Teffont Magna
Encyclopedia
Teffont Magna, also sometimes called Upper Teffont, is a small village
in the south of Wiltshire
, England
.
For most of its history Teffont Magna was a chapelry
of neighbouring Dinton
, and in 1934 it was combined with the village of Teffont Evias
, just to the south, to form a united Teffont.
, Wiltshire. The River Nadder
rises
near the village.
Position:
hundred of Wiltshire.
According to Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
(1870–1872):
A detailed history of the parish was published in 1965 by the Wiltshire Victoria County History
(Volume VIII).
An etching
of Teffont Magna by John Piper
was released in an edition of seventy prints in 1988.
church was for much of its existence a chapel of ease
of Dinton, and thus escaped Victorian restoration
and is substantially original. The church even contains a 13th century bell, one of the oldest in England, although no longer in use. In 1965 no dedication
was recorded for the church, and in that year it was named St Edward's, for Edward the Martyr
, king and saint. A pre-Conquest
cross shaft survives. The parish register
s are in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre
for the following dates: Christenings
1852–1991, Marriage
s 1852–1992. Before that, the records are with those of Dinton
.
includes two charter
s which refer to land in "Teffont". The first is dated 860, and in it Æthelbald grants fourteen cassati (hides
) to a thegn
named Osmund. In the second, of 964, King Edgar granted five cassati to the thegn Sigestan. As Shaftesbury Abbey owned the manor
of Teffont Magna by the time of the Norman Conquest
, the charters may refer to parts of it. There is no mention of Teffont Magna in the Domesday Book
, where it may be included under Dinton, another of the Abbey's manors. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries
, Teffont Magna was acquired with Dinton by William Herbert, who later became Earl of Pembroke
. It remained with his successors as Earls of Pembroke until 1919, when it was sold to Lord Bledisloe
. In 1950 his younger son, Charles Hiley Bathurst, sold the estate to John Jacob Astor
, who a year later broke the estate up by selling it in several lots.
unitary authority
, which is responsible for almost all significant local government functions. It forms part of the Salisbury parliamentary constituency
, and the serving Member of Parliament
is John Glen.
, Charles Wiltshire Short of Teffont Magna took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade
.
In the 1930s, the poet Siegfried Sassoon
rented and lived at Fitz House, Teffont Magna. He went to look at it after a friend had written to him of its flagstone
s, lavender
, mullioned windows
, orchard
and stream
.
The explorer Bill Kennedy Shaw
also lived in the village in the 1930s and 1940s, at his parents' house, King's Orchard.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
in the south of Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
For most of its history Teffont Magna was a chapelry
Chapelry
A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England, and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel which acted as a subsidiary place of worship to the main parish church...
of neighbouring Dinton
Dinton, Wiltshire
Dinton is a village in Wiltshire, England, on the B3089 road about 8 miles west of Salisbury. The population was 597 at the 2001 census.-Present day:...
, and in 1934 it was combined with the village of Teffont Evias
Teffont Evias
Teffont Evias, also Teffont Ewyas, past alternative spellings including Tevont Evias, is a small village and former civil parish in the south of Wiltshire, England. The present buildings are mostly of local stone, and several are thatched...
, just to the south, to form a united Teffont.
Location
Teffont Magna lies six miles (10 km) east of HindonHindon, Wiltshire
Hindon is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about west of Salisbury and south of Warminster. It is in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Hindon was a market town but is now a village...
, Wiltshire. The River Nadder
River Nadder
The River Nadder is one of the chalk stream rivers of southern England, much sought after by fly fishermen because of its clear waters and abundance of brown trout. It is one of the main tributaries of the River Avon, rising from a number of springs and small streams at Donhead St. Mary in south...
rises
Source (river or stream)
The source or headwaters of a river or stream is the place from which the water in the river or stream originates.-Definition:There is no universally agreed upon definition for determining a stream's source...
near the village.
Position:
History
The ancient parish of Teffont Magna formed part of the WarminsterWarminster
Warminster is a town in western Wiltshire, England, by-passed by the A36, and near Frome and Westbury. It has a population of about 17,000. The River Were runs through the town and can be seen running through the middle of the town park. The Minster Church of St Denys sits on the River Were...
hundred of Wiltshire.
According to Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales is a substantial topographical dictionary first published between 1870 and 1872, edited by the Reverend John Marius Wilson. It contains a detailed description of England and Wales...
(1870–1872):
A detailed history of the parish was published in 1965 by the Wiltshire Victoria County History
Wiltshire Victoria County History
The Wiltshire Victoria County History is an encyclopaedic history of the county of Wiltshire in England. It forms part of the overall Victoria County History of England founded in 1899 in honour of Queen Victoria...
(Volume VIII).
An etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
of Teffont Magna by John Piper
John Piper (artist)
John Egerton Christmas Piper, CH was a 20th-century English painter and printmaker. For much of his life he lived at Fawley Bottom in Buckinghamshire, near Henley-on-Thames.-Life:...
was released in an edition of seventy prints in 1988.
Church
The 13th century Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
church was for much of its existence a chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
of Dinton, and thus escaped Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
and is substantially original. The church even contains a 13th century bell, one of the oldest in England, although no longer in use. In 1965 no dedication
Dedication
Dedication is the act of consecrating an altar, temple, church or other sacred building. It also refers to the inscription of books or other artifacts when these are specifically addressed or presented to a particular person. This practice, which once was used to gain the patronage and support of...
was recorded for the church, and in that year it was named St Edward's, for Edward the Martyr
Edward the Martyr
Edward the Martyr was king of the English from 975 until he was murdered in 978. Edward was the eldest son of King Edgar, but not his father's acknowledged heir...
, king and saint. A pre-Conquest
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
cross shaft survives. The parish register
Parish register
A parish register is a handwritten volume, normally kept in a parish church or deposited within a county record office or alternative archive repository, in which details of baptisms, marriages and burials are recorded.-History:...
s are in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre
Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre
Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre is a building in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, which serves as a focal point for heritage services relating to Wiltshire and Swindon. It is funded by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council...
for the following dates: Christenings
Infant baptism
Infant baptism is the practice of baptising infants or young children. In theological discussions, the practice is sometimes referred to as paedobaptism or pedobaptism from the Greek pais meaning "child." The practice is sometimes contrasted with what is called "believer's baptism", or...
1852–1991, Marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
s 1852–1992. Before that, the records are with those of Dinton
Dinton, Wiltshire
Dinton is a village in Wiltshire, England, on the B3089 road about 8 miles west of Salisbury. The population was 597 at the 2001 census.-Present day:...
.
Owners
The 15th-century cartulary of Shaftesbury AbbeyShaftesbury Abbey
Shaftesbury Abbey was an abbey that housed nuns in Shaftesbury, Dorset. Founded in the year 888, the abbey was the wealthiest Benedictine nunnery in England, a major pilgrimage site, and the town's central focus...
includes two charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
s which refer to land in "Teffont". The first is dated 860, and in it Æthelbald grants fourteen cassati (hides
Hide (unit)
The hide was originally an amount of land sufficient to support a household, but later in Anglo-Saxon England became a unit used in assessing land for liability to "geld", or land tax. The geld would be collected at a stated rate per hide...
) to a thegn
Thegn
The term thegn , from OE þegn, ðegn "servant, attendant, retainer", is commonly used to describe either an aristocratic retainer of a king or nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England, or as a class term, the majority of the aristocracy below the ranks of ealdormen and high-reeves...
named Osmund. In the second, of 964, King Edgar granted five cassati to the thegn Sigestan. As Shaftesbury Abbey owned the manor
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
of Teffont Magna by the time of the Norman Conquest
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
, the charters may refer to parts of it. There is no mention of Teffont Magna in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, where it may be included under Dinton, another of the Abbey's manors. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
, Teffont Magna was acquired with Dinton by William Herbert, who later became Earl of Pembroke
Earl of Pembroke
Earl of Pembroke is a title created ten times, all in the Peerage of England. It was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, which is the site of Earldom's original seat Pembroke Castle...
. It remained with his successors as Earls of Pembroke until 1919, when it was sold to Lord Bledisloe
Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe
-External links:*...
. In 1950 his younger son, Charles Hiley Bathurst, sold the estate to John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever
Lieutenant-Colonel John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever DL was a British military officer, statesman, a newspaper proprietor, and a member of the prominent Astor family...
, who a year later broke the estate up by selling it in several lots.
Governance
The present village of Teffont Magna is now part of the parish of Teffont, which has a parish council and is in the area of the Wiltshire CouncilWiltshire Council
Wiltshire Council is the unitary authority for most of the county of Wiltshire, in the West of England, the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council and to four districts—Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury, and West Wiltshire—all of which had been created in 1973 and were...
unitary authority
Unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
, which is responsible for almost all significant local government functions. It forms part of the Salisbury parliamentary constituency
Salisbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Salisbury is a county constituency centred on the city of Salisbury in Wiltshire. It elects one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, by the first past the post voting system....
, and the serving Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
is John Glen.
Notable people
On 25 October 1854, in the Crimean WarCrimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, Charles Wiltshire Short of Teffont Magna took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade
Charge of the Light Brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade was a charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. The charge was the result of a miscommunication in such a way that the brigade attempted a much more difficult objective...
.
In the 1930s, the poet Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon CBE MC was an English poet, author and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's...
rented and lived at Fitz House, Teffont Magna. He went to look at it after a friend had written to him of its flagstone
Flagstone
Flagstone, is a generic flat stone, usually used for paving slabs or walkways, patios, fences and roofing. It may be used for memorials, headstones, facades and other constructions. The name derives from Middle English flagge meaning turf, perhaps from Old Norse flaga meaning slab.Flagstone is a...
s, lavender
Lavender
The lavenders are a genus of 39 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. An Old World genus, distributed from Macaronesia across Africa, the Mediterranean, South-West Asia, Arabia, Western Iran and South-East India...
, mullioned windows
Mullion
A mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...
, orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
and stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
.
The explorer Bill Kennedy Shaw
Bill Kennedy Shaw
Major William Boyd Kennedy Shaw OBE was a British desert explorer, botanist, archaeologist and founding member of the Long Range Desert Group during World War II...
also lived in the village in the 1930s and 1940s, at his parents' house, King's Orchard.