Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CASTLE-COMBE

CASTLE-COMBE, a village, a parish, and a subdistrict, in Chippenham district, Wilts. The village stands on the Box rivulet, near Akeman-street, 5 miles NNW of Corsham r. station, and 5½ WNW of Chippenham; and has a post office under Chippenham, and an inn. It was once a place of some note, and had a weekly market; and it still has a fair, for cattle, sheep, and horses, on 4 May. An ancient market-cross is in it; a number of gable-fronted old houses line its streets; and an old dowry-house and an old manor house stand, the one at the end of its principal street, the other in the near neighbourhood. A Saxon fort, or even a Roman camp, is supposed to have crowned an adjacent hill; and a great castle of the Dunstanvilles was built there about the year 1200, and dismantled before the close of the 14th century. Both the earlier fort and the later castle, perhaps the former quite as much as the latter, are now represented only by remains of a fosse and rampart. The manor passed from the Dunstanvilles to the Badlesmeres and others; but has belonged, for about 500 years, to the Scropes. The present mansion occupies a romantic site on the Box, deeply embosomed among steep and wooded slopes. Two notable occupants of the manor were Lord Chancellor Scrope, of the time of Richard II., and William Scrope, author of "Days of Deer Stalking." The parish comprises 1,494 acres. Real property, £3,241. Pop., 534. Houses, 122. The property is not much divided. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Gloucestor and Bristol. Value, not reported. Patron, G. P. Scrope, Esq. The church is early English; consists of nave, chancel, and two aisles, with a square tower; was restored in 1851, at a cost of £3,000; and contains an octagonal font and a cenotaph of the Scropes. There are chapels for Independents and Baptists. The subdistrict contains eight parishes. Acres, 14,011. Pop., 3,286. Houses, 701.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a parish, and a subdistrict"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Castle Combe AP/CP       Castle Combe SubD       Chippenham RegD/PLU       Wiltshire AncC
Place: Castle Combe

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