Great Bedwyn is a village and civil parish in the east of the English county of Wiltshire. A village is a human residential settlement commonly found in rural areas. ... A civil parish (usually just parish) in England is a subnational entity forming the lowest unit of local government, lower than districts or counties. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. ...

Location

Great Bedwyn is located some five miles south-west of Hungerford and seven miles south-east of Marlborough, on the Kennet and Avon Canal and the West of England Main Line railway to the West Country. Although a relatively small village, Great Bedwyn is the site of Bedwyn railway station and is the terminus of the rail commuter service from London and Reading, acting as a railhead for the town of Marlborough to which it is linked by buses which connect with the trains. Hungerford is a market town by the River Kennet in the English county of Berkshire. ... Marlborough is a market town in the English county of Wiltshire on the Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath. ... The Kennet and Avon Canal at Brass-Knocker-Bottom near Bath The Kennet and Avon Canal is a canal in southern England. ... The West of England Main Line is the British railway line from London Waterloo to Exeter. ... The West Country is an informal area of southwestern England, roughly corresponding to the administrative region South West England. ... Bedwyn railway station is a railway station in the village of Great Bedwyn in the county of Wiltshire in England. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ... Reading is a town and unitary authority (the Borough of Reading) in the English county of Berkshire. ... A Railhead is a terminus of a railway line that interfaces with another tranport mode, for example shipping. ... Marlborough is a market town in the English county of Wiltshire on the Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... A typical American steam train For other uses, see Train (disambiguation). ...

Position: grid reference SU278645 The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using latitude or longitude. ...

Nearby towns and cities: Hungerford, Marlborough, Newbury, Swindon Hungerford is a market town by the River Kennet in the English county of Berkshire. ... Marlborough is a market town in the English county of Wiltshire on the Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath. ... Newbury is the principal town in the west of the county of Berkshire in the United Kingdom. ... Swindon is a town in Wiltshire in the South West of England. ...

Nearby villages: Little Bedwyn, Chisbury, Wilton, Froxfield, Burbage, Shalbourne Grafton is a village and civil parish in the east of the English county of Wiltshire. ... Froxfield is a village and civil parish in the east of the English county of Wiltshire. ... Burbage is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in the English county of Wiltshire. ... Shalbourne is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire. ...

Nearby places of interest: Crofton Pumping Station, Wilton Windmill, Bedwyn Church Lock, Burnt Mill Lock, Potter's Lock, Little Bedwyn Lock. The local tennis courts,the cricket nets and the local school. The pumping station viewed from the canal; showing tunnel under railway, boilerhouse, enginehouse and chimney Wilton Water, the canal and railway from the pumping station The boilerhouse The beam gallery with the 1812 engine in operation Crofton Pumping Station is a pumping station, located near the village of Great Bedwyn... The Wilton windmill is a five floor brick tower mill with a round house located near the villages of Wilton and Great Bedwyn in the southern English county of Wiltshire. ... Bedwyn Church Lock is a lock on the Kennet and Avon Canal, at Bedwyn, Wiltshire, England. ... Burnt Mill Lock is a lock on the Kennet and Avon Canal, at Bedwyn, Wiltshire, England. ... Potters Lock is a lock on the Kennet and Avon Canal, at Bedwyn, Wiltshire, England. ... Little Bedwyn Lock is a lock on the Kennet and Avon Canal, at Bedwyn, Wiltshire, England. ...

History

'Bedanheafeford' the Battle Of Bedwyn

The battle of Bedwyn allegedly fought near Crofton 675 between Escuin, a Wessex nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga, and King Wulfhere of Mercia is probably a myth.^[1] Events The abbey of Abingdon, England is founded Aldhelm made abbot Aethelred succeeds his brother Wulfhere as king of Mercia Births Deaths Wulfhere, king of Japan - Temmu Emperor of Japan (672-686) Categories: 675 ... Aescwine or Escwin (died 676) was the king of Wessex from 674 until his death. ... Map of the British Isles circa 802 Wessex was one of the seven major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (the Heptarchy) that preceded the Kingdom of England. ... Wulfhere (d. ... The general location of Mercia, along with the other peoples of Britain around the year 600. ...

The battle was recorded in the 675AD entry of the Anglo Saxon chronicle. Little is known about the battle except that it was between Saxons. The location of the battle has been attributed to Crofton by local historians, due to placename interpretation, and the discovery of graves of alleged battlefield casualties in 1892AD.

Burne states that ‘Biedanheafde’ is now generally assumed to be the modern Bedwyn, the derivation of the name being "the head of the Bieda" or "Beda", a stream running through the Bedwyns. However placename information is tenuous evidence for the battlefield location; the site of the battle has also been claimed for Beedon in Berkshire, and elsewhere.

