Lockeridge

Quality 0.50 · 3 views · Updated 2 months ago

Village in Wiltshire, England

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

::summary Village in Wiltshire, England ::

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

FieldValue
countryEngland
official_nameLockeridge
label_positionbottom
population291
population_ref(in 1991)
coordinates
civil_parishWest Overton
unitary_englandWiltshire
lieutenancy_englandWiltshire
regionSouth West England
constituency_westminsterEast Wiltshire
post_townMarlborough
postcode_districtSN8
postcode_areaSN
dial_code01672
os_grid_referenceSU148678
static_image_nameLockeridge Dene.jpg
static_image_captionLockeridge Dene, a conservation area in the village
london_distance74 mi E
website
::

|country = England |official_name= Lockeridge |label_position= bottom |population= 291 |population_ref= (in 1991) |coordinates = |civil_parish=West Overton |unitary_england = Wiltshire |lieutenancy_england = Wiltshire |region= South West England |constituency_westminster = East Wiltshire |post_town= Marlborough |postcode_district = SN8 |postcode_area= SN |dial_code= 01672 |os_grid_reference= SU148678 |static_image_name=Lockeridge Dene.jpg |static_image_caption= Lockeridge Dene, a conservation area in the village |london_distance= 74 mi E |website= Lockeridge is a village in Wiltshire, England. It lies at the edge of the West Woods in the Kennet Valley, 2.9 mi west of Marlborough, 3.1 mi east of Avebury and 10.5 mi south of Swindon. It is 0.6 mi south of the A4 road which was historically the main route from London to the west of England. Lockeridge Dene is a hamlet immediately southwest of the village.

Lockeridge and its surroundings have provided evidence of Stone and Bronze Age activity in the area. Field enclosures close to the village indicate Roman occupation, whilst the village itself appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. Lockeridge today forms an agricultural and commuter community with no local industry. The community is served by a village pub, the Who'd a Thought It.

History

The area has extensive evidence of Neolithic settlement and a Bronze Age burial site was discovered behind the school in the 19th century. Field enclosures on White Hill (a ridge above the village) provide evidence of Roman occupation probably linked to the nearby fortress town of Cunetio. One possible derivation of the name is from the Old English composite word loc(a)-hrycg meaning "a ridge marked by enclosure(s)".

At the time of the Domesday Book of 1086, Lockeridge was owned by Durand of Gloucester and is described as follows:* Durand himself holds LOCKERIDGE. Almær held it TRE, and it paid geld for 2 hides. There is land for 1 plough. Of this 1 hide is in demesne. There is 1 villan and 2 bordars with 1 slave, and 1 acre of meadow, and 12 acre of pasture and 6 acre of woodland. It was worth 40s; now 30s*. These two late Anglo-Saxon estates are held to be linked to the cluster of houses at Lockeridge Dene at the southern end of the village, and the eighteenth-century Lockeridge House at the northern end. Lockeridge House is adjacent to Piper's Lane, remnant of a Roman road.

Building took place between the two Saxon settlements in the 12th century on the order of the Knights Templar who acquired one of the estates between 1141 and 1143. In 1155–1156 it acquired land in Rockley to build a Preceptory. Lockeridge is therefore something rare in Britain, namely a planned Templar village. The collapse of the nearby settlement of Shaw as a result of the Plague may have triggered growth as Lockeridge was situated at an intersection of a major east–west route (now the A4) and a crossing of the Pewsey Downs. The Templar link explains the absence (rare in Wiltshire villages) of a church.

The settlement expanded from a hamlet to a village in the 1870s when Sir Henry Meux sited his estate office (Gypsy Furlong) and the estate yard (Yardacre) in the village. Houses, a school and a pub were built at the same time.

In consequence of this history there are three main architectural styles in the village.

  • Sarsen stone, generally painted or left rough-hewn, and thatched with wheat or wheat-reed mix.
  • Victorian estate architecture built of dressed stones or Wiltshire redbrick with sarsen banding. Many of these are the work of C.E. Ponting, architect to the Meux estate in the 1870s.
  • 20th-century solid brick council housing and in-fill in a variety of styles, in the main street and on Back Lane and Rhyls Lane.

Governance

Lockeridge forms part of the civil parish of West Overton, which elects a joint parish council with the adjacent parish of Fyfield, named Kennet Valley Parish Council. It falls within the area of the Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which is responsible for most local government functions.

Landmarks

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Lockeridge_Dean.JPG" caption="Lockeridge Dene"] ::

Lockeridge House, on the other side of the river from the village, was built around 1740 and is Grade II* listed. The two-storey house is in red brick, and its five-bay front has a pedimented doorway; there are later extensions at the right and rear. At the roadside entrance are brick walls of the same period, cast iron gates and piers topped with pineapples; Pevsner noted their large size.

Lockeridge Dene at the south end of the village is a National Trust site and is a conservation area. Sarsen stones are scattered over the area, and this is one of the sites from which the stones at Avebury were obtained.

The village is adjacent to the West Woods, which in spring are carpeted with bluebells.

Walks from the village lead through the West Woods onto the Pewsey Downs and the Wansdyke,{{Cite web |url=http://www.wansdyke21.org.uk/wansdyke/wanart/road.htm |title=Wansdyke and the Roman Road |author=Robert Vermaat |publisher=self-published |year=2001

Amenities

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Lockeridge_School.JPG" caption="St John's, Marlborough]]."] ::

Kennet Valley Cricket Club has its ground next to the village hall, drawing members from Lockeridge as well as West Overton, East Kennett and Fyfield.

Notable people

The Lacket, an 18th-century thatched cottage on the southwest edge of the village, was bought in 1908 as a weekend retreat by the politician and writer Hilton Young (later Baron Kennet), and was rented in 1914–15 by the author Lytton Strachey. The cottage was also the home of Young's son Wayland.

From 1910, A. N. Whitehead and his wife Evelyn also had a cottage at Lockeridge, from where he collaborated with Bertrand Russell on Principia Mathematica.

References

  • Fowler, P & Blackwell I (1998) "The Land of Lettice Sweetapple" pp 88–90

References

  1. (September 2000). "Fyfield, Lockeridge & West Overton Village Design Statement – Part 1". Wiltshire Council.
  2. "Council Information".
  3. {{National Heritage List for England
  4. {{National Heritage List for England
  5. (1975). "Wiltshire". [[Penguin Books]].
  6. "Lockeridge Dene and Piggledene". National Trust.
  7. (29 April 2004). "Breathtaking bluebells at West Woods". BBC.
  8. "Overton cum Fyfield Church of England School". Wiltshire Council.
  9. (1980). "Victoria County History – Wiltshire – Vol 11 pp181-203 – Parishes: Overton". University of London.
  10. "Kennet Valley C. of E. VA Primary School". Wiltshire Council.
  11. "Kennet Valley Cricket Club".
  12. {{National Heritage List for England
  13. (2016-12-22). "Village Heritage booklet, 1987".
  14. Levy, Paul. (2002-07-20). "Rereadings: Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey – a string quartet in four movements".
  15. (21 May 2009). "Lord Kennet".
  16. (1987). "Valley Heritage booklet".
  17. Lowe, Victor. (31 March 1974). "Whitehead's 1911 Criticism of The Problems of Philosophy". Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies.

::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. ::

villages-in-wiltshire