Little Somerford 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 ...

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, southeast of

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 ...

and northeast of

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town in north-west Wiltshire, England. It lies north-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, west of London and is near the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon, ...

. The northern boundary of the parish follows approximately the B4040 Malmesbury–

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 ...

road. The

Bristol Avon The River Avon ( ) is a river in the southwest of England. To distinguish it from a number of other rivers of the same name, it is often called the Bristol Avon. The name 'Avon' is loaned from an ancestor of the Welsh word , meaning 'rive ...

forms part of the boundary to the west and south, and its tributary the

Brinkworth Brook The Brinkworth Brook is a tributary of the Bristol Avon. It rises near Broad Hinton in Wiltshire in the West Country of England, and flows in a north and then westerly direction, joining the Avon at Great Somerford. Course The Brinkworth Br ...

forms part of the southeastern boundary.

History

Eight estates were recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book at ''Sumreford'', with altogether 80 households. The 'Little' prefix began to be used in the 16th century to distinguish the parish from neighbouring

Great Somerford Great Somerford is a village and civil parish within Dauntsey Vale, Wiltshire, England,OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon, Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). near the south bank of the river Avon. ...

. A school for 100 pupils was built in 1868 to replace an earlier schoolroom, and was extended in 1894. Children of all ages attended until 1954, when those aged 11 and over transferred to the secondary schools at Malmesbury. The school closed in 1982 when a new school was opened in Great Somerford to serve both villages. The

South Wales Main Line The South Wales Main Line (), originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain. It diverges from the co ...

railway from London to Bristol and South Wales passes close to the village. Little Somerford had a station from the opening of the line in 1903, and in 1933 the junction with the

Malmesbury Branch Line The Malmesbury branch was a six-and-a-half-mile-long single track branch railway line in Wiltshire, England; it ran from Dauntsey station on the Great Western Main Line to . Promoted locally, it opened with considerable assistance from the Grea ...

was moved here (at the opening of the branch in 1877 it was connected to the

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs between London Paddington and . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. The GWML is presently a part of t ...

Dauntsey Dauntsey is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It gives its name to the Dauntsey Vale in which it lies. The village is set on slightly higher ground in the floodplain of the upper Bristol Avon. Today, ...

, to the south). Passenger service on the branch ceased in 1951 and the branch was closed in 1962. Little Somerford station was closed in 1963.

Church

The first record of a church at Little Somerford is in 1251. The church was rebuilt c. 1300 although the nave may survive from the earlier building. The tower and porch were added in the 15th century; restoration was carried out in 1860. The timber chancel screen was begun in the 14th century. A boarded tympanum from the 15th century is described by Historic England as "exceptional", although the lower part is missing: it is painted with two angels and the Commandments. The tower arch carries a large royal coat of arms dated 1602, moved here in 1983 from the tympanum to reveal the painting. The pulpit is dated 1626, and the pews in the nave are

box pews A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in ch ...

from the same century, now cut down to make benches. The three bells in the tower were recast in the 18th century. The tower screen of 1928 is by

Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, Order of the British Empire, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scotland, Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, f ...

. The church was designated as

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 ...

in 1959. From 1952 and again from 1967, the benefice was held in plurality with Great Somerford. Later in 1967 the benefice was united with Great Somerford and

Seagry Seagry is a civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about southeast of Malmesbury and northeast of Chippenham. Its main settlements are the village of Upper Seagry, which was first mentioned in official records under the name Over Seagry (in 1317 ...

, and the benefice of Corston with Rodbourne was added in 1986. Today St John's is one of six churches in the Woodbridge Group.

Local government

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

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.

References

External links

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Little Somerford Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire