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Wootton Bassett

Wootton Bassett is a small market town and civil parish located 6 miles (9.7 km) southwest of Swindon in northern Wiltshire, England. At the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001 its population was 11,043, indicating that the town has tripled in population total over the last 50 years. The town is famous for the informal public mourning held as hearses containing the bodies of soldiers killed in Afghanistan pass through the town from RAF Lyneham^[1]

History

The year 681AD is usually taken as the starting point for recorded history of Wootton Bassett, then known as Wodeton, it being referred to in that year in a Malmesbury Abbey charter granting land to the Abbot. It is a very ancient town which lies 9.5 km / 6 miles southwest of Swindon and 17.5 km / 11 miles to the northwest of Marlborough.

Archaeological discoveries in the area tend to confirm the tradition that the original "Wodeton" (Settlement in the wood - i.e. in Bradon Forest) was near the present Dunnington Road. Allegedly under continuous occupation throughout the Celtic and Romano British times, the land was granted in 681 AD to Malmesbury Abbey. Further grants of land nearby appear in the records from time to time, but of Wodeton itself we hear no more until it was sacked by the marauding Danes in 1015, whereupon the survivors decided to move uphill to the site of the present High Street.

Wootton Bassett is mentioned in the Domesday Book^[2] where it was noted that Miles Crispin held the rights and these included "land for 12 ploughs...a mill...and 24 acres (97,000 m²) of meadow...33 acres of pasture and woodland which is two leagues by a league". It was said to be worth nine pounds.

The right was first gained to send two representatives to Parliament as early as 1446 and prior to the Reform Act 1832 Wootton Bassett was known as a Rotten Borough, due to the way in which elections were conducted there, which were the antithesis of modern democratic elections. Voters were required to state their preferences in public before representatives of each side, and were openly bribed. In 1754 the accounts of a successful candidate^{[citation needed]} show that his supporters were paid £30 each for their vote, and in the run up to the election the candidates secured the allegiance of public houses in the town, where voters were plied with free refreshments. Free beer was also provided by men who carried containers about the town. The same accounts show that £1,077 was paid out to 12 'pubs' for the refreshments.

The town's curious Town Hall, which is an upper storey supported on 15 pillars, was built at the end of the 17th century, a gift from the Hyde family (Earls of Clarendon). Edward Hyde, later Earl of Clarendon, was elected to Parliament as MP for Wootton Bassett in 1640, which was also the year he became adviser and secretary to Charles I. He helped run Charles I's Government in Oxford during the Civil War and shared exile with Charles II throughout the 1650s. This loyalty won him high office, as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1643 and Lord Chancellor in 1658. He became Earl of Clarendon in 1661 and dominated Charles II's administration until pushed by the ungrateful monarch into exile in 1667. Clarendon improved his last years by completing the history of his own times, which has become his enduring literary legacy. But his legacy to the nation, and that of his wife Ellen, neé Forsythe, is that through their daughter Anne Hyde, Duchess of York, Edward Hyde was grandfather to both Queen Mary and Queen Anne.

Wootton Bassett's other royal connection is that Katherine Parr, sixth wife of Henry VIII, owned Vastern Manor; and lived there until her death in 1548. It is said that Henry VIII kept a mistress at the manor, and that he personally ordered that all the town's births were registered at the parish church. Nearby Bradenstoke Abbey (demolished in the 1920s by American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst) was frequently visited in the 12th century by Prince John, who supported its hospital.^[3][4]

On 28 June 2007, several hundred homes in Wootton Bassett were evacuated because of a bomb scare^[5]. A large number of police, and the bomb squad were called to deal with the threat. 19 year old Thomas Cowley was arrested under the explosives act after explosive and toxic chemicals were found in his shed. It is believed he himself called the emergency services after inhaling toxic chemicals by accident, whilst mixing the chemicals to make bombs and improvised explosive devices. It is not known how Cowley managed to get hold of the chemicals or what his intentions were. The story got national media and press coverage.

In the early 21st Century, the bodies of fallen servicemen and women from the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places, having been repatriated to RAF Lyneham, usually pass through the town on their way to John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, in readiness for the coroner. This has led to people assembling along the route of the funeral cortège initially from the local area and with connection to the dead and more recently from further afield, leading to claims that the event had become a form of 'grief tourism'^[6][7]. On 12 October 2008, a parade was organised by the armed services to thank the town for their support.^[8]

Most recently, Wooton Bassett made headlines as the site of a proposed march by radical UK Islamist group Islam4UK. The said demonstration led by Muslim extremist Anjem Choudary has come under widespread condemnation from British citizens, including Muslims, politicians, and the Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Some villagers in Wootton Bassett have stated that they are prepared to barricade the streets if necessary, while some right wing citizens have said that they will "defend" the village if they feel they need to. ^[9]

Geography

Suburbs of Wootton Bassett include Woodshaw, Noremarsh, Coped Hall, and Vastern (a small hamlet to the south).

Transport

The town is within close proximity of Junction 16 of the M4 allowing easy access to other towns and cities of the M4 corridor as well as London, located roughly 80 miles (130 km) east of the town. Since the construction of the M4 the town has become attractive to commuters, many travelling to the towns and cities of Swindon, Chippenham, Bath and Bristol. The town also has a significant RAF population due to the nearby RAF Lyneham.

The main Bristol to London railway line passes through Wootton Bassett as well as an important junction where the line to Bristol Parkway and onwards to South Wales diverges from the Bristol (via Bath) route. Despite this there is no railway station in the town due to its closure in 1966. Attempts to re-open the station were thwarted in the early 21st Century.

A section of the former Wilts & Berks Canal that was dissolved by act of parliament in the early 20th century is being gradually restored; it runs past the south of the town.

Education

Wootton Bassett has a single secondary school, named Wootton Bassett School locally referred to as 'the comp', and also several primary schools; St Bartholomew's C of E, Longleaze Primary school, Noremarsh Junior school and County infants. Normally children from county infants go to Noremarsh in year 3.