It’s impossible to consider the recent history of Aldbourne without the 101st Airborne. We have a separate page about the 101st.
| 1839 | A National school with two schoolrooms was built |
| 1840 | Cottages in West Street were converted into a Primitive Methodist chapel
Wesleyan chapel , West St |
| 1841 | Cottages in Back Lane were converted into Little Zoar chapel Vicar recorded population as 1556, with 323 houses |
| 1844 | Wesleyan Methodist chapel Lottage Rd |
| 1846 | Baptist chapel built in Back Lane |
| 1848 | The pupils were taught by two masters and two mistresses |
| 1851 or before | The windmill, built beside Baydon Street, it was still working in 1880, but was demolished in 1900 |
| 1851 | Population circa 1622(parish) 1233 (village)
Afternoon and evening services there on Census Sunday in 1851 were each attended by c. 250 people (Wesleyan) Primitive methodist afternoon and evening services were held; the average congregation numbered 160 On Census Sunday in 1851 there was a Strict Baptist afternoon service attended by 87 people and an evening service attended by 40 people Bell founding in Aldbourne finally ceases when the last founder, James Bridgeman, falls when rehanging a church bell and is too badly injured to continue in the trade. |
| 1855 | Queen Inn becomes Queen Vic, closed 1970
Chapel School at Woodsend is opened by the Rural Dean |
| 1856 | The schoolrooms were extended or replaced by a brick and flint building in Gothic style to which a master’s house was attached |
| 1858 | Village school built on land donated by W. Brown |
| 1867 | Restoration of the Church by William Butterfield a more steeply pitched roof was placed over the nave and chancel, the 15th-century roof being retained as a ceiling. A north porch was apparently removed, as was the stair turret from the south porch, the east window was replaced by three lancets, and the south windows of the south chancel chapel were altered
Chair making commences |
| 1868 | New Zoar chapel built |
| 1870 | Ambrose Goddard buys the near-derelict Upham House |
| 1873 | A schoolroom for infants was added |
| 1875 | Lordship of the manor, the copyhold land, and East Leaze farm had been sold |
| 1878 | An early steam plough was in use in the parish but there is no evidence that its introduction led to the extension of arable lands
Canon Greenwell excavates the Bronze Age Barrows to the North of the village. His finds include the Aldbourne Cup now in the British Museum |
| 1880 | A man named Woodley is the last drunk, to be locked up in the Blind |
| 1887 | A new Church Clock is installed to celebrate the Jubilee |
| 1888 | Court Leet & Lord of Manor abolished |
| 1892 | Lapse of title of Lord of the Manor
William Brown gives the Green to the village as his Manor Court is replaced by the Parish Council |
| 1900 | Windmill removed |
| 1901 | Population 1117(parish) |
| 1902 | Miss Hanbury (later Lady Currie) rebuilds Upham House to the designs of Edward Lutyens |
| 1904 | It was reported that only two or three Strict Baptist services had been held in the last six years |
| 1905 | Snap Farm closes Carnival started. |
| 1906 | A new Primitive Methodist chapel was built on the same site in 1906 and extended in 1936. It was in use in 1982 |
| 1909 | Snap deserted, only two residents |
| 1910 |  Charles McEvoy, a dramatist, converted the former malthouse in South Street into a theatre and in 1910 his play A Village Wedding was performed there by village residents before an audience which included George Bernard Shaw.
Racing stables at Lottage let to Capt Barnett |
| 1912 | Malthouse theatre closed |
| 1913 | The last inhabitant of Snap, Rachel Fisher, is moved into the village |
| 1914-1918 | First World War: more than 100 Aldbourne men join the Forces. Forty-eight do not return.
Houses in Snap destroyed by Army gunnery practice |
| 1915 | Severe flooding in Lottage, West Street and the Square
No. 5 Bell recast and the bells are rehung on a steel frame. The clock is repaired and fitted with Westminster Chimes |
| 1920 or before | Masons Arms opened |
| 1921 | Hightown stables burn down
Population 980(parish) |
| 1923 | Billie Aldridge shoes Felstead the Derby winner |
| 1924 | Hightown stables rebuilt and sold to JB Powell
Adam and Eve fire engines replaced with a secondhand one costing £40 |
| 1925 | James White of Foxhill gives the Band 41 instruments which cost £650 |
| 1927 | Chair manufacture ceases |
| 1929 | First electric lights |
| 1931 | Population 1024 (parish)
Zoar chapel demolished |
| 1934 | Up until this time the bourne crossed the road before Preston |
| 1937 | Seat erected by the Court House & 14 trees planted to commemorate the Coronation of George VI |
| 1939-1945 | Second World War: Thirteen Aldbourne men are lost |
| 3 Feb 1940 | Severe flash floods in the centre of the village follow a torrential downpour |
| 1949 | An egg packing factory was built north of Stock Lane for Wiltshire Poultry Farmers Ltd |
| 1950 | Fuel gathering on Poor Mans Gorse ceased |
| 1956 | Court Hose no longer the rectory |
| 1960 | The egg packing factory was extended. |
| 1961 | New development planned for Aldbourne – Cook & Alma Roads, the Garlings and Westfield Chase |
| 1963 | The school buildings were replaced and in 1972 the new building was extended |
| 1964 | Beating the bounds re-established |
| 1968 | The (wesleyan) chapel was replaced by a hall to be used in conjunction with the Primitive Methodist chapel |
| 1970 | 18th Century Festival |
| 1970s | Stables at Hightown closed |
| 1971 | First issue of “Parish News” published by Tony Gilligan – August 1971
St Michael’s Church explodes in the finale of the Doctor Who series “The Daemons” starring Jon Pertwee |
| 1980 | Victorian Festival |
| 1990 | March- final issue of the “Parish News”
Roaring Twenties Festival December – the first issue of “The Dabchick” appears |
| 1991 | After intensive local lobbying, new social housing units built in Claridge Close and Lottage Road |
| 2000 | Saxons & Normans Festival |
| 2010 | Cavaliers & Roundheads Festival |
| 2013 | Aldbourne Workhouse and Overseers Act repealed |
| 2014 | Severe groundwater flooding leaves parts of the village under water for many weeks and Lottage Road closed |
