Widham is a hamlet now encompassed within the village and parish of

Purton Purton is a large village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about northwest of the centre of Swindon. The parish includes the village of Purton Stoke and the hamlets of Bentham, Hayes Knoll, Purton Common, Restrop, The Fox and Widham ...

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. Originally, Widham consisted of a few houses north of Purton along the

Cricklade Cricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire, England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester. It is the first downstream town on the Thames. The parish population at the 2011 census was 4,227. History Cricklade ...

road, parts of Witts Lane, and the toll house at Collins Lane, with Widham

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally ...

in the centre. In time, Purton engulfed the hamlet, and only one small area remained as Widham. This, in turn, was divided in the mid-19th century by the railway line between Swindon and

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of t ...

. A related place name, Widhill, in the parish of Cricklade, can be found approximately 4 miles to the north near the

A419 The A419 road is a primary route between Chiseldon near Swindon at junction 15 of the M4 with the A346 road, and Whitminster in Gloucestershire, England near the M5 motorway. The A419 is managed and maintained by a private company, Road Mana ...

Blunsdon Blunsdon is a civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, in Wiltshire, England, about north of the centre of Swindon, with the A419 forming its southern boundary. Its main settlement is the village of Broad Blunsdon, with Lower Blunsdon nearby; ...

. During the period of the

Enclosure Act The Inclosure Acts, which use an archaic spelling of the word now usually spelt "enclosure", cover enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land previously held in common. Between 1604 and 1 ...

s, the

common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally ...

at Widham was awarded to the

Earls of Shaftesbury Earl of Shaftesbury is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1672 for Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Baron Ashley, a prominent politician in the Cabal then dominating the policies of King Charles II. He had already succeeded his f ...

along with 'foot rights' to the cottages around the common to the highway (which had been a private road with tolls collected at the toll house). The highway then became a public road. Tolls, however, continued to be collected into the late 19th century. Pincocks Orchard, one of the last remaining private orchards in Purton and dating to the 18th century, lies behind the houses to the south of the railway. It was originally Thomas Pincock's orchard, but is now reduced in size to around half an acre. It is planted with

greengage The greengages are a group of cultivars of the common European plum. The first true greengage came from a green-fruited wild plum ( fa , گوجه‌سبز, Gowjehsabz) which originated in Iran (Persia). Greengages are grown in temperate areas a ...

and other fruit trees. Widham is shown in current

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was ...

maps as well as maps dating back to the 18th century, such as Andrews’ and Drury's Map of Wiltshire, 1773, Andrews’ and Drury's Map of Wiltshire, 1810 and the 1896 OS map.

Etymology

The name ‘Widham’ derives from two words – 'druid' and 'hamlet'. The word 'Dru-wid' means 'oak-knowledge', while 'Ham' means homestead or peninsula (on the Andrews' & Drury's maps, 1773 & 1810, Widham can be seen lying between two small rivers/streams leading into the

River Key The River Key is a tributary of the River Thames in England which flows through Wiltshire. Course The river rises at Braydon Forest near Purton and runs north-east through Purton Stoke, joining the Thames on the southern bank near Cricklade, ...

which joins the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...

at Cricklade.) The English word 'wisdom' traces its origins to the primitive Germanic word 'wid', meaning 'to know'. 'Wid', in turn, is derived from the Sanskrit word 'veda', meaning 'external knowledge' The suffix 'ham' could be derived from one of two words, 'Ham', the Saxon word meaning 'settlement', or 'hamm', meaning 'water meadow'. A 'ham' can also be a geographical feature roughly corresponding to a peninsula surrounded on three sides, usually by marsh. In the case at hand, such an ancient marsh may have later been drained to become a meadow as in the present day. Ultimately, the Germanic word 'ham' meaning ‘meadow in the bend of a river’, ‘water meadow’, or ‘flood plain’, seems best suited to have served as the derivation of the second element of the place name 'Widham'.

References

{{Reflist

External links

* Enclosure Acts 1744 – not available online; the Act for Purton is available from Wiltshire Council records office.
Duncan & Mandy Ball
– photographs of Purton and the Toll House * Pincock Orchard – can only be found in records relating to the 1744 Map – Copy of which, with legend, can be found at Purton Parish Council and on the Conveyance of the land Hamlets in Wiltshire