History of Lacock

Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order. The abbey remained a nunnery until the suppression of Roman Catholic institutions in England in the 16th century; it was then sold to Sir William Sharington who converted the convent into a residence where he and his family lived. It was fortified and remained loyal to the crown during the English Civil War, but surrendered to the Parliamentary forces once Devizes had fallen in 1645. The house was built over the old cloisters and its main rooms are on the first floor. It is a stone house with stone slated roofs, twisted chimney stacks and mullioned windows. Throughout the life of the building, many architectural alterations, additions, and renovations have occurred so that the house is a mish-mash of different periods and styles. The Tudor stable courtyard to the north of the house has retained many of its original features including the brewhouse and bakehouse. The house later passed into the hands of the Talbot family, and during the 19th century was the residence of William Henry Fox Talbot. In 1835 he made what may be the earliest surviving photographic camera negative, an image of one of the windows. In 1944 artist Matilda Theresa Talbot gave the house and the surrounding village of Lacock to the National Trust. The abbey houses the Fox Talbot Museum, devoted to the pioneering work of William Talbot in the field of photography. The Trust markets the abbey and village together as "Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot Museum & Village". The abbey is a Grade I listed building, having been so designated on 20 December 1960.

Lacock Abbey was a monastery founded at Lacock, in the county of Wiltshire in England, in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a house of Augustinian Canonesses regular. It was seized by the crown in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. It then became a country house, Lacock Abbey, notable as the site of Henry Fox Talbot's early experiments in photography.

St Cyriac's Church is a 14th-century Church of England church in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire.

Lacock is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) south of the town of Chippenham, and about 3.7 miles (6.0 km) outside the Cotswolds area. The village is owned almost in its entirety by the National Trust and attracts many visitors by virtue of its unspoiled appearance. The parish includes Bowden Hill, a small village 1 mile (1.6 km) to the east of Lacock, and the hamlets of Bewley Common, Notton and Reybridge. The Chippenham–Melksham section of the A350 primary route crosses the parish from north to south, as does the River Avon. A scarecrow festival is held annually in Lacock and is popular with visitors from the local area. All funds raised are donated to Lacock Primary School.

Cantax House is a grade II* listed house in Cantax Hill, Lacock, Wiltshire, England. It dates from around 1700 and is of red brick with ashlar dressings and a hipped stone slate roof. It was used as the Lacock vicarage until 1866. Part of the garden wall is also listed.In 2007, scenes for the film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince were shot outside the house.

Ray Mill House is a Grade II listed 19th-century country house in Reybridge, a hamlet near Lacock, Wiltshire, England. It is privately owned by Queen Camilla.

Bewley Common is a hamlet in Wiltshire, England. It lies in the civil parish of Lacock, west of Bowden Hill and about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Lacock village. Bewley Court is a Grade I listed manor house from the 14th century or early 15th. The house was restored and extended c. 1920 to designs by Harold Brakspear, and was the home of interior designer Oliver Ford until his death in 1992.

Lacock Halt was a minor railway station on the Chippenham–Trowbridge section of the former Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (WSWR), which opened as far as Westbury on 2 September 1848. This connected to the Great Western Main Line at Thingley Junction (southwest of Chippenham) and was incorporated into the Great Western Railway in March 1850 after the WSWR ran into financial difficulties.

The Cocklemore Brook is a short tributary of the Bristol Avon, some 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. It rises near Studley in Wiltshire, England, and flows in a north and then westerly direction, draining the Pewsham area before passing underneath the former Wilts & Berks Canal and then joining the Bristol Avon near Lackham House, now home to Lackham College. An alternate name of Pewe Brook is recorded in the 14th century.

Bowden Hill is a village in Wiltshire, England, in Lacock parish about 3+1⁄2 miles (6 km) south of Chippenham and 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) to the east of Lacock village. Bowden Hill has about 50 houses, a pub, and a small industrial estate.

Beanacre is a small village in Wiltshire, England, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Melksham on the A350 towards Chippenham. It is in the civil parish of Melksham Without. The Bristol Avon passes to the east of the village where a stream from Sandridge joins it.

Melksham Without is a civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. It surrounds, but does not include, the town of Melksham and is the largest rural parish in Wiltshire, with a population of 7,230 (as of 2011) and an area of 29 square kilometres (7,200 acres). In 1894 the ancient parish of Melksham was divided into Melksham Urban District and the rural parish of Melksham Without. The northern boundary of the parish is the Roman road from Silchester to Bath; downstream from Melksham the Bristol Avon forms the southwestern boundary, and parts of the southern boundary are the Semington Brook and the Kennet and Avon Canal. The parish includes the villages of Beanacre, Berryfield, Shaw and Whitley, and the hamlets of Outmarsh and Redstocks. It also includes the outer Melksham suburbs of Bowerhill and The Spa, and the dispersed settlement of Sandridge which includes Sandridge Common.