Fyfield (Fyfield)
Fyfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire, in the Kennet Valley about 2.5 mi west of Marlborough. The village is on the A4 road which was historically the main route from London to the west of England.
Fyfield Down has extensive remains from successive phases of prehistoric to post-medieval activity. A 300-acre field system extending onto Overton Down has produced Iron Age and Romano-British finds.
The downland has many sarsen stones – pieces of dense, hard, sandy rock. In prehistoric times these were used for monuments, handaxes, quern-stones and other implements; medieval houses in Kennet Valley villages had walls made from sarsen blocks. Around 1850, Edward Free began a stone-cutting business at Fyfield which supplied much material for buildings, pavements and kerbs. The Free family moved to Marlborough in 1890; sarsen cutting declined after 1915 and ceased in 1939.
Prior to the mid 19th century, the village was centred south of the church, in the valley northeast of Lockeridge House (c. 1740 ). After a fire, this area was abandoned in favour of higher ground along the Bath Road; many of the new cottages were demolished during road improvements in the 1930s, leaving the village without a heart.
From c. 1880, about 560 acres on Fyfield Down and Overton Down, overlapping much of the present nature reserve and then owned by the Meux family, was managed as a rabbit warren for sport shooting. Most of the land was sold in 1906 by the widow of Sir Henry Bruce Meux to racehorse trainer Alec Taylor; in 1910 Taylor closed the warren and had some 14,000 rabbits killed, in order to use the area for exercising horses.
Fyfield Down has extensive remains from successive phases of prehistoric to post-medieval activity. A 300-acre field system extending onto Overton Down has produced Iron Age and Romano-British finds.
The downland has many sarsen stones – pieces of dense, hard, sandy rock. In prehistoric times these were used for monuments, handaxes, quern-stones and other implements; medieval houses in Kennet Valley villages had walls made from sarsen blocks. Around 1850, Edward Free began a stone-cutting business at Fyfield which supplied much material for buildings, pavements and kerbs. The Free family moved to Marlborough in 1890; sarsen cutting declined after 1915 and ceased in 1939.
Prior to the mid 19th century, the village was centred south of the church, in the valley northeast of Lockeridge House (c. 1740 ). After a fire, this area was abandoned in favour of higher ground along the Bath Road; many of the new cottages were demolished during road improvements in the 1930s, leaving the village without a heart.
From c. 1880, about 560 acres on Fyfield Down and Overton Down, overlapping much of the present nature reserve and then owned by the Meux family, was managed as a rabbit warren for sport shooting. Most of the land was sold in 1906 by the widow of Sir Henry Bruce Meux to racehorse trainer Alec Taylor; in 1910 Taylor closed the warren and had some 14,000 rabbits killed, in order to use the area for exercising horses.
Map - Fyfield (Fyfield)
Map
Country - United_Kingdom
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Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| GBP | Pound sterling | £ | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| EN | English language |
| GD | Gaelic language |
| CY | Welsh language |