Heytesbury Hub
Community news and events for Heytesbury, Knook, Tytherington and Imber Wiltshire
ABOUT US
​MISSION AND HISTORY
Heytesbury Hub is born with the concept of making the villages a better place to live, for all residents and visitors of Heytesbury parish including Knook and Tytherington, to provide an inclusive community website, also for visitors to Imber on Salisbury Plain. (no residents since 1943)
We aim to bring the young and older generations together by sharing historical and current stories, photographs and information by promoting local Sport, Art and Events so please share your groups news and pictures via email for our community and events pages, you can also find Heytesbury Hub on Facebook for a more up to date information. We hope you enjoy looking around this site and sharing it with your friends we look forward to your comments and suggestions.
Email : heytesburyhub@hotmail.co.uk
The Hub is regularly updated so come back and visit us soon.
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17th centuary Blind House, Heytesbury
OUR VILLAGES
HEYTESBURY
KNOOK
TYTHERINGTON
IMBER
The village of Heytesbury is in the Wylye Valley with the river running through the centre of the village, from west to east, south of the High Street.
Heytesbury parish is rich in archaeological features, having 111 entries on the Sites and Monuments Record in 2009.
There are many listed buildings in Heytesbury, including nearly thirty 18th century houses and cottages. Apart from the church, the most well known building in the village is the Hospital of St. John, originally known as the Almshouses.
Heytesbury House stands on the site of the medieval mansion at East Court. Walter, Lord Hungerford was in the process of repairing and enlarging the house when he was arrested by Henry VIII. The property was seized and fell into disrepair. In the 17th century it was owned by the Ashe family who later rebuilt the house in 1782.
The village lock-up still survives. Dating from the 18th century, this blind house is one of Wiltshire’s Scheduled Ancient Monuments. It is octagonal in shape, built of limestone ashlar with a stone slate pointed roof. The planked, studded door has a small square light over it with iron bars. Inside is a simple fitted wooden bench.
CHURCH WARDEN
Tina Sitwell 01985 840556
St James
c 1200
St Giles
c 1300
The name Knook is probably a Celtic name, identical with the modern Welsh cnwc, meaning ‘lump or hillock’.
It is likely that a settlement existed at Knook near the parish church of St. Margaret which dates from the late 11th century.
The Domesday Book records two manors at Knook, held by the Lords of Wardour and Heytesbury. By 1377 only one manor is recorded, in the possession of Sir John Lovel. It remained in this family until 1794 when Knook was purchased by Edward, Duke of Somerset. He in turn sold it to Lord Heytesbury in 1828; the manor stayed with this family until the Second World War.
Knook Castle is an ancient single ditched entrenchment
located on Knook Downs,
The 20th century saw an increase in population from 98 to 544, due to the building of the army camp.
The main sources of employment for the residents of Knook prior to the Second World War were agriculture and the woollen industry.
CHURCH WARDEN
Michael Pottow 01985 850776
Little is known about the early history of Tytherington. Sir Richard Colt Hoare, normally a reliable source concerning manorial descent, says that ‘the public records are remarkably silent respecting this place’. By 1476 it was in the hands of the Hungerford family and descended in the same line as Heytesbury.
The church of St. James at Tytherington was founded in the early 12th century. This is a simple building, being just 49 feet long and 13 feet wide. Its most striking feature is the thickness of the walls, which are three feet wide. The church was restored in 1891, but in essence has changed very little since the 12th century.
Tytherington had a Primitive Methodist church, which in 1902 was the only one in the district.
The dovecote, dated 1810, and the early 19th century granary form a group with a coach house of similar date.
CHURCH WARDEN
Caroline Lester-Card
01985 840022
Imber is the ghost village of the Salisbury Plain. Kelly’s directory for 1939 tells us it has an ancient church and a Baptist Chapel, that it has an area of 3,052 acres and in 1931 its population was 152. It also says that the soil is flinty, the subsoil chalk and that the chief crops are wheat, oats, barley and pasture. Ominously it also records that the principal landowner is the War Office.
From the late nineteenth century military manoeuvres had been held on parts of the Salisbury Plain and in 1897 the War Office began purchasing land in the South East of the plain.
This included most of the village of Imber and its inhabitants became tenants of the military.
On the 1st November 1943 the tenants were given just 47 days notice to quit, it has been a training area ever since. Much of the old village has since disappeared. In a final irony the army has built a mock village, for training purposes, on the edge of the old one.
CHURCH CONTACT
Mr Neil Skelton
Information supplied by the History Department of Wiltshire Council.
St Peter and St Paul
c 1160
St. Margaret of Antioch
c 1100