Kilmington, Wiltshire

Kilmington is a village and civil parish in the extreme west of Wiltshire, England, about 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Warminster. The parish includes the hamlets of Kilmington Common and Norton Ferris.

Kilmington

St Marys Church, Kilmington
Kilmington
Location within Wiltshire
Population328 (in 2011)[1]
OS grid referenceST772365
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWarminster
Postcode districtBA12
Dialling code01985
PoliceWiltshire
FireDorset and Wiltshire
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament

It lies on the northern edge of the ancient Selwood Forest. Whitesheet Hill is in the far east of the parish, and Long Knoll (288m above sea level) is a long ridge on the northern boundary of the parish. Until 1896 Kilmington was in the historic county of Somerset,[2] as part of the Norton Ferris Hundred.[3]

In 1556 Kilmington was the scene of the ambush and murder of two members of the Hartgilll family on the orders of Charles Stourton, 8th Baron Stourton, for which crime he was hanged at Salisbury the following year.

Religious sites

The Church of England parish church of St Mary has a 15th-century tower but the body of the church was rebuilt in 1864 and 1869; the tower was restored in 1903 by C.E. Ponting.[4][5] In 1980 Kilmington was added to the Upper Stour benefice,[6] alongside the churches at Bourton (Dorset), Stourton and Zeals.[7]

A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1847. After closure in 1972 it was sold for residential use.[8][9]

Local government

The civil parish elects a parish council. It is in the area of Wiltshire Council unitary authority.

Amenities

The school at Kilmington caters for the younger pupils of Whitesheet Church of England Primary Academy, while older children attend the school at Zeals. The first school at Kilmington was built circa 1830 and replaced by a new building in 1874, attended by children of all ages until 1930 when it became a junior school. The building was enlarged in 1967 and pupil numbers increased in 1968 after the closure of the school at Maiden Bradley. In 2003 Kilmington school amalgamated with Zeals, forming a two-site school.[10]

Kilmington and Stourton Home Guard Club is a rare survivor from the 1940s.[11]

There is a local pub, the Red Lion. Kilmington is about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north of the Stourhead estate, where the house and gardens are owned by the National Trust.

References
  1. "Wiltshire Community History - Census". Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  2. "Kilmington CP/AP". A Vision of Britain through Time. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  3. "Somerset Hundreds". GENUKI. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  4. "Church of St. Mary, Kilmington". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  5. Historic England. "Church of St Mary, Kilmington (1318459)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  6. "No. 48369". The London Gazette. 13 November 1980. p. 15759.
  7. "St Mary the Virgin, Kilmington". Parish of Upper Stour. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  8. "Methodist Chapel, Kilmington". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  9. "Records created by Kilmington Wesleyan Methodist Church". The National Archives. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  10. "Whitesheet Church of England VA Primary School, Kilmington". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  11. "Members of a real Home Guard commemorate VJ Day". Somerset Live. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2017.

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