Semington 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 Wiltshire, England. The village is about south of

Melksham Melksham () is a town and civil parish on the Bristol Avon, River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Trowbridge and south of Chippenham. The parish population was 18,113 at the 2021 census. History Early history Excavations in ...

and about northeast of

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England; situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, close to the border with Somerset. The town lies south-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south-west of Swindon and south-east of Brist ...

. The parish includes the hamlets of Little Marsh and Littleton.election-maps.co.uk
Semington Civil Parish boundary on Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 colour raster layer. Retrieved 23 October 2006. The village has two locks on the

Kennet and Avon Canal The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of Navigability, navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than sol ...

, known as the

Semington Locks The Semington Locks () are situated at Semington, Wiltshire on the Kennet and Avon Canal, England. They have a combined rise/fall of 16 feet 1 inch (4.9 m). The two locks at Semington are known as Buckley's (No.15) and Barrett's ...

, and nearby is the start of the disused

Wilts and Berks Canal The Wilts & Berks Canal is a canal in the historic counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, linking the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington near Melksham, to the River Thames at Abingdon. The North Wilts Canal merged with it to become a ...

Geography

The Semington Brook, a westward-flowing tributary of the Avon, forms the east and north boundaries of the parish. Sometime after 1818, the central part of the northern boundary was realigned to follow the

. Semington village developed along the main road from Melksham to Westbury which became the

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

primary route. In 2004 a bypass was opened, taking the A350 east of the village. Little Marsh (or Littlemarsh) is a hamlet south of Semington, along the old course of the A350. Littleton is no longer populated, and the only area currently designated as belonging to Littleton is the

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

at the A350 and

A361 road The A361 is an A class road in southern England, which at is the longest three-digit A road in the UK. History When first designated in 1922, the A361 ran from Taunton (Somerset) to Banbury (Oxfordshire). It was later extended west through B ...

crossing.

Governance

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.

History

Anciently, Semington and Littleton were each tithings of

Steeple Ashton Steeple Ashton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, east of Trowbridge. In 2021 the parish had a population of 1221. In the north of the parish are the hamlets of Ashton Common and Bullenhill. Name and history Until the Dis ...

parish (Semington village being about north of Steeple Ashton village). In the late 19th century the civil parish of Semington was formed from the two tithings, and in 1894 the ancient parish of Whaddon was added to it. Whaddon was transferred to

Hilperton Hilperton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village is separated by a few fields (the Hilperton Gap) from the northeastern edge of the town of Trowbridge and is approximately from Trowbridge town centre. To the east of ...

in the late 20th century. The population of the parish was in the range 400 to 500 for many years, from the 1841 census to that of 1931. Numbers then gradually increased to reach 930 in 2011.

Canals

The

crosses marshy ground on an embankment on the northern edge of the village. The two

Semington locks The Semington Locks () are situated at Semington, Wiltshire on the Kennet and Avon Canal, England. They have a combined rise/fall of 16 feet 1 inch (4.9 m). The two locks at Semington are known as Buckley's (No.15) and Barrett's ...

were built between 1794 and 1802 under the supervision of the engineer John Rennie. They have a combined rise/fall of 16 ft 1 in (4.9 m). The two locks at Semington are known as Buckley's (numbered 15) and Barrett's (16). Next to the locks is the point at which the

Wilts & Berks Canal The Wilts & Berks Canal is a canal in the historic counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, linking the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington near Melksham, to the River Thames at Abingdon. The North Wilts Canal merged with it to become a ...

left the Kennet and Avon. The Wilts & Berks is disused but the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust is restoring it. East of the locks, the canal travels across the 2004

Semington Aqueduct Semington Aqueduct () is an aqueduct at Semington, Wiltshire, England, UK. It carries the Kennet and Avon Canal over the Semington Brook. History The Kennet and Avon Canal was the realisation of a plan to link the River Avon to the River Tha ...

, built to allow the A350 to bypass Semington village. Another aqueduct carries the canal over Semington Brook. The canal, towpath and adjacent hedges are good for wildlife and in August 2007 water voles were seen.

Former railway

The

Devizes Branch Line The Devizes branch line was a railway line from Holt Junction (south-west of Melksham) to Patney and Chirton (south-east of Devizes), in Wiltshire, England. It was named after Devizes, the largest town on the line. The branch was opened by the ...

was built north of the village in 1857. A small station ( Semington Halt) was opened in 1906 where the railway crossed both the A350 and the Wilts & Berks canal; the station and the line were closed in 1966.

Former workhouse

Just west of the village is the former St George's Hospital, built in 1836–38 as a

workhouse In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as Scottish poorhouse, poorh ...

for the Melksham

poor law union A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland. Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for the administration of poor relief. Prior to the Poor Law Amendment ...

to designs of H. E. Kendall. The nine-bay north front in classical style has two storeys and a three-bay pediment; behind this, further ranges of one, two and three storeys surround four courtyards. The front is limestone ashlar and the rear ranges are dressed limestone. Pevsner writes: "It is typical of the coming of the Victorian age how the classical and Grecian motifs get clumsy and extremely heavy". In 1988, when the building was recorded as Grade II listed, it was in use as a hospital for people with learning disabilities. Today it is largely in residential use, while a charity providing advice to disabled people occupies the ground floor of one building.

World War II

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Semington was on

GHQ Line The GHQ Line (General Headquarters Line) was a defence line built in the United Kingdom during World War II to contain an expected German invasion. The British Army had abandoned most of its equipment in France after the Dunkirk evacuation. It ...

which followed the path of the canal. Semington was designated as a ''centre of resistance'': extensive anti-tank ditches were constructed to the east, south, and west of the village, these were overlooked by a number of pillboxes. The defences were constructed as a part of British anti-invasion preparations.

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 St George is a Grade II

listed building 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 ...

. It dates from the 15th century and was largely rebuilt in 1860. Anciently a

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 ...

of Steeple Ashton, Semington was made an independent parish in 2000, and today the parish is part of the Canalside Benefice alongside parishes in Hilperton and Whaddon.

Amenities

Within the village there are over 500 houses, a primary school, a village hall, public tennis courts and a park for children. Semington has a

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

, The Somerset Arms, an 18th-century building.

National Cycle Route 4 Between these, the route runs through Reading, Bath, Bristol, Newport, Swansea and St David's. Within Wales, sections of the route follow branches of the Celtic Trail cycle route. Route The total length of the path is 443.6 miles and takes a ...

follows the canal towpath, and at the road bridge just north of Semington village, route 403 branches north to

and beyond.

Economy

About 1 km north of the village, in

Melksham Without Melksham Without is a civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. It surrounds, but does not include, the town of Melksham and is the largest rural parish in Wiltshire, with a population of 7,230 (as of 2011) and an area of . The parish ...

parish, is Hampton Park West business park which has the corporate headquarters of companies such as

G-Plan G Plan is a British furniture brand. It began as a pioneering range of furniture in the United Kingdom produced by E Gomme Ltd of High Wycombe. The success of G Plan led to E Gomme becoming one of the UK's largest furniture manufacturers, with pr ...

, Avon Rubber plc and a

Wiltshire Police Wiltshire Police, formerly known as Wiltshire Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Wiltshire (including the Borough of Swindon) in South West England. The force serves 722,000 people over an area ...

operations centre. Littlemarsh

Notable residents

Isaac Gulliver Isaac Gulliver (c. 1745–1822) was an English smuggler based on the South Coast of England, South Coast. Gulliver and his gang ran fifteen luggers to transport gin, silk, lace and tea from the Continent to Poole Bay and came to control the coas ...

(1745–1822), smuggler * Thomas Helliker (1784–1803), trade union martyr, hanged for his alleged role in burning Littleton mill

Sources

* *

References

External links

Semington Parish Council

Semington village

National cycle route 4
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire