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Huish is a small village and former
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 ...
, now in the parish of
Wilcot, Huish and Oare, 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, northwest of
Pewsey
Pewsey is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish at the centre of the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, about south of Marlborough, Wiltshire, Marlborough and west of London. It is within reach of the M4 motorway and the A303 and i ...
and southwest of
Marlborough
Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to:
Places Australia
* Marlborough, Queensland
* Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993
* Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...
. In 2011 the parish had a population of 43.
It is on the south-facing edge of the
Marlborough Downs, where the downs adjoin the
Vale of Pewsey
The Vale of Pewsey or Pewsey Vale is an area of Wiltshire, England to the east of Devizes and south of Marlborough, centred on the village of Pewsey.
Geography
The vale is an extent of lower lying ground separating the chalk downs of Salisbury ...
.
History
A small settlement of 11 households was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, when the lord of the manor was Richard Sturmy or Esturmy.
The population of the parish remained low, reaching around 130 at its height between 1831 and 1881, then declining to 30 at the 1971 census.
The church and Manor Farm lie some 250 metres north of the present village, along a lane which continues (now as a track) some 1.5 km northwest to the site of the deserted village of Shaw, now in the parishes of
Alton and
West Overton.
By the 18th century there was a hamlet on Huish Hill, straddling the boundary with
Wilcot, some 900 metres north of
Oare at ; this hamlet began to be abandoned in the 1920s.
In 1803, land to the west of Oare village which belonged to the lords of Huish was deemed part of Huish parish. Thus the southeast boundary of Huish extends close to Oare, and Oare school (now Oare Church of England Primary School) is within Huish parish.
Cold Blow, a thatched house on the outskirts of Oare, was built in 1921–22 to designs of
Clough Williams-Ellis
Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Military Cross, MC (28 May 1883 – 9 April 1978) was a Welsh architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate architecture, Italianate village of Portmeirion in North ...
.
A heart-shaped tree plantation was created in 1999, below Huish Hill in the southeast of the parish, near
Oare. This is a
geoglyph
A geoglyph is a large design or motif – generally longer than – produced on the ground by durable elements of the landscape, such as stones, stone fragments, gravel, or earth. A positive geoglyph is formed by the arrangement and alignment ...
, but not a
hill figure
A hill figure is a large visual representation created by cutting into a steep hillside and revealing the underlying geology. It is a type of geoglyph usually designed to be seen from afar rather than above. In some cases trenches are dug and ...
like the many surrounding "white horses" such as the
Marlborough White Horse.
Local government
The first tier of local government is the parish of Wilcot, Huish and Oare, which elects a
parish council. Huish was anciently a parish in its own right,
until 1 April 2021 when it was merged with the larger neighbouring parish of
Wilcot to form "Wilcot, Huish and Oare".
At the time of the merger Huish had 37 electors,
and for a number of years had elected a joint
parish council with Wilcot.
Huish falls within the area of the
Wiltshire Council
Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire in South West England, and has its headquarters a ...
unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...
, which is responsible for all significant local government functions.
Parish church
A church was recorded at Huish in 1291. 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
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...
was rebuilt in 1785, near the foundations of the 13th-century church but in a smaller size; it was again rebuilt in 1878–9.
In 1924 the benefices of Huish and Oare were united, with the parsonage house to be at Huish. Wilcot was added in 1962. In 1972 the parishes of Huish and Oare were united, and at the same time the benefice was extended by adding
Woodborough with
Manningford Bohune and
Beechingstoke. Today the parish of Huish and Oare is part of the Vale of Pewsey team of churches.
The former rectory, a three-bay house in brick of c. 1812, is now a private house.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Wilcot and Huish with Oare Parish Council
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Villages in Wiltshire
Former civil parishes in Wiltshire