Britford

Britford
St Peter's parish church
Britford  Britford shown within Wiltshire
Population	592 (2011 Census)
OS grid reference	SU160282
Civil parish	Britford
Unitary authority	Wiltshire
Ceremonial county	Wiltshire
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Salisbury
Postcode district	SP5
Dialling code	01722
Police	Wiltshire
Fire	Wiltshire
Ambulance	South Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Salisbury
Website	Parish Council
List of places UK England Wiltshire

Britford is a village and civil parish beside the River Avon about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southeast of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. The village is just off the A338 road. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 592.

Archaeology

Little Woodbury, 0.5 miles (800 m) southwest of the village, is the site of an Iron Age settlement. Excavations in 1938–39 revealed the sites of granaries, storage pits and a circular house nearly 50 feet (15 m) in diameter.

Great Woodbury, 1 mile (1.6 km) from the village, is the remains of an Iron Age hill fort.

Parish church

The nave of the Church of England parish church of Saint Peter is Saxon, built probably in the 9th century. On each side of the nave there is a round-headed Saxon arch into a porticus (small space for a side-chapel). The arch to the south porticus is plain, but that to the north porticus is supported by decorated stone slabs. The carving on one slab seems to be developed from the style of decoration of the Bewcastle and Ruthwell crosses at the beginning of the 8th century; the style of the other seems to be 9th century.

In the 14th century the north and south transepts were added, making the church the cruciform building it is today. Each transept is next to the Saxon porticus on its corresponding side and includes the east wall of that porticus. The arches where the transepts meet the nave are Decorated Gothic, as is the east window of the chancel. A 15th-century tomb chest monument in the church is supposed to be that of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham who was executed in Salisbury in 1483. Also 15th-century is a small, iron-bound wooden chest in the north transept.

The finely-carved pulpit is late 17th century.

The west wall of the nave was rebuilt in 1764. Over the crossing is a central tower, which was rebuilt in 1764 or 1767. John Robartes, 1st Earl of Radnor had a mausoleum added to the northwest corner of the north transept in 1764 or 1777. The building was restored in 1873 to the designs of George Edmund Street, who had the Radnor mausoleum Gothicised or rebuilt. The west window of the nave has stained glass made by Ward and Hughes of London in 1882. St Peter's is a Grade I listed building.

In the second quarter of the 13th century Britford had an anchoress called Joan. In 1215 King John granted her an income of one penny per day. She received royal gifts of oaks in 1226, 1231 and 1245. In 1237 the sheriff of Salisbury was ordered to ensure that the courtyard around her house was securely enclosed with a wall.

St Peter's has a ring of six bells. Five including the tenor bell were cast in 1765 by Robert Wells I of Aldbourne. The treble bell was cast in 1899 by Thomas Blackbourn of Salisbury.

St Peter's is now one of 13 parishes in the Benefice of Chalke Valley.

Secular history

Rectory Farmhouse, northwest of St Peter's, is a 17th-century house with a symmetrical front of three bays. At the front the two ground-floor windows have four lights and a transom; the first floor windows have ovolo-moulded mullions. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Moat House, southwest of St Peter's, is a 17th-century house surrounded by a moat. The house was remodelled in 1766 and again in the 19th century, so that externally it looks early 19th century Georgian. It is now divided into two houses.

There are Georgian cottages on the main A338 road, built for the Longford Castle estate.

In 1664 an Act of Parliament authorised the conversion of the River Avon into a navigation between Salisbury and the English Channel at Christchurch. Canalised channels were dug to straighten sections of the river, including one about a 1 mile (1.6 km) long through Britford parish. The river had ceased to be navigable by 1737 but bridges over it and remains of locks still survive around Britford.

Local government

The civil parish elects a parish council. It is in the area of Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which performs all significant local government functions.

The ancient parish of Britford included the tithing of East Harnham, which became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1855 after a church was built there in the previous year. East Harnham continued as part of Britford civil parish until 1896, when it became a separate parish; in 1904 it joined the borough of Salisbury and is now part of Harnham suburb.

Amenities

File:Britford - Water Meadows.jpg

Britford Water Meadows

Britford has a Church of England primary school, built in 1959 to replace a National School which opened in 1853. On 1 April 2010 it merged with the primary school in Odstock to form Longford C of E Primary School, named after the Longford estate. Both sets of buildings remain in use: the Britford site teaches Key Stage 1 and the Odstock site teaches Key Stage 2.

Salisbury District Hospital is in the parish about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of the village.

A Park and Ride bus service for journeys to Salisbury operates from a site on the A338 near the village.