Marston Meysey

Royal Air Force Down Ampney or more simply RAF Down Ampney is a former Royal Air Force station located 1.8 miles (2.9 km) north east of Cricklade, Wiltshire and 3 miles (4.8 km) south west of RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire. The airfield operated during the Second World War from February 1944 until February 1947.Down Ampney was part of a group of airfields dedicated to air transportation, alongside RAF Broadwell and RAF Blakehill Farm.

Castle Eaton Bridge is a road bridge across the River Thames in England at Castle Eaton in Wiltshire. It carries a minor road between Cricklade, 4 miles to the southwest, and Kempsford 11⁄2 miles to the east. The iron girder bridge with brick piers was built in 1893 with materials supplied by iron founders E Finch & Sons of Chepstow. It was described by Fred Thacker in 1920 "The present deplorable iron trough ... The Conservancy is often blamed for its hideousness; their responsibility amounts only to acquiescence; I understand the Swindon District Board was the actual artist". It was strengthened in 2001. The bridge it replaced was of timber with stone piers and stone causeway.

Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford (IATA: FFD, ICAO: EGVA) is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. While being an RAF station, Fairford hosts United States Air Force personnel. Since 2019, the base has played host to a Lockheed U-2S Dragon Lady detachment from the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron. It is the USAF's only European airfield for heavy bombers and routinely supports Bomber Task Force (BTF) operations. Its most prominent use in recent years has been as an airfield for United States Air Force B-52s during the 2003 Iraq War, Operation Allied Force in 1999, and the first Gulf War in 1991. RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK. As well as having a sufficiently long runway for a shuttle landing (the runway is 3,045 m (9,990 ft) long), it also had NASA-trained fire and medical crews stationed on the airfield. The runway is rated with an unrestricted load-bearing capacity, meaning that it can support any aircraft with any type of load. RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT), an annual air display. RIAT is one of the largest airshows in the world, with the 2003 show recognised by Guinness World Records as the largest military airshow ever, with an attendance of 535 aircraft.

Meysey Hampton (also known as Maisey Hampton or Maiseyhampton) is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, approximately 30 miles (48 km) to the south-east of Gloucester. It lies in the south of the Cotswolds, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Castle Eaton is a village and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Wiltshire, England, on the River Thames about 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Highworth. It was historically in the area governed by the (former) Wiltshire County Council, but since 1997 has been part of the Borough of Swindon. The Thames at Castle Eaton forms both the northern boundary of the parish and the county boundary with Gloucestershire. The village is characterised by its older buildings, most of which are in The Street, the original main thoroughfare. Built of local stone, they give Castle Eaton the look of a traditional Cotswold village. Many of the buildings date from about 1650 to 1850, and most of the village is a Conservation Area.

The River Ray is a tributary of the River Thames in England which flows through Wiltshire. The river rises at Wroughton to the south of Swindon and runs in a generally northern direction, passing to the west of the town via Shaw. Near Roughmoor it is joined from the west by the Lydiard Brook. The river joins the Thames on the southern bank near Calcutt, east of Cricklade, just upstream of Water Eaton House Bridge. Its length is about 11.5 km (7.1 mi) from its source to the Lydiard Brook, and 10.3 km (6.4 mi) from there to the Thames.The river has been subject to a restoration project run by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. The final stage, completed in December 2007, was to build a tunnel near the Great Western Way at Rivermead to allow the nine species of fish to travel the length of the river without obstruction.

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a Church of England parish church in Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire. It is in the Diocese of Gloucester and the archdeaconry of Cheltenham. It is a Grade II* listed building. The church was built in the 13th century, possibly funded by the Knights Templar.

Down Ampney (pronounced Amney) is a medium-sized village located in Cotswold district in Gloucestershire, in England. The population taken at the 2011 census was 644.It is off the A417 which runs between Cirencester and Faringdon (in Oxfordshire) on the A420, and about 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Cricklade, which is on the A419 which runs from Cirencester to Swindon, Wiltshire.

Calcutt is a hamlet about 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) east of Cricklade in Wiltshire, England. It lies near the River Thames and is divided by the A419 Swindon-Cricklade-Cirencester road. The River Key passes close to the west of the hamlet and joins the Thames a short distance to the north. The Domesday Book of 1086 records a small settlement of nine households at Colecote, held by Odo of Winchester. The Andrews and Dury map of 1773 and again in 1810 has the name of the hamlet as Corkett, while the Ordnance Survey map in the 1890s has Calcott (not to be confused with Calcott, Kent or Calcott, Shropshire). Calcutt has two Grade II* listed buildings: Calcutt Court Farmhouse, south of the A419, from the 18th century; and Calcutt Farmhouse, north of the road, from the late 18th or early 19th.

Ermin Street or Ermin Way was a Roman road in Britain. It linked Glevum (Gloucester) and Corinium (Cirencester) to Calleva (Silchester).At Glevum, it connected to the road to Isca (Caerleon), the legionary base in southeast Wales. At Corinium, it connected to the Fosse Way between Isca (Exeter) and Lindum (Lincoln). At Calleva, it connected to the Devil's Highway to Londinium (London) and the Kentish ports, as well as to other routes to points in the southwest. The road has been assigned the Margary number 41. Much of its route of the road is now covered by the modern A417, A419 and B4000 roads.

Kempsford is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) south of Fairford. RAF Fairford is immediately north of the village. The parish, which includes the hamlets of Whelford, Horcott, and Dunfield, had a population around 1,120 at the 2011 census.

The River Churn is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises at Seven Springs in Gloucestershire and flows south for approximately 37.3 km (23.2 mi) to meet the Thames at Cricklade in Wiltshire. Its length from its source to the confluence with the Thames is greater than that of the Thames from Thames Head, but the Churn is regarded as a tributary, rather than the main river.