The discovery of a number of skeletons at Crofton in 1892 by JW Brooke was later used to give credence to the belief that the battle at ‘Biedanheafde’ took place near Bedwyn. The graves have become the main source of evidence to substantiate the location for the battle, an account of which is contained in the book 'Savenake, Wolfhall, Tottenham & the Battle of Great Bedwyn' 1903AD by Maurice Adams. However only excavation of the graves will confirm if they contain battlefield victims or not. Brooke recorded: “

“I cannot assign any period to them, but the field over them is paved with flint weapons. On one visit I observed children building minature castles wuth human femur and tibiae”

In a letter to Maurice Adams, BH Cunningham described the graves, 5 to 7 in number, “radiating from a common centre like the spokes of a wheel”, but unfortunately he had made no notes of his finds and was writing from memory. Mrs M E Cunnington’s study of Saxon grave sites in Wiltshire noted that there was no evidence to support the belief that the Crofton site contained Saxon graves. The only nearby finds consisted of La Tene pot earthware, from the Neolithic period. As the graves are situated within the site of a Neolithic Causewayed camp, this is not surprising.

Given the lack of evidence Maurice Adam’s confidence in a Bedwyn battlefield site cannot be shared. Crofton is not the only alleged battlefield in Bedwyn; for a while the battle in 871AD between Alfred and the Danes was assumed to have taken place near Marten. It is now recognised that the location for that battle was at Marten (Down), Dorset. Until more substantial evidence about the Crofton graves can be gathered, there is no reason to suggest that Bedwyn is the likely site for an obscure 7th century battle.

Church

St Mary's church was started in 1092, but was not completed for another 200 years. Beneath the church are the massive remains of a Saxon church begun in 905. In the chancel is a memorial to Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, brother of King Henry VIII's wife Jane Seymour, and later Lord Protector to the young Edward VI. The church is designated as a grade I listed building.^[2] Saxon may refer to: The Saxon people The Anglo-Saxon people Saxon language: Anglo-Saxon language (the ancestor language of English) Lower Saxon language (a variety of Low German) Old Saxon language (the ancestor language of Anglo-Saxon language) Upper Saxon dialect (a variety of High German) An inhabitant of... Edward Seymour Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. ... Henry VIII King of England and Ireland by Hans Holbein the Younger His Grace King Henry VIII (28 June 1491–28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April 1509 until his death. ... Jane Seymour was strict and formal compared to her flamboyant predecessor, Anne Boleyn. ... Lord Protector is a particular British English title for Heads of State, with two meanings (and full styles) at different periods of history. ... Edward VI King of England and Ireland Edward VI (12 October 1537–6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. ... Buckingham Palace, a Grade I listed building. ...

Celibrate Priests

In 1076AD Lanfranc, the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury, approached one of the major issues of the English church, the non-observance of celibracy. The practice was so widespread that he attempted only to prevent its future occurrence ,and he did not try to impose an immediate ban. The Doomsday book reveals that the priest at Bedwyn was married, and that the office of priest was passed from father to son: Brictward the priest holds the church of Bedwyn. His father held it before 1066AD. A similar situation existed in Burbage. About 100 years earlier, the Bedwyn priest Ceolbeoht had two sons, Sigestan and Athestan.

Despite Lanfranc’s work, lack of celibracy continued into the Mediaeval period. In 1107AD Roger, the Norman bishop of Salisbury, lived openly with his mistress, Matilda of Ramsbury. He was setting an example that local priests seemed happy to follow. King Henry I attitude was to fine non-celibrate priests; he received large sums from the priests for licence to live as before. This policy provided him with an additional source of income, needed to fund his war to recover Normandy. Roger of Salisbury was a protegee of Henry I who rose rapidly from his original position as priest of Avranches, to become Chancellor of England by 1102AD,and Bishop of Salisbury by 1107AD. His son, Roger le Poer, later became chancellor, and his nephews, Nigel and Alexander, bishops of Ely and Lincoln.

Bishop Roger founded Devizes, by building a castle and market centre on the boundaries of his Wiltshire estates, (Bishop’s) Cannings and Pottern. During the reign of king Stephen he had made sufficient enemies to ensure his downfall. In 1139AD the bishop and his son Roger were captured by the king. His mistress, Matilda of Ramsbury, prepared Devizes defences, but fearing for the lives of her son and his father, soon surrendered to the king.

Local government

Great Bedwyn is a civil parish with an elected parish council. It falls within the areas of Kennet District Council and Wiltshire County Council. All three councils are responsible for different aspects of local government. Kennet is a local government district in Wiltshire, England. ... Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. ...

In the 2002 census, the parish had a population of 1,347.

References

2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... September 30 is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• List of places in Wiltshire
• List of civil parishes in England

This is a list of cities, towns and villages in the ceremonial county of Wiltshire, England. ... This is a list of civil parishes in England, the smallest level of local government, split by county. ...

External links

• Great Bedwyn Village Website

Sources

• Wiltshire County Council Website page on Great Bedwyn, retrieved 18:50 Oct 29, 2004 (UTC)
• Kennet District Council Website page on Great Bedwyn Parish, retrieved 18:50 Oct 29, 2004 (UTC)