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South Marston

Coordinates: 51°35′24″N 1°43′19″W / 51.590°N 1.722°W / 51.590; -1.722
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South Marston
The Carrier's Arms in 2012
South Marston is located in Wiltshire
South Marston
South Marston
Location within Wiltshire
Population860 (in 2021)[1]
OS grid referenceSU194879
Civil parish
  • South Marston
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townSwindon
Postcode districtSN3
Dialling code01793
PoliceWiltshire
FireDorset and Wiltshire
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
WebsiteParish Council
List of places
UK
England
Wiltshire
51°35′24″N 1°43′19″W / 51.590°N 1.722°W / 51.590; -1.722

South Marston is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The village is about 3 miles (5 km) north-east of Swindon town centre.

History

The earliest documentary evidence for continuous settlement dates from the 13th century, but there is fragmentary archaeological evidence of occupation as far back as the Bronze Age.

It is claimed that there were Roman remains just outside South Marston in a field belonging to Rowborough Farm, but these have long disappeared. Ermin Way, a major Roman road linking Silchester and Gloucester, passed close to the village on the south-west side, separating it from Stratton St Margaret. There was a Roman station at Durocornovium, now Covingham, one mile south of the village.

The name "Marston" derives from a common Old English toponym meaning "marsh farm". This suggests that the village was founded before the Norman conquest of England in 1066, although it is not recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Documentary evidence of the village exists from about 1280, when it is mentioned as part of Highworth Hundred. South Marston became a civil parish in 1894.[2]

Alfred Bell bought the manor, farms and houses from the Earl of Carnarvon and others in the 1850s. He and his descendants rebuilt the manor house, built the school and repaired and refurbished the church.[3] The manor house was demolished in the 1980s and replaced by a housing development.[4]

Parish church

Church of St Mary Magdalene

The small Church of England parish church is dedicated to St Mary Magdalen. There is evidence of a Norman church in the simple north and south doorways; the plain font is also Norman.[5] The present church, built in stone rubble with ashlar quoins and dressings, has a 13th-century chancel and 15th-century nave and west tower. The building was designated as Grade I listed in 1955.[6]

Inside the church are several 18th-century monuments. Extensive restoration by the London architect John Belcher in 1886 included the addition of the south chapel and the small octagonal turret, with spire, above the east end of the nave; he also replaced the nave roof and the furnishings.[7] The work was paid for by the Bell family, who bought the manor and village in the 1850s.[3]

There is stained glass by Clayton and Bell, from 1886 and later.[7] One of the six bells was cast by John Wallis in 1616; the others are from 1926.[8]

South Marston was anciently a chapelry of Highworth, until it was made a parish in 1889.[9] The benefice was united with that of Stanton Fitzwarren in 1955, and the incumbent was to live in South Marston parsonage house.[10] Today, these parishes are covered by the Stratton team ministry, together with Stratton St Margaret.[11][12]

Industries

Early in the Second World War, a Ministry of Aircraft Production shadow factory and airfield were built for Phillips & Powis Aircraft Ltd,[13][14] and 1,090 Miles Master training aircraft were built there.[citation needed] Short Brothers Ltd also used another part of the airfield for final assembly and testing of locally-built Short Stirling bombers.[13] Vickers-Armstrongs-Supermarine acquired the site in 1945[15] and produced Supermarine aircraft including Spitfire, Seafire, Attacker, Swift and Scimitar there until 1961; the factory continued to produce components for Vickers until the early 1980s.[13]

In 1985, Honda bought the site, which straddles the boundary with Stratton St Margaret parish, and turned it over to car manufacture. It was the company's sole British plant and employed 3,500 in 2019 when Honda announced that it would close in 2021.[16] In that year the site was sold to Panattoni, an American industrial real estate developer, who intended to use it for a large-scale logistics operation.[17] Demolition of the car plant began in March 2024.[18] The replacement buildings, to be called Panattoni Park, were to be built in stages over the next five or six years and cover around 5.5 million square feet.[19]

The principal book storage facility for Oxford's Bodleian Libraries has been on South Marston Industrial Estate since 2010.[20]

Sport

Teams at the Vickers-Armstrongs works included a football team and a rugby team, who continue today under altered names: Swindon Supermarine F.C. and Supermarine RFC.[21] Since the 1980s they have shared facilities at Hunts Copse just north of South Marston, alongside other sports, a bowls club and the Supermarine Sports & Social Club.

Notable resident

Alfred Williams, poet and steam-hammer operator at Swindon Railway Works, died in South Marston on 10 April 1930 aged 52.

References

  1. ^ "South Marston: population statistics, 2021 Census". CityPopulation.de. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  2. ^ "South Marston Ch/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Early 19th century to early 20th century". South Marston Parish Council. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  4. ^ "The Twentieth Century". South Marston Parish Council. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  5. ^ "St Mary Magdalen, South Marston, Wiltshire". The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland. King's College London. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  6. ^ Historic England. "Church of St Mary Magdalen (1023403)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  7. ^ a b Orbach, Julian; Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (2021). Wiltshire. The Buildings Of England. New Haven, US and London: Yale University Press. p. 647. ISBN 978-0-300-25120-3. OCLC 1201298091.
  8. ^ "South Marston". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  9. ^ "No. 25941". The London Gazette. 31 May 1889. pp. 2966–2968.
  10. ^ "No. 40521". The London Gazette. 24 June 1955. p. 3671.
  11. ^ "St Mary Magdalene, South Marston". southmarstonchurch.wordpress.com. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  12. ^ "Stratton Team Ministry". A Church Near You. The Archbishops' Council. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  13. ^ a b c "Aircraft production at Vickers, Swindon". SwindonWeb. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  14. ^ "South Marston". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust UK. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  15. ^ "Vickers-Armstrongs". Graces Guide. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  16. ^ Shane, Daniel; Riley, Charles (19 February 2019). "Honda is closing its only British factory, wiping out 3,500 jobs". CNN. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  17. ^ Griffith, Matt (26 March 2021). "Business West welcomes Honda site announcement and the hundreds of jobs it will create". Business West. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  18. ^ Thomas, Aled (4 March 2024). "End of an Era: Demolition begins at Honda factory". Swindon Advertiser. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  19. ^ "PM at launch of £900m complex at former Honda Swindon site". BBC News. 4 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  20. ^ "Book Storage Facility". Bodleian Libraries. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  21. ^ "The History Of Supermarine". Supermarine RFC. Retrieved 6 March 2022.

Media related to South Marston at Wikimedia Commons

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