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Wingfield, Wiltshire

Civil parishes in WiltshireOpenDomesdayUse British English from February 2021Villages in Wiltshire
Cottages on the A366 Wingfield geograph.org.uk 551372
Cottages on the A366 Wingfield geograph.org.uk 551372

Wingfield is a small village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England, about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of Bradford-on-Avon and 2.2 miles (3.5 km) west of Trowbridge. The parish is bordered to the east by the Trowbridge urban area and to the west by the county of Somerset, where the River Frome forms most of the boundary. The secondary road from Bradford-on-Avon to Rode (Somerset) crosses the A366 from Trowbridge to Farleigh Hungerford near the centre of the parish, and most of the dwellings are near this junction.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Wingfield, Wiltshire (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Wingfield, Wiltshire
Church Lane,

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Wikipedia: Wingfield, WiltshireContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.309 ° E -2.255 °
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Address

Church Lane

Church Lane
BA14 9LW , Wingfield
England, United Kingdom
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Cottages on the A366 Wingfield geograph.org.uk 551372
Cottages on the A366 Wingfield geograph.org.uk 551372
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Nearby Places

Midway Manor

Midway Manor is a country house and farm in Wingfield parish about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) south of Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire, England. The house is approximately midway between Bradford on Avon and Wingfield, on the B3109 road. It was originally an Elizabethan Manor Farm flanked by two large stone barns. In about 1723, the Midway estate was the property of the Shrapnel family who were prosperous cloth merchants from Bradford on Avon. Lieutenant-General Henry Shrapnel (3 June 1761 – 13 March 1842), inventor of the Shrapnel shell, was born at Midway Manor which remained with the Shrapnel family until 1871.The house had stone cannonballs mounted in various places on the front façade and a carving of the Shrapnel shell exploding with the Latin inscription Ratio Ultima Regum ("the Last Argument of Kings"), a phrase Louis XIV of France had cast on the cannons of his armies. This carving is now immediately outside the Manor's entrance gates. On the back of the gate piers, the names of some of the battles that were won with the aid of the Shrapnel shell are engraved. On top of each are four of the original spherical case shots. The late-19th century gate piers are Grade II listed since 1988.In 1892, the Manor became the property of Henry Baynton who removed the front façade, necessitating an almost complete rebuilding of the house with stone provided from the barns which were then demolished. The main structure of the house became very much as it is today.

Farleigh Hungerford Castle
Farleigh Hungerford Castle

Farleigh Hungerford Castle, sometimes called Farleigh Castle or Farley Castle, is a medieval castle in Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset, England. The castle was built in two phases: the inner court was constructed between 1377 and 1383 by Sir Thomas Hungerford, who made his fortune as steward to John of Gaunt. The castle was built to a quadrangular design, already slightly old-fashioned, on the site of an existing manor house overlooking the River Frome. A deer park was attached to the castle, requiring the destruction of the nearby village. Sir Thomas's son, Sir Walter Hungerford, a knight and leading courtier to Henry V, became rich during the Hundred Years War with France and extended the castle with an additional, outer court, enclosing the parish church in the process. By Walter's death in 1449, the substantial castle was richly appointed, and its chapel decorated with murals. The castle largely remained in the hands of the Hungerford family over the next two centuries, despite periods during the War of the Roses in which it was held by the Crown following the attainder and execution of members of the family. At the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, the castle, modernized to the latest Tudor and Stuart fashions, was held by Sir Edward Hungerford. Edward declared his support for Parliament, becoming a leader of the Roundheads in Wiltshire. Farleigh Hungerford was seized by Royalist forces in 1643, but recaptured by Parliament without a fight near the end of the conflict in 1645. As a result, it escaped slighting following the war, unlike many other castles in the south-west of England. The last member of the Hungerford family to hold the castle, Sir Edward Hungerford, inherited it in 1657, but his gambling and extravagance forced him to sell the property in 1686. By the 18th century, the castle was no longer lived in by its owners and fell into disrepair; in 1730 it was bought by the Houlton family, Trowbridge clothiers, when much of it was broken up for salvage. Antiquarian and tourist interest in the now ruined castle increased through the 18th and 19th centuries. The castle chapel was repaired in 1779 and became a museum of curiosities, complete with the murals rediscovered on its walls in 1844 and a number of rare lead anthropomorphic coffins from the mid-17th century. In 1915 Farleigh Hungerford Castle was sold to the Office of Works and a controversial restoration programme began. It is now owned by English Heritage, who operate it as a tourist attraction, and the castle is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.