Baydon

Baydon
St. Nicholas' parish church
Baydon Location within Wiltshire
Population	664 (in 2011)[1]
OS grid reference	SU281780
Unitary authority	Wiltshire
Ceremonial county	Wiltshire
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Marlborough
Postcode district	SN8
Dialling code	01672
Police	Wiltshire
Fire	Dorset and Wiltshire
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	Devizes
Website	www.baydon.org
List of places UK England Wiltshire 51°30′00″N 1°35′49″W / 51.500°N 01.597°W / 51.500; -01.597Coordinates: 51°30′00″N 1°35′49″W / 51.500°N 01.597°W / 51.500; -01.597

Baydon is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England about 10 miles (16 km) south-east of Swindon. The eastern boundary of the parish forms part of the county boundary with Berkshire, and the village is about 7 miles (11 km) north-west of the West Berkshire market town of Hungerford.

History[]

Baydon is close to the Ridgeway, a pre-Roman road. The settlement is on the course of Ermin Way, a Roman Road between Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester) and Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester). The earliest reference to Baydon as a place name is in 1196.^[2]

Sir Isaac Newton bought an estate in Baydon which he settled on three of his grand-nephews and nieces days before his death in 1727.^[3] He later admitted that he had overpaid for it.^{[citation needed]}

Until the 1790s, when it became an independent ecclesiastical parish, Baydon was a chapelry of Ramsbury parish.^[2]

The M4 motorway which passes just north of the village was opened on 22 December 1971.

Religious sites[]

The Church of England parish church of Saint Nicholas^[4] has a Norman nave and two-bay north arcade.^[5] The south aisle and northern clerestory are Early English Gothic.^[5] The north aisle was rebuilt in 1857-58 by the Gothic Revival architect G.E. Street.^[5] The south clerestory is Perpendicular Gothic.^[5] The west window, dated 1928, is by Edward Woore and is a memorial to the Rev. Augustus Gibson.^[6] The church is Grade II* listed.^[7]

A Particular Baptist chapel named Providence Chapel was built in 1806; it closed between 1885 and 1922, then was demolished.^[8] A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1823; by 1939 it was a private house.^[9]

Amenities[]

The village school, near the church, has stood since 1843 and is now Baydon St Nicholas Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School.^[10][11]

Baydon Village Stores incorporates a Post Office.^[12] The village used to have a pub, the Red Lion, which closed in 2019.

Notable residents[]

Ian Lomax (1931–1996, cricketer) farmed near Baydon. Kevin Wilkinson (1958–1999, pop musician) lived at Baydon.

References[]

Sources and further reading[]

• Brewster, David (1855). Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton. 2. Edinburgh: Thomas Constable & Co. p. 397.
• Crowley, D.A. (ed.); Baggs, A.P.; Freeman, Jane; Stevenson, Janet H. (1983). A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 12: Ramsbury and Selkey hundreds; the Borough of Marlborough. Victoria County History. pp. 52–61.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
• Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (revision) (1975) [1963]. Wiltshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 105. ISBN 0-14-0710-26-4.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baydon.

• "Baydon". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 13 June 2021.