Colerne
Encyclopedia
Colerne is a village and civil parish in the Cotswolds
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
, midway between Bath and Chippenham
in Wiltshire
, England
. It has an elevated position 545 feet (166.1 m) above sea level and overlooks the Box
Valley to the south (where Isambard Kingdom Brunel
's Box Tunnel
is). It is bounded by a stretch of the Fosse Way
Roman road
to the west and by Bybrook
to the south-east.
The 2001 census
recorded a parish population of 2,807 in 2001. Colerne is frequently described as "The Village on the Hill".
(1086). Other early spellings include Culerna, Culerne, Cullerne, Collern. Various interpretations of the name have been proposed.
Gover, Mawer and Stenton, in The Place Names of Wiltshire (1939), cite a form aern meaning 'house', and say "col-aern might well denote a house where charcoal was made, used or stored." The altitude of the village suggests that the first syllable is from the Welsh or Cornish word col, 'peak' (John C. Langstaff, Notes on Wiltshire Names, 1911). This would mean the 'dwelling on the peak'. Alternatively it could mean 'cold dwelling' from the Anglo-Saxon cald.
Yet another likely derivation is from (Goidelic)= Old Irish, 'Cuillean', (Brythonnic)= Welsh, Celyn or Celynnen, and (Old English) Holegn(the 'h' is pronounced gutturally). Each of these words translate to 'holly' tree or holly branches which were significant in Celtic history and folk-lore. Colerne was in existence and farmed many years B.C., pre-dating the Normans and Anglo-Saxons. There is the remains of an Iron-Age Hillfort at Colerne (Bury Camp).
is administered by a parish council and by the Wiltshire Council
unitary authority
.
, neglected to dig the grave wide and deep enough, so the donkey was buried feet-up with its hooves sticking out. The parson had the animal reburied when he returned, but the story was already out, and well into the 20th century young men from the nearby villages of Box
or Marshfield who were at a loose end needed only visit Colerne and mention the word Donkey sufficiently loudly in order to be rewarded with a violent altercation on a moment's notice. It was also the habit for visiting footballers unacquainted with Colerne history to be dispatched to the home dressing room with a piece of sandpaper and instructions to ask to polish the donkey's hooves. This usually resulted in the erstwhile innocent becoming sadder and wiser in short order.
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
, midway between Bath and 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....
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...
. It has an elevated position 545 feet (166.1 m) above sea level and overlooks the Box
Box, Wiltshire
Box is a village located in Wiltshire, England, about east of Bath and west of Chippenham. It is quite a large parish with several settlements, apart from the village of Box, within its boundaries....
Valley to the south (where Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
's Box Tunnel
Box Tunnel
Box Tunnel is a railway tunnel in Western England, between Bath and Chippenham, dug through Box Hill, and is one of the most significant structures on the Great Western Main Line...
is). It is bounded by a stretch of the Fosse Way
Fosse Way
The Fosse Way was a Roman road in England that linked Exeter in South West England to Lincoln in Lincolnshire, via Ilchester , Bath , Cirencester and Leicester .It joined Akeman Street and Ermin Way at Cirencester, crossed Watling Street at Venonis south...
Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
to the west and by Bybrook
Bybrook River
The Bybrook, also known as the By Brook is a tributary of the Bristol Avon, some long. The sources are the Burton Brook and the Broadmead Brook, which rise in South Gloucestershire at Tormarton and Cold Ashton respectively. They join just north of Castle Combe in Wiltshire. The river has a mean...
to the south-east.
The 2001 census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
recorded a parish population of 2,807 in 2001. Colerne is frequently described as "The Village on the Hill".
Toponym
The name Colerne appears in the Domesday BookDomesday 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...
(1086). Other early spellings include Culerna, Culerne, Cullerne, Collern. Various interpretations of the name have been proposed.
Gover, Mawer and Stenton, in The Place Names of Wiltshire (1939), cite a form aern meaning 'house', and say "col-aern might well denote a house where charcoal was made, used or stored." The altitude of the village suggests that the first syllable is from the Welsh or Cornish word col, 'peak' (John C. Langstaff, Notes on Wiltshire Names, 1911). This would mean the 'dwelling on the peak'. Alternatively it could mean 'cold dwelling' from the Anglo-Saxon cald.
Yet another likely derivation is from (Goidelic)= Old Irish, 'Cuillean', (Brythonnic)= Welsh, Celyn or Celynnen, and (Old English) Holegn(the 'h' is pronounced gutturally). Each of these words translate to 'holly' tree or holly branches which were significant in Celtic history and folk-lore. Colerne was in existence and farmed many years B.C., pre-dating the Normans and Anglo-Saxons. There is the remains of an Iron-Age Hillfort at Colerne (Bury Camp).
Local government
Colerne civil parishCivil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
is administered by a parish council and by the Wiltshire Council
Wiltshire 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...
.
Trivia
- The clock on the church tower has only one hand. There is a similar one-handed clock on Westminster AbbeyWestminster AbbeyThe Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
. - Bristol Rovers training facilities are based in Colerne.
- The former RAF ColerneRAF ColerneRAF Colerne now known as Colerne Airfield or AEF Colerne is a former World War II RAF Fighter Command and Bomber Command airfield located on the outskirts of the village of Colerne, Wiltshire...
, located nearby, was one of very few airfields suitable for the rare Westland Whirlwind during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, operated by No. 263 Squadron RAFNo. 263 Squadron RAFNo 263 Squadron was an Royal Air Force fighter squadron formed in Italy towards the end of World War I. After being disbanded in 1919 it reformed in 1939 flying mainly strike and heavy fighter aircraft until becoming No 1 Squadron in 1958.-First World War:...
. - The former RAF ColerneRAF ColerneRAF Colerne now known as Colerne Airfield or AEF Colerne is a former World War II RAF Fighter Command and Bomber Command airfield located on the outskirts of the village of Colerne, Wiltshire...
, hosted 616 squadron, the first Allied squadron with jets, relocating with Gloster Meteor I's from Culmhead and then re-equipping with Meteor III's.
Notable residents
- Derek FowldsDerek FowldsDerek Fowlds is an English actor, known for playing Bernard Woolley in popular British television comedies Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister and Oscar Blaketon in the long-running ITV police drama Heartbeat....
(b. 1937), the British actor (Yes MinisterYes MinisterYes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC Television between 1980–1982 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes—of which all but...
; formerly straight man to Basil BrushBasil BrushBasil Brush is a fictional anthropomorphic fox raconteur, best known for his appearances on daytime British children's television. He is primarily portrayed by a glove puppet, but has also been depicted in animated cartoon shorts and comic strips...
) was a former resident of the village. - Brian AshtonBrian Ashton (rugby player)William Brian Ashton MBE is a former rugby union player and the former Head Coach of the England and Ireland national rugby union teams.-Biography:...
(b. 1946), rugby union player and England coach from late 2006 to April 2008, is a resident of the village. - Geof Willis (b. 1954), the author of the The Epehy Affair, was born in Martins Croft.
- Identity CrisisIdentity crisisIdentity crisis is an internal conflict of and search for identity.Identity crisis may also refer to:In comics:* Identity Crisis , DC Comics seven-issue limited series...
, post-punkPost-punkPost-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
pioneers, had a studio in a Colerne farm in the 1980s. - GoldfrappGoldfrappGoldfrapp are an English electronic music duo, formed in 1999 in London, England, that consists of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory ....
(b. 1966 & b. ?), the electronic music duo, are former residents of the village. - Kristan BromleyKristan BromleyKristan Bromley is a British skeleton racer who has competed since 1996. He won the gold medal in the men's event at the 2008 FIBT World Championships in Altenberg, Germany...
(b. 1972) and Shelley RudmanShelley RudmanShelley Rudman is a British Olympic athlete. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in skeleton; the only medal for Great Britain at the games...
(b. 1981), champion skeletonSkeleton (sport)Skeleton is a fast winter sliding sport in which an individual person rides a small sled down a frozen track while lying face down, during which athletes experience forces up to 5g. It originated in St. Moritz, Switzerland as a spin-off from the popular British sport of Cresta Sledding...
racers, are currently resident in Colerne.
The Colerne Donkey
According to village legend, a Colerne parson in former years owned a donkey to which he was much attached. While the clergyman was away, the unfortunate ass died, and the sexton felt it proper to have the beast buried in consecrated ground. But the undertaker, inexperienced in interring specimens of E. asinusDonkey
The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...
, neglected to dig the grave wide and deep enough, so the donkey was buried feet-up with its hooves sticking out. The parson had the animal reburied when he returned, but the story was already out, and well into the 20th century young men from the nearby villages of Box
Box, Wiltshire
Box is a village located in Wiltshire, England, about east of Bath and west of Chippenham. It is quite a large parish with several settlements, apart from the village of Box, within its boundaries....
or Marshfield who were at a loose end needed only visit Colerne and mention the word Donkey sufficiently loudly in order to be rewarded with a violent altercation on a moment's notice. It was also the habit for visiting footballers unacquainted with Colerne history to be dispatched to the home dressing room with a piece of sandpaper and instructions to ask to polish the donkey's hooves. This usually resulted in the erstwhile innocent becoming sadder and wiser in short order.
External links
- Colerne Parish Council
- Ecolerne – sustainable village group
- Wiltshire Planning: Details of Planning Application - 09/01844/S73A - Breach Wood, Colerne
- The Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty