There are many aspects to our villages history, and we cannot hope to document them all here, but as our research continues these pages will keep growing in detail. So do please come back once in a while to see what’s new!
External Resources and Links
Excavation Reports In Recent years there have been developer funded archaeological digs/reports in the village. The reports are public. Barnes Yard Valley View Lower Upham Coronel Farm North Farm valley gas pipeline Other Local History Groups Ogbourne St Andrew Chiseldon Wiltshire Field Archaeology Group Museums and Sites of Interest Aldbourne Archive Wiltshire Museum at Devizes...
The Aldbourne Cup
The Aldbourne Cup is an early Bronze Age (Wessex Culture) cup with a lid, dating from c.1700-1500BC. It was discovered by Canon William Greenwell when he visited Aldbourne in 1878 and 1879 and excavated a number of the Bronze Age barrows in the parish. Both the cup and the lid are finely decorated inside and...
Aldbourne Timeline
Field Names
As a first step to recording field names at various times in the history of the village we have taken the field names, boundaries and other features from the 1809 enclosure map and created a Google Map(here) with layers showing these features. There is more detail on the 1809 map than is easy to transcribe...
Aldbourne Band
Aldbourne Band 2015 Aldbourne is lucky enough to have an excellent band, who we enjoy listening to on occasions throughout the year. The Friends of Aldbourne Band recently ran a Heritage Project to record and present as much as possible of the history of the band. These pages are a presentation of the results of...
Maps (Know Your Place)
Know Your Place: Wiltshire is now online - this will let you view old maps of our area alongside new ones. We will be adding photos to the Aldbourne area on the map as well - it's well worth a visit ! You can play with the different version of maps to see how the...
Visiting Devils End & The Devils Hump
In the early 1971 Aldbourne was the location for a Doctor Who story - The Daemons. Aldbourne itself played the part of the village Devils End, and a nearby Bronze Age Barrow played the part of The Devils Hump. We welcome Whovians who want to visit this iconic location, Doctor Who is most certainly not...
Aldbourne Monuments Digital Record
Welcome to the Aldbourne Monuments Digital Record. These pages have been created as part of St Michael’s Churchyard Heritage Project. This comprises the monuments in Aldbourne’s two burial grounds, that of St Michael’s churchyard, and the much smaller Zoar Baptist graveyard near St Michael’s church. Monuments inside St Michael’s church will be added to this...
WW1: Roll of Honour
We remember those who fell whilst serving their country in the First World War. Below you will find 4 pages each containing more pages, one for each of the fallen. They are sorted alphabetically. The list is a result of our research, starting with the two war memorials in the village (they do no match,...
Historic Documents
As we locate and transcribe documents which provide original sources for information on the history of Aldbourne, we will add them here. Each entry will provide an article about the document iteslf, a summary of what it tells us about the village's history and a link to a further page or pages with the full...
Snap (Deserted Village)
In the 14th century Snap was the smallest settlement in the parish, and one of the poorest in the county; there were 19 poll-tax payers in 1377. In the early 17th century there was a row of five cottages along the southern side of the valley. There may have been a cottage nearby at Woodsend...
Upper Upham
Early settlement at Upper Upham may have continued into historic times. There is evidence of Roman field systems, occupation and baths. In the 14th century Upham was a small village, having 40 poll-tax payers in 1377, and was poorer than the average community in the hundred. There may have been some six houses at Upper...
Natural History
Aldbourne is situated in the Marlborough downs. The Chalk was formed in the Turonian Age (Upper Cretaceous), some of the surrounding hills have a cap of Head formed in the Quaternary Age. Aldbourne sits at the junction of six valleys. One (South Street) is where the bourne leaves the village heading towards the Kennet. Another...
Oral History
These are the tracks from the oral history CD published in 2007 by the Trustees of the Memorial Hall Ch01JulieAlder Play Ch02ChrisBarnes Play Ch03MichaelBarnes Play Ch04OHLTedBarnes Play Ch05AudreyBarret Play Ch06CyrilBarret Play Ch07MabsBeckingham Play Ch08PeggyBendle Play Ch09KenBrind Play Ch10TonyBrind Play Ch11EdithComely Play Ch12MollyCullisJoanPhizaklea Play Ch13MegDuckworth Play Ch14JohnFisher Play Ch15TerryGilligan Play Ch16RonHacker Play Ch17BillHale Play Ch18HaroldHerring Play Ch19JohnHunt Play Ch20GeraldJerram Play Ch21PearlJerram Play Ch22NancyKeast Play Ch23DennisKeen Play Ch24ConnieLiddiard Play Ch25DaphneLudlow Play Ch26MaryMacKrill Play Ch27NinaMcKeon Play Ch28DuncanMcPhedron Play Ch29GeorgeNewman Play Ch30OliveOrchard Play Ch31DavidPalmer Play Ch32IanPalmer Play Ch33MargaretPalmer Play Ch34WallyPalmer Play Ch35AnnePayne Play Ch36NeilsonPearse Play...
Who Lived In Aldbourne
Here are some mini-biographies of folk who have lived here, these articles are adapted from the ones originally published in The Dabchick magazine.