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Winsley is a large 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 ...
about west of
Bradford on Avon Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset. The town's canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restaurants make it popular with tourists. The parish had ...
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. The parish includes the hamlets of Conkwell, Turleigh, Little Ashley and Great Ashley.


History

The area was probably farmed in
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
times, as it lay between the town of
Aquae Sulis Aquae Sulis (Latin for ''Waters of Sulis'') was a small town in the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia. Today it is the England, English city of Bath, Somerset. The Antonine Itinerary register of Roman roads lists the town as ''Aquis Su ...
(now Bath) and a
villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...
complex at Bradford. Winsley is not mentioned in
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 ...
, being included with Bradford. The Bradford estate was granted to
St Mary's Abbey, Winchester St. Mary's Abbey, also known as the ''Nunnaminster'', was a Benedictine nunnery in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded between 899 and 902 by Alfred the Great's widow Ealhswith, who was described as the 'builder' of the Nunnaminster in t ...
in 955 and then in 1001 to
Shaftesbury Abbey Shaftesbury Abbey was an abbey that housed nuns in Shaftesbury, Dorset. It was founded in about 888, and Dissolution of the monasteries, dissolved in 1539 during the English Reformation by the order of Thomas Cromwell, minister to King Henry VI ...
. The
Wiltshire Victoria County History The Wiltshire Victoria County History, properly called The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire but commonly referred to as VCH Wiltshire, is an encyclopaedic history of the county of Wiltshire in England. It forms part of the overall Vic ...
has an account of later owners. Winsley is first recorded (as ''Winesley'') in 1242 although the name is Saxon in origin. Other settlements around this time were Haugh, Ashley, Hartleigh and Turleigh. Stone quarrying became important from the 18th century, with quarries at Conkwell and at Murhill, where from 1803 stone for the canal was carried by wagons down a wooden railway. The 1841 census found 105 labourers working in stone quarries at Winsley. Later in that century, with transport of stone made easier by the railways, several stone mining firms operated in the area including Randell & Saunders at Murhill Down. Winsley Sanatorium was opened in 1905, just west of the village on the hilltop site of a former quarry as fresh air was desired for treatment of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
and similar illnesses. By 1929 it was known as Winsley Chest Hospital, and by 1934 had been enlarged to house 134 patients; from 1948 patients with mental handicaps were treated. The hospital closed in 1982. Avonpark retirement village was built there in 1994 using some of the hospital buildings, and is now owned by Retirement Villages Group Ltd.


Dorothy House

Winsley House, off Bradford Road in the south-west of the village, may have 17th- century origins. The Sutcliffe School for Boys bought and converted the house in 1953, and added school buildings in the grounds. After the school closed in 1992 the site was bought by the Dorothy House charity, which provides at-home medical care and a hospice for people with chronic or life-limiting illnesses. The charity covers the Bath and Keynsham areas, east Somerset and parts of north and west Wiltshire.


Geography

Winsley is distinctly split into Old Winsley village and newer housing estates: the 1960s Tyning estate to the northeast and the 1980s Church Farm estate to the northwest. The B3108 road from Bradford to Limpley Stoke originally passed through the village but a relief road avoiding the narrow roads and double bends was completed in 1997. The Avon forms the western and southern boundaries of the parish. To the east is Bradford on Avon parish; in the northwest and southwest is the boundary with the county of
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
, administratively
Bath and North East Somerset Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority district in Somerset, South West England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. ...
. The land rises steeply from the river valley, and the village is about above the river. 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 ...
follows the path of the river, and is mostly on the Winsley side of the parish boundary. The canal crosses the river on Avoncliff Aqueduct in the south of the parish, and again on
Dundas Aqueduct Dundas Aqueduct () is an aqueduct in England which carries the Kennet and Avon Canal over the River Avon (the Somerset / Wiltshire border) and the Wessex Main Line railway. The aqueduct is near Monkton Combe, Somerset, and is about south-east ...
in the west.


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. The parish is part of the Winsley & Westwood electoral division, which elects one member of Wiltshire Council; the division also covers Wingfield, Westwood, Limpley Stoke,
Monkton Farleigh Monkton Farleigh is a village and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, on high ground northwest of Bradford-on-Avon, and a similar distance east of the city of Bath. The parish includes the hamlets of Farleigh Wick and Pinckney Green. In th ...
and South Wraxall parishes. For Westminster elections, the parish is within the Melksham and Devizes constituency. Winsley formed part of the ancient
hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...
of Bradford, which was divided into civil parishes in 1894.


Amenities

On the Tyning Estate, built in the 1960s, a GP practice with a dispensary are next to the Church of England primary school. In the old village with its manor house and many 17th-century houses and artisans' cottages, the
village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...
, St Nicholas' parish church, a
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
church (built 1902) and a
bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...
club, are around the village pub. Winsley Cricket Club is next to the Manor House grounds overlooking the Avon Valley, while Bradford on Avon Rugby Football Club is northeast of the village. There is a farm shop and café at Hartley Farm, north of the village. Bus service D1 passes through the village, with a regular timetable throughout the day serving Bath, Trowbridge and Warminster. The railway towards Bath and Bristol passes to the south and west of the parish, following the river valley; station is within the parish and is just outside. Murhill Bank (John Presland Nature Reserve), on the western edge of the village, is a steeply sloping area of woodland with a one-acre unimproved (never farmed) meadow. It is maintained as a nature reserve by the parish council, who bought the site in 1987. Underground stone quarries nearby which provide hibernation places for bats are designated as the Winsley Mines
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
, forming part of the Bath and Bradford-on-Avon Bats
Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...
which is important for three species of bats.


Parish church

There was a chapel at Winsley in 1349, one of several dependent on Holy Trinity parish church at Bradford. By 1841 the church was felt to be too small and in need of repair, and it was rebuilt at the instigation of Rev. Harvey of Bradford and the Winsley chapelwarden, James Baber, owner of Murhill stone quarry and other local properties. They engaged Bristol architect R. S. Pope who designed an aisle-less nave and chancel in Gothic style; the 15th-century tower was retained, linked by a short passage to the southwest corner of the new church. Pevsner describes the tower as "quite unusual in its composition, with the mid stair-turret and the
saddleback roof A saddleback roof is usually on a tower, with a ridge and two sloping sides, producing a gable at each end. See also * List of roof shapes Roof shapes encompass a broad range of designs, including flat (or shed roof, shed), gabled, hip roof, h ...
". The font is 15th-century but Pevsner describes the interior as otherwise uninspired. The tower had three bells in 1553, of which the treble cast in 1545 by Thomas Gefferies survives; the others were made or recast in 1756 (by Thomas Bilbie) and 1951. Bilbie probably also made the clock bell. In 1846 the chapelries of Winsley and Limpley Stoke were united to form a parish, at first a
perpetual curacy Perpetual curate was a class of resident Parish (Church of England)#Parish priest, parish priest or Incumbent (ecclesiastical), incumbent curate within the United Church of England and Ireland (name of the combined Anglican churches of England an ...
, then from 1868 deemed to be a vicarage. The union with Limpley Stoke was severed in 1970 when that parish was united with
Freshford, Somerset Freshford is a village and civil parish in the River Avon, Bristol, Avon valley south-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, in the county of Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 551. It is in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty ...
. Today the church is part of the benefice of North Bradford-on-Avon and Villages, alongside St James at South Wraxall, St Peter at Monkton Farleigh and Christ Church, Bradford.


Notable people

The science fiction and fantasy writer Jonathan Green grew up in the village.


References


External links


Winsley community websiteWinsley Cricket Club
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire