Bremilham

---

title: "Bremilham" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["hamlets-in-wiltshire", "former-civil-parishes-in-wiltshire"] description: "Former civil parish in Wiltshire, England" topic_path: "general/hamlets-in-wiltshire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremilham" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Former civil parish in Wiltshire, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
country	England
official_name	Bremilham
static_image_name	Bremilham Church in Cowage Farmyard - geograph.org.uk - 4208.jpg
static_image_caption	Bremilham Church, Cowage Farm
coordinates
region	South West England
unitary_england	Wiltshire
lieutenancy_england	Wiltshire
civil_parish	Norton
postcode_district	SN16
postcode_area	SN
post_town	MALMESBURY
constituency_westminster	South Cotswolds
os_grid_reference	ST903860
::

|country= England |official_name= Bremilham |static_image_name= Bremilham Church in Cowage Farmyard - geograph.org.uk - 4208.jpg |static_image_caption= Bremilham Church, Cowage Farm |coordinates = |population = |population_ref = |region= South West England |unitary_england = Wiltshire |lieutenancy_england = Wiltshire |civil_parish = Norton |dial_code= |postcode_district = SN16 |postcode_area= SN |post_town= MALMESBURY |constituency_westminster= South Cotswolds |os_grid_reference= ST903860 Bremilham, also known as Cowage or Cowich, is a small settlement and former civil parish in north Wiltshire, England. It is near the hamlet of Foxley in the parish of Norton. The nearest town is Malmesbury, about 2 mi away to the north east.

The place-name 'Bremilham' is first attested in 1065, as Bremelham, and means 'village where brambles or blackberries grew'. In 1881 the parish had a population of 25. On 25 March 1884 the parish was abolished and its land divided among Foxley, Westport St Mary and Brokenborough parishes. In 1934 Foxley (with Bremilham) was transferred to the civil parish of Norton. On some present-day maps, only Cowage Farm is shown.

Bremilham was a small ecclesiastical parish until 1893 when it was united with Foxley.

Church

There was probably a chapel at Bremilham in 1179, when Amesbury Priory was granted the tithes; by 1289 there was a rector. In 1874 the benefice was united with Foxley, and from 1951 Foxley with Bremilham was held in plurality with that of Corston with Rodbourne. Today the parish is part of the Gauzebrook group of churches.

Bremilham's tiny Church of England church claims to be the smallest in England, measuring ten feet by eleven feet. It is either the surviving part of a 15th-century church (Historic England) or a mid-19th century rebuild on the site of the chancel of the demolished church, for use as a mortuary chapel (Victoria County History). The building was recorded as Grade II listed in 1986.

One service is held each year. The church has no dedication and the parish registers go back only to 1813.

On 26 or 27 February 2020 the church bell, which used to hang on an oak beam inside the church, was stolen. The bell was originally from the church in Foxley which swapped its bell for Bremilham's in the 1870s.

References

References

1. [https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/WIL/Bremilham/Gaz1868.html Bremilham gazetteer] at genuki.org.uk, accessed 6 January 2011
2. [[Eilert Ekwall]], ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'', p. 63.
3. "Population statistics Bremilham CP/AP through time". [[A Vision of Britain through Time]].
4. "Malmesbury Registration District". UKBMD.
5. "Foxley CP/AP". University of Portsmouth.
6. [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/WIL/Bremilham/ Bremilham] at genuki.org.uk, accessed 6 January 2011
7. "Victoria County History – Wiltshire – Vol 14 pp9–13 – Parishes: Bremilham". University of London.
8. "Norton". Wiltshire Council.
9. {{London Gazette. (15 May 1874)
10. {{London Gazette. (14 September 1951)
11. "Foxley with Bremilham".
12. {{NHLE
13. "Foxley Parish Church, Foxley w Bremilham". Church of England.
14. "Bremilham Church, Norton". Wiltshire Council.
15. Seaward, Tom. (2020-03-03). "300-year-old bell stolen from Britain's smallest church in Wiltshire". [[Swindon Advertiser]].
16. Wills, Dixe. (2018). "Tiny Churches". AA Publishing.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::