Bowden Hill is a village in 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...

, 3.5 miles (6 km) south of Chippenham

Chippenham, Wiltshire

Chippenham is a market town in Wiltshire, England, located east of Bath and west of London. In the 2001 census the population of the town was recorded as 28,065....

 and 1 mile (2 km) to the east of Lacock

Lacock

Lacock is a village in Wiltshire, England, 3 miles from the town of Chippenham. The village is owned almost in its entirety by the National Trust, and attracts many visitors by virtue of its unspoiled appearance.-History:...

. The village consists of about 50 houses, a pub, and a small industrial estate.

Origins of the name

Bowden Hill was historically called 'Bowdon Hill' according to early maps. There are a number of theories around why the village got its name. One reason is that the name comes from the old English words 'bow', meaning bow shaped, and 'dun' meaning hill. However, alternative theories suggest the name comes from a corruption of 'bdl' (meaning dwelling) into 'bow' meaning 'hill slope on which are dwellings'. Another theory from 'Wiltshire Collections' by Aubrey and Jackson suggests that the name means 'the winding hill'.

Location

Bowden Hill sits on the side of a hill and rises up from the River Avon, which sits at an elevation of 50m, to its peak at 172m above sea level. The village has views to the south and south-west of the River Avon's flood plain. The village is surrounded by a mixture of woodlands and agricultural land. Bowden Hill borrows many of its facilities from the nearby village of Lacock

Lacock

Lacock is a village in Wiltshire, England, 3 miles from the town of Chippenham. The village is owned almost in its entirety by the National Trust, and attracts many visitors by virtue of its unspoiled appearance.-History:...

 and doesn't provide amenities such as a school or post office. The village encompasses the small hamlet of Bewley

Bewley Common

Bewley Common is a village in Wiltshire, England....

 and enjoys a relatively sparse population density due to its designation as a conservation area

Parish church

In 1849 Bowden Park was bought by John Gladstone

John Neilson Gladstone

Captain John Neilson Gladstone was a politician in the United Kingdom and an officer in the Royal Navy....

, brother of the Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...

. In 1856 John Gladstone had the Church of England parish church

Church of England parish church

A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...

 of Saint Anne

Saint Anne

Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...

 built to celebrate the birth of a son in the Gladstone family. The architect was S.B. Gabriel

Samuel Burleigh Gabriel

Samuel Burleigh Gabriel was a Victorian architect who practised in Bristol. For a number of years he was in partnership with an architect called Hicks. Their offices were at 28 Corn Street, Bristol....

 of Bristol who designed the nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

 and chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

 in the Early English Gothic style but gave the northeast tower Norman

Norman architecture

About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...

 details and a German Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

 roof. The parish of Lacock

Lacock

Lacock is a village in Wiltshire, England, 3 miles from the town of Chippenham. The village is owned almost in its entirety by the National Trust, and attracts many visitors by virtue of its unspoiled appearance.-History:...

 was split and the new parish of Bowden Hill served around 300-400 people, but the two parishes were reunited in 1958. Today services are held at St. Anne's on the first Sunday of each month.

Conduit House

Sitting in the common land in the village is a small building which was used as a supply of water for the nearby Lacock Abbey

Lacock Abbey

Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order.- History :...

. Built in the 16th century, this small 3.7m square building still supplies water to the abbey albeit through a modern water pipe. The original conduit house was built in around 1280 when Willian Bluet of Bewley Court granted Beatrice, Abbess of Lacock, the right to operate a watercourse on his land to serve the nunnery. This original building was replaced by the owner of the abbey, William Sharington

William Sharington

Sir William Sharington was an English courtier of the time of Henry VIII, master and embezzler of the Bristol Mint, member of parliament, conspirator, and High Sheriff of Wiltshire.-Early life:...

, after its dissolution. The new building is built of limestone and has a steep roof, reaching 4.64m high, constructed of interlocking stone slabs.

Bowden Park

One of largest landmarks in Bowden Hill is the Bowden Park estate. This building is an 18th century building designed by James Wyatt

James Wyatt

James Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...

. Bowden Park is shrouded by the slope of the hill as well as much of the surrounding woodland. The home was the seat of the former chairman of the General Electric Company, Arnold Weinstock

Arnold Weinstock

Arnold Weinstock, Baron Weinstock was an English businessman whom The Guardian newspaper called "Britain's premier post-second-world-war industrialist."...

. His closure of the nearby Melksham GEC factory caused local workers to climb the hill and protest outside the property.

Spye Park

Spye Park is on the edge of Bowden Hill and is not strictly part of the village. Although the main part of Spye Park belongs to the village of Bromham, Bowden Park houses the entrance to the park. The village contains the sixteenth century gatehouse to the park.