Bishops Cannings
| Bishops Cannings | |
|---|---|
 The Crown Inn in Bishops Cannings with the church of St Mary the Virgin behind | |
| Population | 1,784 (in 2011)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SU038642 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Devizes |
| Postcode district | SN10 |
| Dialling code | 01380 |
| Police | Wiltshire |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
Bishops Cannings is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) northeast of Devizes. The parish includes the village of Coate and the hamlets of Bourton, Horton and Little Horton.
History
The manor of Cannings was recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as held by the Bishop of Salisbury.[2][3]
Horton is first attested in 1158. The place-name is a common one in England and derives from Old English horu 'dirt' and tūn 'settlement, farm, estate', presumably meaning 'farm on muddy soil'.[4]
Bourton manor included the hamlet of Easton; today the name survives only at Easton Farm and Easton Down.
The Wansdyke medieval earthwork crosses the parish.
The parish is now the third largest in Wiltshire, but was formerly larger. It lost a large area to the nearby town of Devizes when there was a change of boundaries in 1835. Bishops Cannings had previously reached as far into Devizes as the Crammer, a large pond on the edge of the town centre. This may explain how Bishops Cannings comes to lay claim to being the place of origin of the legend of the Moonrakers.[5][6] Next to the pond is the 15th-century church of St James,[7] which was a chapelry of Bishops Cannings.[3]
Historically, the parish was part of the Potterne and Cannings hundred of Wiltshire. A detailed parish history was published in 1953 by the Wiltshire Victoria County History.[8]
Local government
Bishops Cannings is a civil parish with an elected parish council. It is in the area of Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which is responsible for almost all significant local government functions.
References
- ^ "Bishops Cannings census information". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
- ^ Bishops Cannings in the Domesday Book
- ^ a b "Victoria County History - Wiltshire - Vol 7 pp 187-197 - Parishes: Bishop's Cannings". British History Online. University of London. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- ^ Victor Watts (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), s.v. HORTON.
- ^ "Smugglers myth lives". Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
- ^ "Bishops Cannings". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St James, Devizes (1263715)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- ^ A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume VII: Bradford hundred and Potterne and Cannings hundred (1953)
Sources
- Wiltshire County Council Website page on Bishops Cannings, retrieved 15:10 Oct 8, 2004 (UTC)
External links
Media related to Bishops Cannings at Wikimedia Commons
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