravian Church It can also ref ...

. The tower has five bells, recast in 1858 by Mears. In 1151 the church belonged to

, and

Hankerton Hankerton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, northeast of Malmesbury. The parish includes the hamlets of Cloatley, Cloatley End and Bullock's Horn. Streams which form the Braydon Brook, which becomes the Swill Brook further ...

Church was dependent on it, but became a separate parish in 1445. The rectories of Crudwell and St James, Ashley (Gloucestershire) were united in 1954, and in 1987 the two churches joined with

and

Oaksey Oaksey is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, England, on the county boundary with Gloucestershire. The village is about northeast of the market town of Malmesbury and a similar distance south south west of the ...

to form the Braydon Brook group.

Amenities

The village school, extended in 1969, continues as Crudwell CE Primary School. Crudwell has two pubs, ''The Potting Shed'' and the ''Wheatsheaf Inn'', and two hotels, ''Mayfield House Hotel'' and ''The Rectory''; the latter is a Grade II listed building. The village also has a village hall and recreation ground, as well as a post office (housed within the ''Wheatsheaf Inn''). Of several annual village events, the two largest are the Crudwell Bike Ride (June), a 24-hour "Le Mans" style event that raises funds for the local village hall, and the Strawberry Fair (July), held on and around the village green. Both take up a weekend and attract visitors from outside the village.

Notable people

In birth order: * George Ingram (1694–1763), rector from 1719 until his death *

Ambrose McEvoy Arthur Ambrose McEvoy (12 August 1877 – 4 January 1927) was an English artist. His early works are landscapes and interiors with figures, in a style influenced by James McNeill Whistler. Later he gained success as a portrait painter, mainly o ...

(1878–1927), artist * Walter Knight-Adkin (1880–1957), Chaplain of the Fleet * Richard Cooper (1945–1990), cricketer * John Rawling Todd (1929–2002), colonial administrator in

British Indian Ocean Territory The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is an British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia. The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chago ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

"Deaths", ''Hatfield Record'', 2004, p. 105.

References

External links

*
Crudwell community website

Crudwell Parish Council

Crudwell Village Hall and Recreation Ground
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire