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Pewsham
Pewsham
	The Lysley Arms in 2014, since renamed The Pewsham
	Pewsham Location within Wiltshire
OS grid reference	ST947713
• London	93 miles (150 km)
Civil parish	Chippenham;
Unitary authority	Wiltshire;
Ceremonial county	Wiltshire;
Region	South West;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CHIPPENHAM
Postcode district	SN15
Dialling code	01249
Police	Wiltshire
Fire	Dorset and Wiltshire
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	Chippenham;
	List of places UK England Wiltshire 51°26′28″N 2°04′34″W / 51.441°N 2.076°W

Pewsham is a small village and former civil parish just south-east of the town of Chippenham on the A4 national route towards Calne in Wiltshire, England.

Description

Although signposted as Pewsham on the main road at both ends, the original settlement does not appear on Ordnance Survey maps, which instead apply the name to the southeastern outskirts of Chippenham.^[1] Spread along the road are a small business centre called Forest Gate, a car dealership and a pub named The Pewsham.^[2] Set back behind the pub is Pewsham House, built in red brick in 1892; it was designed in 17th-century style by the Wiltshire architect Charles Ponting.^[3]

The Cocklemore Brook drains the farmland south of the A4, and flows into the Avon near Pewsham Locks.^[4] The closest neighbouring village is Derry Hill, in particular the 'Old Derry Hill' area at the foot of the hill, just beyond the pub.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, when large housing developments spread across several towns, Pewsham was the name given to Chippenham's new residential district in the south-east of the town. The diverted A4 which forms the district's perimeter road is named Pewsham Way.

Forest and parishes

There was a royal forest in the area from the 13th century, sometimes called Chippenham forest, at other times Pewsham and Bowood forest.^[5]

Pewsham was one of several areas that in 1842 formed the ecclesiastical parish for the newly consecrated Christ Church at Derry Hill;^[6]^[7] until then Pewsham was extra-parochial, i.e. outside any parish, presumably because it had been largely uninhabited woodland or wood-pasture.^[4]

The population of the Pewsham extra-parochial area peaked at 480 in 1841.^[4] It was made a civil parish in 1858, at the same time as many other extra-parochial places.^[4] In 1884 Nethermore to the south-east (formerly a detached tithing of Chippenham, with nine houses) was added to the parish, as was an area to the south;^[8] thus the parish extended as far south as the edges of the Lackham House and Bowden Park estates.^[9]

The parish was enlarged further in 1934, taking an area from Chippenham Without,^[4] so that it extended northwards beyond Tytherton Lucas;^[9] the area transferred had a population of 260 at the 1931 census.^[10] Finally, Pewsham parish was abolished on 1 April 1984, its built-up area transferred to Chippenham parish and the rural remainder to Calne Without^[4] and Bremhill.^[11] In 1971 the parish had a population of 1332.^[12]

Council ward

Pewsham electoral division elects one member of Wiltshire Council, the unitary authority. It covers the southeastern extremity of Chippenham's built-up area, and the rural area to the south which is bounded by the river and the canal.^[13]

Pewsham Locks

The Wilts & Berks Canal, completed in this area in 1797,^[14] ran from south-west to north-east, and under a bridge on the A4 near the present-day Hyundai dealership. The canal was abandoned in 1914 but is under restoration by the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust. Three locks and a dry dock south of the A4 at grid reference ST969710 are at the north end of a re-watered stretch of canal.^[14]^[15] The canal towpath is an amenity for local residents, and is accessible only via footpaths; one path continues to Lacock.^[16]

References

^ "Pewsham". Streetmap.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
^ "Landmark Chippenham pub reopens under new name". The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. 4 August 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
^ Orbach, Julian; Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (2021). Wiltshire. The Buildings Of England. New Haven, US and London: Yale University Press. p. 270. ISBN 978-0-300-25120-3. OCLC 1201298091.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Chandler, John (December 2019). "Chippenham: Landscape, Settlement, and Buildings (draft)" (PDF). Wiltshire Victoria County History. University of London. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
^ Crittall, Elizabeth, ed. (1959). "Forests". A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. University of London. pp. 391–433. Retrieved 1 March 2022 – via British History Online.
^ Edward Robert Kelly (1875). Wiltshire. Ed. by E.R. Kelly. (County topogr.). Kelly and Co. pp. 124–125.
^ "No. 20039". The London Gazette. 16 November 1841. pp. 2856–2859.
^ "Pewsham CP/ExP". A Vision of Britain through Time. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Boundary Map of Pewsham CP/ExP". A Vision of Britain through Time. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
^ Crittall, Elizabeth, ed. (1959). "Table of population, 1801–1951". A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. University of London. pp. 315–361. Retrieved 1 March 2022 – via British History Online.
^ "Chippenham Registration District". UKBMD. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
^ "Population statistics Pewsham ExP/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
^ "Chippenham Pewsham | Results". Wiltshire Council. 6 May 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Melksham Chippenham and Calne Branch". Wilts & Berks Canal Trust. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
^ "Restoration plan for derelict flight of locks in Wiltshire". BBC News. 6 March 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
^ Timlett, Paul (8 February 2022). "Lacock and The Wilts & Berks Canal". hidden-wiltshire. Retrieved 17 May 2024.