The Hell that was Corsham
Now that’s a title to get your attention. Let me explain: a newspaper article and a manuscript from St. Patrick's Catholic Church archive [which was which curated last year by Cath Maloney] shed an interesting –if rather wretched -light on the initial experiences of...
Log Book entries from the Regis School and Corsham Secondary Modern School ~ Part 1
School logbooks were introduced following the implementation of the 1870 Forster Education Act. Every state school Head Teacher was required to keep a long book in which they entered significant events that happened in the daily life of the school. The Chairman of the...
Sir Michael Tippett
Sir Michael Tippett, generally acknowledged to be one of our greatest contemporary composers, lived in the house known as Parkside, High Street, between 1960 and 1970. Parkside is a 17th century house, with an 18th century extension and was once the home of...
Sixty Years Ago, a disaster on Box Hill
For many years Box Hill had 2 public houses, the ‘Quarryman’s Arms’, owned by Ushers Brewery of Trowbridge and the ‘Rising Sun’ owned by George’s Brewery of Bristol. The ‘Rising Sun’ situated on the main A4 was a popular pub with a good skittles and darts team...
Corsham High Street project – an update
In the last issue it was reported that the Wiltshire Building Record [WBR] were intending to embark on an in depth survey of some of the houses in Corsham High Street, with a view to identifying their origins and usage throughout the ages. Representatives of Corsham...
Planning Matters: A poem by John Betjeman
Inexpensive Progress by John Betjeman Encase your legs in nylons, Bestride your hills with pylons O age without a soul; Away with gentle willows And all the elmy billows That through your valleys roll. Let's say goodbye to hedges And roads with grassy edges And...