Parishes: Westwood

WESTWOOD

Westwood is 2.5 km. south-west of Bradford on Avon and 4 km. north-west of Trowbridge. (fn. 1) On the south-west and west it adjoins Somerset and, since 1974, the new county of Avon. (fn. 2) Westwood was a chapelry of Bradford but, because it relieved its own poor and dealt with other civil matters, it was deemed a poor-law, and later a civil, parish in the 19th century. It achieved full parochial status in 1876 when it was constituted an ecclesiastical parish. (fn. 3) The chapelry was roughly oval with a jagged eastern boundary. It stretched 2.5 km. from west to east and 1.5 km. from north to south, and included five small settlements, Lower Westwood near the centre, Upper Westwood and Avoncliff to the north, Lye Green to the north-east, and Iford, which was partly in Somerset, to the south-west. The parish was enlarged in 1882 when a small detached part of the civil parish of Wingfield with Rowley, which was already geographically in Westwood between Upper Westwood and Lye Green, was added, and in 1885 when several detached parts of the civil parish of Great Bradford, which were also within Westwood and included one near Lye Green, were transferred to it. The total of 19 a. so added increased the area from 813 a. to 832 a. (fn. 4) That area was increased in 1934 to 387 ha. (957 a.). The additional 125 a., which included Elms Cross, were transferred from the civil parishes of Bradford on Avon and Bradford Without and comprised a tongue of land 1 km. long by 200 m. broad east of Westwood bounded by Westwood Road to the south-west, Wid brook to the south-east, and Rowden Lane to the northeast. (fn. 5)

Westwood is in the angle formed by the northwards flowing river Frome, which forms the parish and county boundary south of Iford, and the westwards flowing Bristol Avon, which forms the northern parish boundary. (fn. 6) North of Iford the boundary skirts Staples hill on an arbitrary course east of the Frome. The parish is on the limestone plateau of 'Cotswold' Wiltshire and inclines from north-west to south-east. The parish as constituted before 1934 stood entirely on strata of the Great Oolite series. The highest point, 99 m., occurs west of the settlement at Upper Westwood which, like that at Lye Green, is on a wide band of Forest Marble. In the north-west part of the parish a band of Great Oolite Limestone, a tongue of which intrudes north-westwards between Shrub down and Avoncliff wood, curves in a semi-circle from Avoncliff to Iford. The hamlet of Iford stands beneath the plateau scarp on the east bank of the Frome at 61 m. The Fuller's Earth, which underlies the Oolite strata near Iford and Avoncliff, provided, with the ample water-power yielded by the Frome and Avon, the foundations upon which the cloth industry of the area thrived from the Middle Ages. Sections of the lower ragstone deposits, upon which the Fuller's Earth rests, occur at Upper Westwood and have been extensively quarried. Although the clay soils of the limestone plateau were under arable cultivation until the 19th century, in 1978 they were more suitably under grass for the most part and given over to dairying. On the north, south, and west of the plateau slippage of the Fuller's Earth, which in places carried with it scatters of lower ragstones, caused the land to fall away sharply to the valleys of the Frome and Avon. It was presumably from the thick cover of woodland, which formerly overlay much of the chapelry and in 1978 still distinguished the cliff formed by the slippage of the Fuller's Earth, that the settlements of Upper and Lower Westwood were named. (fn. 7) Avoncliff, which derives its name from the steep north face of the landslip itself, (fn. 8) stands on a limestone outcrop. North of it the alluvial soils of the flood plain of the Avon, which are lush meadow land, lie around the 30 m. contour. The Hinton Charterhouse fault is marked by the course of the lane from Iford to Lower Westwood, whence it continues northeastwards across the parish.

Some prehistoric activity is attested by a few artefacts of the Neolithic Period and Bronze Age found in the north-west corner of Westwood. Pieces of wall-plaster, roof slabs, flue tiles, much pottery, and an inhumation found in the same area show it to have been settled in Roman times. (fn. 9)

About 45 poll-tax payers in the chapelry were assessed in 1377. (fn. 10) Other medieval taxation assessments show Westwood to have ranked among the more prosperous fiscal units in Bradford hundred. In 1545, when Westwood was part of Elstub hundred, the contribution which the chapelry made to the benevolence was second in the hundred only to that of Enford. (fn. 11) Later assessments show Westwood to have remained one of the more highly rated units in Elstub hundred. (fn. 12) In 1801 446 people lived in the chapelry. (fn. 13) The decline to 390 in 1831 was attributed to the absence of a large family and to the fact that people had left the area for lack of employment there. (fn. 14) The opening of the Bradford union workhouse at Avoncliff in 1835 accounted for the steep rise by 1841 to 631, of whom 220 were lodged in the workhouse. (fn. 15) In 1851 249 of the 605 people in the chapelry were workhouse inmates. (fn. 16) Thereafter the population increased from 469 in 1861 to 543 in 1871, an increase attributed to the return of several families to the area. (fn. 17) It fell to 516 in 1881 and, although it had risen to 540 by 1891, had declined steadily to 468 by 1921. There was afterwards a steady rise which accelerated during and after the Second World War when some light industry was introduced to the parish, and in 1951 915 people lived there. There was a temporary decrease to 771 in 1961 but numbers had risen to 961 by 1971. (fn. 18)

All the roads and tracks which served the chapelry in 1773 were still in use in 1978. (fn. 19) The road running westwards through Lower Westwood to Iford was turnpiked in 1752. (fn. 20) The short stretch of road linking it with the Bradford-Frome road was turnpiked later. (fn. 21) In 1838 the course of a footpath from Upper Westwood to the workhouse at Avoncliff was set out. (fn. 22) The Kennet & Avon canal had been constructed south of the Avon inside the northeastern boundary of the chapelry by 1804. (fn. 23) It was carried northwards out of the chapelry across the Avon valley by a triple-arched aqueduct designed by John Rennie. (fn. 24) After its opening in 1810 the canal carried coal from the Somerset coal-field to wharves such as that at Avoncliff for distribution by road. (fn. 25) By 1903 the porous nature of the local ragstone, from which the aqueduct was partly built, had led to leakage. Traffic had almost ceased by the Second World War and in 1954 the Westwood section of the canal was drained. The canal bed was blocked by two landslips in 1970. (fn. 26) Work on clearing it, partly financed by the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust, was in progress in 1978. (fn. 27) The parish was served by that section of the Wilts., Somerset & Weymouth Railway constructed from Bradford along the north side of the Avon valley and opened in 1857. There was a station on the north bank of the river opposite the hamlet of Avoncliff called Avoncliff Halt. (fn. 28)

The ancient centre of the village of Lower Westwood is in the angle of the lanes from Iford and Farleigh Hungerford, in Norton St. Philip (Som.). There stands the church with Westwood Manor set back from the lane to the north-west, the Vicarage due west, and the Old Vicarage south-west. In 1773 scattered settlement flanked the lane to Iford and then, as in 1978, the eastern limit of the village did not extend much beyond the New Inn. (fn. 29) So named by 1822, the inn is of 19th-century construction but contains a later-16th-century fire-place introduced from elsewhere. (fn. 30) The cottages which cluster close to the roadside west of the inn are externally of the later 18th century or the 19th but incorporate earlier features such as stone mullioned windows of the 17th century or the early 18th. Of the former copyhold farm-houses which stood along that lane, the Old Malthouse (formerly the Limes), at the junction of the lanes to Iford and Upper Westwood, is a later18th-century house with additions on the west. (fn. 31) On the south side of the lane to Iford a school was built in 1841 and on the north side a Baptist chapel and Sunday school somewhat later. (fn. 32) Early in the Second World War 94 bungalows and other buildings were erected by the War Department north of the lane to house people employed at Upper Westwood by the Enfield Motor Cycle Co. After the war some houses were built by the council which c. 1960 acquired the bungalows. The sewage works constructed by the War Department south-east of Iford to serve the bungalow estate were integrated c. 1962 with a new system for the entire parish, and a pumping station was built near Cuffley Lane. In the later 1960s the bungalows were replaced by a new council estate centred on Boswell Road, Tynyngs Way, and Hebden Road. (fn. 33) Private estates flanked the council development in 1978.

The hamlet of Upper Westwood is strung out along either side of a lane on the crest of the limestone ridge overlooking the Avon valley, settlement being restricted to the north side in the 18th century. (fn. 34) Houses of that date, as well as some of the 19th and 20th centuries, stood there in 1978, when a modern private housing development occupied part of the south side of the lane. Of two former copyhold farm-houses, Upper Westwood Farm stands at the eastern entrance to the hamlet. That called the Well House in 1890 is further west along the north side of the lane, (fn. 35) from which it is set back behind a tall stone wall pierced by a central gateway which has panelled stone gate-posts with ball finials and wrought-iron gates. In 1978 it comprised a central later-17th-century block, flanked by small gabled wings built in the style of the earlier 17th century, and was occupied as two houses called Greenhill House and Westhill. The eastern wing represents part of a house of the later 16th century or the earlier 17th incorporated into the new house built on the west as a gentleman's residence by the tenant, Zachary Walter, c. 1680. (fn. 36) That house has a principal south entrance front of five bays in the classical style. The range is one room deep with a staircase wing projecting northwards. When the owner, E. H. J. Leslie, restored the house c. 1913 he built a balancing wing on the west. (fn. 37) In the later 18th century the house had a wooded garden on the south side of the road. (fn. 38) The trees were apparently felled in the later 19th century, (fn. 39) and Leslie laid out the gardens in a formal manner. (fn. 40) The former stable block north-east of the garden, of the later 18th century, had by 1978 been converted to a dwelling called the Long House.

There had apparently been some settlement at Lye Green on the north side of the lane from Upper Westwood to Bradford by the later 18th century. (fn. 41) Lye Green Farm, until the later 19th century attached to a small copyhold within Westwood manor, (fn. 42) and near-by cottages appear to be externally of 19th- and 20th-century construction.

The former mill and its associated buildings in 1773, as in 1978, marked the eastern limit of the settlement at Avoncliff. (fn. 43) The 17th-century Cross Guns inn, so named by 1822, is the oldest building in the terrace which stretches westwards to the lane to Upper Westwood. It may be identifiable with the public house called the Carpenters' Arms which was converted from a house in the later 18th century. (fn. 44) Most of the houses which complete the terrace are externally of the later 18th century and the 19th. The settlement may have grown somewhat in the later 18th century when cloth began to be manufactured at the mill and again c. 1800 when the Kennet & Avon canal was constructed immediately north. West of the lane to Upper Westwood are the substantial 19th-century houses of Bath stone called Avon Villa and Avon Cottage, and the Old Court, the former Bradford union workhouse. (fn. 45) That building, probably erected shortly after 1792, comprised seventeen industrial dwellings which formed terraces round three sides of a square. (fn. 46) Apart from the central house in the south range, which was of three bays, the houses were one bay wide and three storeys high. The windows on the uppermost floors were originally of double width and lit workrooms. When bought by the Bradford guardians in 1835 the internal walls were removed from the smaller houses to form wards and workrooms for women on the east and for men on the west. The central house was occupied by the workhouse master and at the rear a large new block was added to accommodate a kitchen, dining-room, and chapel. (fn. 47) A gate-house was built, possibly at the same time, on the north side of the square.

After the few remaining inmates had been transferred to Warminster workhouse in 1917 the Bradford guardians let the empty building to the British Red Cross Society as a hospital. (fn. 48) They sold it in 1923 to Walter Morres, who converted it to a hotel called the Old Court. (fn. 49) Part of the east wing was then demolished to open up the central court and the gate-house was pulled down. In the 1950s work, still in progress in 1978, was begun to convert the building into flats and small houses. (fn. 50) A schoolroom built at the southern end of the workhouse garden in the later 19th century was demolished in the later 20th century. (fn. 51) South-west of the former workhouse a small stone vaulted building has a central chimney which serves two external fire-places. It is divided into four compartments which may have been used as punishment cells for workhouse inmates. The original purpose of the building, in the later 18th century and the early 19th, was probably to serve as a drying-house for wool.

The hamlet of Iford, which straddles the county boundary, is on either side of the road up Iford hill. Its nucleus is Iford Manor which stands in the angle formed by the road and the river Frome. The associated buildings north of Iford Manor and Iford Mill on the west bank of the Frome were in Somerset and afterwards Avon, as was Iford bridge which carried the lane from Iford westwards over the Frome. (fn. 52) Although of ancient origin, the bridge, which is built of stone and has a single arch, is apparently of 18th-century construction. (fn. 53) The stone figure of Britannia was placed on the southern parapet of the bridge by H. A. Peto in the early 20th century. (fn. 54)

Manors and other Estates.

An estate to be identified with the later manor of WESTWOOD may have been held by Sealemudda before 983. (fn. 55) In 983 King Ethelred granted his thegn Alfnoth 2½ mansae at Westwood. (fn. 56) In 987, however, Ethelred granted what may be the same estate, then comprising 3 mansae and some common land at Farleigh Hungerford, to his huntsman Leofwine. (fn. 57) The estate may afterwards have been taken in hand again and possibly included in the grant of Bradford minster and its property made by Ethelred to Shaftesbury Abbey in 1001. (fn. 58) In the following year, however, Westwood was apparently again in hand and was assigned by Ethelred to his queen, Emma, in dower. The estate was afterwards confirmed to her by her second husband, King Cnut, and by their son Harthacnut. (fn. 59) After Harthacnut's death Emma gave Westwood to the church of Winchester in his memory c. 1043. (fn. 60)

In 1086 Westwood was among the lands of the bishop of Winchester assigned for the support of the monks of the cathedral church. (fn. 61) The bishop confirmed the manor to the prior of St. Swithun's in 1284 as part of a composition between them. (fn. 62) In the 13th century some, at least, of the profits of Westwood may have been paid to the hoarder, who gave up his claim to them in favour of the prior in 1337. (fn. 63) St. Swithun's received a grant of free warren in its demesne lands in 1300, and held the manor until the Dissolution when it passed to the Crown. (fn. 64)

In 1541 the Crown granted Westwood to the newly established cathedral chapter at Winchester. (fn. 65) In 1650 parliamentary trustees sold the manor, including the franchisal rights, to Edward Woodford and Westwood Manor and the demesne farm to Elizabeth Bampfield and Henry Foster. (fn. 66) The entire estate was afterwards restored to the chapter, which retained it until 1861. In that year the manor was transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. (fn. 67)

The Commissioners sold their reversionary interest in the estate, 333 a., to their tenant, G. C. Tugwell, in 1864. (fn. 68) In 1911 the estate, enlarged to 536 a. by the acquisition of the Joyce estate at Upper Westwood, was sold in lots. (fn. 69) The manor-house and some land became the property of E. G. Lister (d. 1956). He gave the National Trust protective covenants over Westwood Manor in 1943 and finally devised it with an endowment to the Trust, owner in 1978. (fn. 70)

The manor, or parts of it, were apparently leased in the earlier 13th century. Gilbert de Bolebec had some interest in an estate at Westwood in 1235. (fn. 71) In 1243 James de Bolebec held probably the manor itself. (fn. 72) Between 1261 and 1265 another Bolebec, possibly Jordan, regranted the convent land in Westwood held at fee farm. (fn. 73) Between 1265 and 1276 the manor was granted at fee farm to Henry de Montfort whose brother and successor at Westwood, Nicholas, surrendered the estate to St. Swithun's between 1276 and 1286. (fn. 74) In the later 13th century the manor was leased in moieties of which one was held by Robert Waspray and afterwards by his widow. (fn. 75) John Waspray also held of St. Swithun's an estate, called a manor, which he apparently returned to the convent in 1313–14. (fn. 76)

Thereafter the manor remained in hand until the later 14th century when the demesne alone was leased. (fn. 77) Henry Culverhouse, farmer in 1434, was succeeded c. 1469 by Thomas Culverhouse, who was at Westwood until at least 1485. (fn. 78) Thomas Horton (d. 1530) was the farmer in 1518. He was succeeded by his widow Mary (will proved 1543), nephew Thomas Horton (d. 1549), Thomas's widow Margery (will proved 1564), and Thomas's son Edward (d. 1603). (fn. 79) The last Horton lessee was Edward's grand-nephew Toby Horton, who sold his unexpired term c. 1616 to his brother-in-law John Farewell (d. 1642), whose widow Melior (d. 1675) succeeded him at Westwood. (fn. 80) John Wallis, who became lessee in 1675, was possibly a kinsman of the Farewells. (fn. 81) In the 18th century lessees, including the Tugwell family who acquired a lease in the second half of that century, probably sub-let the estate. The Tugwells remained lessees until 1864 when G. C. Tugwell bought the freehold. (fn. 82)

Westwood Manor, which comprises two old ranges set at right angles in an L-shape, was formerly much larger and H-shaped. (fn. 83) The north hall range, which lies east-west, originally formed the cross-wing of the H. In 1480 Thomas Culverhouse built a new house, the building accounts for which have been interpreted as relating to that surviving hall range on the basis of its length, although the range contains no visibly 15th-century feature. (fn. 84) The main doorway and an internal doorway are probably of the early 16th century and most of the fittings were introduced in the earlier 17th century by John Farewell, who inserted the upper floor, renewed the roof, and added the porch and turret stair. To the south-west the adjacent rooms of the west range, which in 1978 housed the diningroom with a bedroom above, probably date from the earlier 16th century. They appear to be of later date than the southern part of the range. The surviving part of the original west range, which may be of the later 15th century or the earlier 16th, retains its original roof, part of which is painted. That range originally had three rooms on the first floor which appear to have been lodgings with separate entrances before John Farewell refurbished them as bedrooms in the earlier 17th century. The windows and doorways have been much altered and the first floor oriel window on the eastern elevation was probably inserted in the early 16th century.

An eastwards extension of the north range and a short east range survived until the later 19th century. (fn. 85) They probably housed kitchens and service rooms. (fn. 86) There is also structural evidence of a former range or room extending northwards from the west end of the north range.

After acquiring the Manor in 1911 E. G. Lister carried out an extensive restoration, imported some panelling and other features, (fn. 87) and added a short kitchen wing on the west side of the west range. He also laid out the gardens and rebuilt the surrounding walls, including the gateway to the forecourt in early-17th-century style. (fn. 88) A large barn south-east of the house has walls of the 15th century or the 16th. The roof has been renewed, possibly in the 19th century.

In the mid 14th century William of Iford held freely of Westwood manor a small estate in Iford and its neighbourhood, to be identified with the later manor of IFORD, which afterwards passed to his brother Master Nicholas of Iford. (fn. 89) With the permission of the prior of St. Swithun's, Winchester, Nicholas's feoffees granted the estate, then reckoned 2 carucates, to the Carthusian priory of Hinton (Som.) c. 1374. (fn. 90) The priory held the estate, with 4 a. in Westwood acquired in 1412, (fn. 91) until the Dissolution, when it passed to the Crown.

In 1543 the Crown granted the estate, which by then straddled the county boundary and included land in both Wiltshire and Somerset, to Sir John Williams and Anthony Stringer. (fn. 92) They sold it immediately to Thomas Horton, members of whose family had formerly been tenants. (fn. 93) On Thomas Horton's death in 1549 the estate, in accordance with his will, passed successively to his wife Margery (d. 1564) and son William. (fn. 94) On William's death in 1584 the lands passed in turn to his son William and grandson Toby. (fn. 95)

Toby Horton and his wife Barbara sold Iford in 1625 to Sir Edward Hungerford (d.s.p. 1648), from whom the manor, like Upavon manor, passed to his widow Margaret (d. 1673). (fn. 96) At her death the estate reverted to Sir Edward's nephew Sir Edward Hungerford (d. 1711), who sold it in 1687 to Henry Baynton(d. 1691) of Spye Park in Bromham. (fn. 97) Baynton devised it on trust for sale and in 1700 his trustees sold Iford to William Chanler. (fn. 98)

William Chanler (will proved 1710) devised the estate to his wife Eleanor during their son Samuel's minority. (fn. 99) Eleanor regained it, however, when Samuel (will proved 1733) devised Iford to her in fee. (fn. 100) Eleanor Chanler (will proved 1743) devised most of the estate, comprising Iford manor and Shute's farm, to her cousin John Halliday. Halliday, by will dated 1749, in turn devised his Iford lands to his son Simon, who sold them in 1764 to Charles Dingley. (fn. 101) Dingley's daughter Susannah and her husband John Smith Meggott sold them in 1773 to John Turner, who sold them in 1777 to John Gaisford. (fn. 102) Gaisford (d. 1810) was succeeded by his son the Revd. Thomas Gaisford (d. 1855), later dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and grandson Thomas Gaisford(d. 1898). (fn. 103)

In 1858 Thomas Gaisford sold the Iford estate, then reckoned at 170 a. of which some 72 a. were in Westwood, to William W. Rooke (d. 1864), who devised it for life to his wife Julia (d. 1896). (fn. 104) Rooke's trustees sold it in 1899 to Sarah M. Crossley, who sold it in 1903 to her brother H. A. Peto (d. 1933). (fn. 105) Peto, who had apparently occupied Iford Manor since 1899, was succeeded by his nephew J. M. Peto (later Sir Michael Peto, Bt., d. 1971). (fn. 106) During Sir Michael's lifetime, however, the Iford estate passed to his daughter Serena, Lady Matheson, who in 1965 sold it to Miss Elizabeth Cartwright, the owner in 1978. (fn. 107)

Iford Manor was so called c. 1900 but until then had been called Iford House. (fn. 108) Traces of a house built on the site in the later 16th century survive in the lower parts of the south range and may in their turn incorporate features from a later-15th-century house. Most of the 16th-century house, however, was probably demolished when a principal range, which faces west across the Frome valley, was constructed to the north in the 17th century. In the mid 18th century the west entrance front was heightened to three storeys and given an imposing five-bay facade of ashlar with a stone cornice and balustraded parapet. (fn. 109) At the same date a spacious staircase was inserted in the angle between the south and west ranges. An extension somewhat lower than the west range was built to the north in the later 18th century or the earlier 19th. An extension to the south, which may have been of similar date, was demolished c. 1900 by H. A. Peto who replaced it with a loggia and added a conservatory on the east. (fn. 110) J. M. Peto much enlarged the service range on the east side of the main block. (fn. 111)

The interior of the house retains some 17thcentury features and much 18th-century panelling. The rooms along the south front were remodelled by H. A. Peto to incorporate antique carved woodwork and panel paintings mostly of European origin. (fn. 112)

The stables north-west of the house are probably of the later 18th century but have been much remodelled. They were occupied in 1978 as cottages and a flat. The gardens, surrounded by woodland, are ranged in terraces up the hillside to the south and east of the house. They were created in an Italianate style by H. A. Peto to display much antique carved stonework and sculpture which he had collected in Europe.

A small copyhold farm, in 1672 held by William Shute, formed part of Iford manor. (fn. 113) In 1791 John Gaisford sold Shute's farm in moieties to John Moggeridge and Thomas Joyce (will proved 1817), both Bradford clothiers. (fn. 114) Moggeridge's moiety is not mentioned again and may have been acquired by Joyce. In 1843 Maria Joyce held what were probably the reunited moieties which then amounted to 59 a. (fn. 115) Besides Shute's farm Maria Joyce held copyholds totalling some 100 a. from Winchester chapter, including that farmed from the house called Upper Westwood Farm in the later 19th century. (fn. 116) The copyhold land was enfranchised for Caroline Joyce in 1867. (fn. 117) By 1911, however, the farm, then called Upper Westwood farm, was part of the main Westwood estate. (fn. 118)

The building which existed on the site of Upper Westwood Farm in the later 16th century or the earlier 17th was mostly replaced in the later 17th century by a house with a symmetrical south front of five bays. A porch incorporating 17th-century stonework was, despite a later date on the cresting, (fn. 119) probably added to the central bay of that wing c. 1800. A low gabled wing to the east was retained from the original house as service quarters.

In the earlier 18th century the Wickham family had an estate at Iford which stretched over the county boundary southwards into Farleigh Hungerford and westwards into Freshford (Som.). Elizabeth Wickham and her son John sold it in 1721 to George Houghton, a clothier. (fn. 120) In 1728 Houghton (will proved 1760) settled the property on his marriage with Anne Webb, who succeeded him at Iford. (fn. 121) From Anne Houghton (will proved 1782) the small estate passed to her nephew Samuel Webb (will proved 1797), who devised it to his wife Anne for life with remainder to his kinsman Edward Webb. (fn. 122) Edward Webb sold the reversion to Benjamin Browne. (fn. 123) On Anne Webb's death Browne entered and by will proved 1822 devised the land to trustees who sold it in 1822 to the Revd. Thomas Gaisford. (fn. 124) It was thereafter merged with the main Iford estate. (fn. 125)

George Houghton may have built the large house which was attached to the estate and in 1773 stood on the east bank of the river Frome. (fn. 126) Anne Houghton apparently left the house immediately after her husband's death. (fn. 127) By the early 19th century it had apparently been pulled down, (fn. 128) and by 1858 its site had been used as a kitchen garden for Iford House. (fn. 129) It was still cultivated as a garden in 1978, when fragments of the demolished house, such as stone window-frames, could be seen incorporated in the northern side of its surrounding wall.

Economic History.

In 1066 the land that later became Westwood and Iford manors was assessed for geld at 3 hides. It was worth £6 but only £4 in 1086. That decline in value is possibly reflected in the fact that although the estate could support 5 ploughs in 1066, there were only 4 in 1086. There were 3 ploughs and 3 serfs on the 2 demesne hides, 1 plough and 6 villeins and 4 bordars on the remaining hide. There were 6 a. of meadow and woodland 2 furlongs by 1 furlong. (fn. 130)

In the early 14th century the overall value of Westwood manor was some £20, a sum which included assessed rents of £7, and a rent of 7½ sticks of eels from the tenant of that moiety of the mill which formed part of John Waspray's estate. Robert Waspray's share of the manor was then farmed at £3 10s. yearly, and John Waspray's at £3 but was apparently worth £6 upon improvement. (fn. 131) In 1649 Westwood manor as then constituted was worth £177, again upon improvement. (fn. 132)

The entire manor of Westwood was let at farm during the 13th century and the early 14th. (fn. 133) It was only for a brief period after c. 1314 that it functioned within the inter-manorial economy of the estates of St. Swithun's Priory. In 1314 oxen were sold to the reeve of Enford, and in 1324 122 sheep were sent from Westwood to Enford after shearing. (fn. 134) The demesne was farmed from at least 1365. The farm, then £7 yearly, gradually fell over the next century and by 1469 had become fixed at £5, a sum that remained constant until at least the 18th century. (fn. 135)

Probably in the early 14th century there were 124 a. of arable in demesne scattered throughout the open fields. There was a pasture for between twelve and sixteen oxen, 13 a. of meadow of which 3 a. were apparently mown every other year, and pasture for 250 second-year sheep. That portion of the estate held by John Waspray contained 89 a., of which 60 a. were arable, and pasture for 100 secondyear sheep. (fn. 136) In 1649 the demesne farm contained 192 a. Of that there were 37 a. of meadow, 30 a. of pasture in inclosures, and 33 a. of 'down' pasture. Of the 67 a. of arable, 30 a. were in open fields and 37 a. inclosed. (fn. 137) The farm, which extended to most parts of the chapelry, was worked from Westwood Manor and reckoned at 337 a. in 1792, an acreage which remained more or less constant until the farm was offered for sale in lots in the early 20th century. (fn. 138)

The arable and pasture mostly seem to have been inclosed by the mid 17th century. (fn. 139) In 1847, when the arable was reckoned at 413 a., the largest parcels were in Great down south of Avoncliff wood, in fields and furlongs east of the lane from Upper to Lower Westwood, and in Westwood and Iford fields in the south-west corner of the chapelry. Pasture, 242 a., was on Shrub down in the west part of the chapelry, in Elm Hayes north-east, in Cow leaze south, in Hay grove and New leaze south-west, and in Further and Hither Bustings east of Lower Westwood. (fn. 140)

There were 11 free tenants within that part of Westwood manor held by Robert Waspray in the later 13th century or the early 14th: 1 held 1 virgate, 3, including the tenant who held a moiety of the mill, ½ virgate each, and the remaining 7 no more than a few acres each. Of the 9 unfree tenants 2 held ½ virgate each for 3s. 4d. yearly, and 7, who held a few acres each, similarly paid money rents. (fn. 141) Two more lists of tenants, possibly of similar date, perhaps refer to the remaining moiety of the manor. The first, which is certainly to be identified with John Waspray's portion of Westwood, records 6 free tenants and 6 villeins of whom 2 held ½ virgate each and 4 were cottars. The second list records 14 free tenants, of whom 2 held 1 virgate each, 2, including the tenant who held the remaining moiety of the mill, ½ virgate, and the rest a few acres each. The duties of the 3 unfree tenants within that portion of the manor were confined to mowing, haymaking, hoeing, and hurdle-making. (fn. 142)

Early inclosure assisted the emergence of fairly compact copyhold farms which occupied an area roughly in the centre of the chapelry between Upper and Lower Westwood. (fn. 143) In 1649, of the sixteen copyholds totalling some 190 a. within Westwood manor, nine were small farms of between 10 a. and 40 a. (fn. 144) Osmund Gibbs's copyhold, which contained a quarry, is identifiable with the later Greenhill farm, reckoned at 34 a. in 1692. (fn. 145) Zachary Walter, the tenant from 1680 to 1685, built Greenhill House on it. (fn. 146) G. C. Tugwell, the lessee of the manorial demesne, acquired the copyhold, 50 a., between 1843 and 1847, and it was enfranchised for him in 1850. (fn. 147) Although after 1864 it formed part of the Tugwells' freehold estate at Westwood, Greenhill farm retained its identity and in 1911 was a dairy farm of 61 a. (fn. 148) William Hayward's copyhold, which also included a quarry, was reckoned at 40 a. in 1649. (fn. 149) The land is possibly that to which Thomas Joyce was admitted in 1815. (fn. 150) The Joyce family's copyhold estate, worked from the house called Upper Westwood Farm from the later 19th century, was enlarged by the addition of more copyhold land during the 19th century, and by 1847 contained, besides the quarry north-west of the farm-house, 100 a. The land, farmed with the freehold Shute's farm, 59 a., was enfranchised in 1867. (fn. 151) Upper Westwood farm, 112 a., was devoted to dairying in 1911. (fn. 152) In 1792 18 tenants held 234 a. as copyhold of the manor, 43 held 239 a. in 1847, and 29 held 160 a. in 1862. The reversions were sold by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners between 1864 and 1873. (fn. 153)

Westwood, once thickly wooded, was included within the Wiltshire portion of Selwood forest until the early 14th century. From that time Avoncliff wood, 35–40 a., formed part of the manorial demesne. (fn. 154) Addy (by 1890 Becky Addy) wood was partly in the hands of freeholders and partly of three copyholders in the 19th century. (fn. 155) Both Avoncliff, 54 a., and Becky Addy, 36 a., woods were part of the Westwood Manor estate in 1911. (fn. 156)

In the 15th century two quarries, one described as in Mandeville's grove and the other held by the Doggett family, were let at 2s. and 4s. respectively. (fn. 157) That in Mandeville's grove had been leased with the demesne by 1482, as apparently had the other by the earlier 16th century. (fn. 158) They were somewhere on the Bath Oolite which extends north-east to south-west across the chapelry. Both had ceased to be used by 1649. (fn. 159) Of the two quarries then worked, one was part of the copyhold later called Upper Westwood farm. (fn. 160) It was in woodland some distance north-west of the farm-house and was still worked in 1862 when the copyholder, who paid £3 yearly to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, sub-let. (fn. 161)

William Godwin was a quarry-master at Westwood in the later 19th century and the firm of Godwin Bros, still existed there in 1903. (fn. 162) Another firm, Randell, Saunders & Co. Ltd., became part of Bath Stone Firms Ltd. in 1887. (fn. 163) The Bath & Portland Group Ltd. still owned the quarries west of the lane from Lower to Upper Westwood in 1978. Stone was transported from Upper Westwood to the canal wharf at Avoncliff by means of a tramway in the later 19th century and the earlier 20th. (fn. 164) The quarries, which then, as in 1978, were entered north-west of Upper Westwood Farm, were taken over in 1939 by the Ministry of Supply. In 1941 the Enfield (later Royal Enfield) Motor Cycle Co. of Redditch (Worcs.) moved there and cleared the underground workings to make factory accommodation. During the Second World War fire-control instruments were made there for the Directorate of Instrument Production and afterwards parts for motor-cycles. About 1969 the firm, then called Enfield Precision Engineers and owned by the firm of E. & H. P. Smith, vacated the quarries, which extended some considerable distance underground on either side of the lane from Upper to Lower Westwood. The easterly part was leased from the Bath & Portland Group Ltd. by Darlington Mushrooms of Bradford on Avon and mushrooms were grown there from 1934 to 1959. Although the firm was still lessee in 1978, mushrooms were then no longer produced. In 1978 only a small area of the quarries south of Upper Westwood Farm was worked intermittently for the Bath & Portland Group Ltd. Part was then let to a local engineering firm, Willett & Wilkins. Other surface buildings were also let separately. (fn. 165)

Iford manor was worth £8 a year in the mid 16th century. Of that sum £4 represented assessed rents from Iford and £2 those from Westwood. Three tenants in Westwood and one in Freshford were then attached to the estate. (fn. 166) The manor apparently had no open field of its own and shared in those of Westwood. (fn. 167)

The position of the estate at the confluence of the Frome and Avon, which provided ample waterpower, and its proximity to supplies of Fuller's Earth gave it an importance incommensurable with its size. In 1700 it contained, besides mills at Iford and Avoncliff, (fn. 168) some 100 a., some of which lay on the western bank of the Frome in Somerset but most around Iford House and in the north-west corner of Westwood chapelry. (fn. 169) It was reduced in size by the loss in 1743 of Avoncliff mills and in 1791 of Shute's farm, 42 a., the only copyhold of any size, which occupied the land between Iford and Avoncliff and included a freestone quarry. (fn. 170) Iford mill was sub-let and the remaining 45 a. became, and remained in the 20th century, a gentleman's estate. (fn. 171)

Apart from the small industrial concerns at Upper Westwood, the parish was entirely devoted to agriculture in 1978. On the numerous small farms, none of which was owner-occupied, (fn. 172) dairying predominated. Most inhabitants then worked outside Westwood in Bristol, Bath, or Trowbridge.

Mills.

In 1086 a mill which paid 10s. was attached to the estate held by the church of Winchester at Westwood. (fn. 173) It probably stood on the Avon. In the later 13th century a moiety of the mill and ½ virgate were held freely by Reynold of Cliff for 6s. yearly, and a moiety and another ½ virgate by Henry of Cliff who paid yearly to St. Swithun's Priory 12s. and 7½ sticks of eels and owed suit of court at Westwood manor. (fn. 174) No more is known of either moiety.

Nicholas of Iford conveyed a mill as part of an estate at Iford to Hinton Priory in the later 14th century. The mill thereafter descended with the manor of Iford and was still part of the estate in 1978. (fn. 175)

The position of Iford mill in an area endowed with the necessary natural resources for cloth making presumably attracted John Horton (will proved 1497) to become tenant there in the later 15th century. While most of the Iford estate lay in Wiltshire, the mill stood just within the parish of Hinton Charterhouse in Somerset. It may have been John Horton who converted the mill for fulling purposes and established a cloth manufacturing business there. (fn. 176) It was due, however, to the acumen of his son Thomas (d. 1530), one of the most successful clothiers of his time, that the business flourished. (fn. 177) When Thomas's nephew Thomas acquired the freehold from the Crown in 1543 the mill-house contained four fulling stocks. (fn. 178) The last Horton to own Iford, Toby, took no active part in the manufacture of woollen cloth there, as far as is known, and soon after acquiring the mill let the two fulling stocks at the eastern end of the mill-house to John Yerbury (will dated 1614) and his sons John and William. The Yerbury family's tenancy presumably ended in 1615 when the survivor, John the younger, became a lunatic. (fn. 179) In 1650 the Bradford clothier Paul Methuen was tenant of the same two stocks, and from 1687 the Trowbridge clothier William Brewer, said to be the leading manufacturer of medleys in England, and his son William (will dated 1709) were tenants. (fn. 180) The younger William's widow assigned the lease to Thomas Harding, whose family leased the mill and all four of its stocks until 1749. (fn. 181) The entire mill was let to Samuel Perkins in 1767 and to Thomas Perkins in 1787. (fn. 182) It was still used for fulling in 1839 when Sarah Perkins was tenant. (fn. 183)

The main range of Iford mill retains some 16thor earlier-17th-century features including a windbraced roof. (fn. 184) The four stocks which the mill formerly contained seem to have been disposed in sets of two, each set driven by a separate waterwheel, at the east and west ends. (fn. 185) The mill, which incorporated the mill-house, was extended westwards in the later 17th century. There were presumably in the 16th century, as in the 17th and 18th centuries, associated industrial buildings near by including a clay-house, dye-house, and dryingroom. Iford House itself contained a room used as a beating-loft. (fn. 186) Male & Marchant of Freshford reconstructed and refitted the mill c. 1965 as a house for Miss Elizabeth Cartwright (fn. 187) who lived there in 1978.

A mill or mills at Avoncliff formed part of Iford manor in the later 17th century. Avoncliff mills, as the property was then known, and some meadow land were sold in 1700 with the manor by Henry Baynton's trustees to William Chanler. (fn. 188) By will proved 1743 Chanler's widow Eleanor devised the mills to Margaret, wife of Gabriel Goldney. (fn. 189) Margaret Goldney was still owner in 1762 but in the following year the property was bought by Richard Stratton, a fuller. (fn. 190) Stratton sold it in 1767 to Edward Hall, who in 1768 sold it to Joseph H. Saunders. (fn. 191) Saunders sold it in 1781 to John Yerbury of Bradford. (fn. 192) Yerbury (will proved 1825) devised the property to his sons Francis and John as tenants in common. (fn. 193) In 1853 Francis sold his moiety to John (d. 1858). (fn. 194) In 1860 J. A. Wheeler was owner and so remained until 1878. (fn. 195) The mill was owned by George Harman c. 1885 but by the end of the century was the property of William Selwyn, whose firm still operated it in 1939. (fn. 196)

The conversion from grist- to fulling-mill in the 18th century may have been a gradual one. In 1731 a dye-house was attached to the grist-mill, and 10 years later a cloth-worker occupied a near-by cottage. The process was complete in 1763 when, besides the dye-house, there was a stove. Stove and dye-house, however, had been converted to two dwellings by 1781. (fn. 197) In the late 18th century and the early 19th the mill was let on a series of short tenancies in some of which the elder John Yerbury, as owner, apparently had some interest. The cloth manufacturing business of John Moggeridge, Yerbury's son-in-law, and Moggeridge's partner Thomas Joyce, who became tenants in 1790, extended beyond Avoncliff to near-by areas. (fn. 198) It was presumably they who further mechanized the cloth making process at Avoncliff by installing machinery driven by waterpower, as far as is known the first instance in the area, c. 1791. It was perhaps to provide both housing and workshops that the U-shaped building called Avoncliff or 'Ankley' Square was built on the south bank of the Avon after 1792 on land bought by Moggeridge and Joyce in 1791. (fn. 199) In 1798 Avoncliff mill itself was no longer connected with Moggeridge's and Joyce's cloth making business, but the 'houses' at Avoncliff were still the property of Thomas Joyce c. 1814. (fn. 200) Another tenant installed dressing and brushing machinery in the mill in 1804. (fn. 201) From 1860 and still in 1939 the owners of the mill manufactured flock there. (fn. 202)

In 1811 Avoncliff mill had four floors and two wheels, one of which drove four pairs of stocks and the other the machinery. By 1878 a collection of factory buildings had grown up around the mill on the south bank of the river at Avoncliff on the east side of the lane leading to Upper Westwood. Besides the main four-storeyed mill, to which power was supplied by a turbine wheel, perhaps the horizontal turbine wheel extant in 1978, there were also a south mill, a tearing and willying shop of two floors, and a three-storeyed hot-air stove. By 1978 the main mill, then called the Old Mill or Weavers' Mill, had, although still displaying features of 18th-century date, been much reduced in size and height and converted to a private dwelling. The south mill was then also a dwelling, but the other buildings, including a tall brick and stone chimney, were ruinous.

Local Government

In the 13th century the prior of St. Swithun's claimed, by virtue of various royal grants, to be quit of suit of shire and hundred at the court of Bradford hundred, in which Westwood was then included. (fn. 203) Attempts were apparently made to compel the prior to attend the sheriff's tourns at Bradford in the early 14th century. (fn. 204) Records of courts held twice yearly at Westwood show the attempts to have been unsuccessful. At those courts the prior held view of frankpledge as well as exercising manorial jurisdiction, but, as far as is known, claimed no other franchise. (fn. 205) The attendance of the prior's men at the Bradford tourn was successfully enforced in 1439 but from the later 15th century the prior seems to have exercised unchallenged his right to hold the view at Westwood. (fn. 206)

From the 15th century to the 18th courts were called views of frankpledge and courts and during the 19th usually views of frankpledge, courts leet, and courts of the manor. (fn. 207) During the 17th and 18th centuries courts were generally held once a year in late summer or autumn, and in the 19th once a year or every other year in the early summer. The last known was held in 1863. At a view in 1540 Westwood tithing, which comprised Westwood and Iford manors and was conterminous with the chapelry, was enjoined to repair roads at Upper and Lower Westwood, (fn. 208) but from the 17th century business there was mostly formal, such as the election of a tithingman for the following year. Business at the manorial courts was concerned with the regulation of small agricultural matters, the presentments of nuisances, and copyhold surrenders and admittances.

Records of courts for Iford manor survive for various years in the later 17th century. (fn. 209) The courts were held once or twice yearly in spring and autumn. In 1676 and 1677 the rails round the mill and its pond were ordered to be repaired, and in the 1680s the owner of Iford House was yearly enjoined to repair the road between Iford bridge and mill.

Westwood chapelry apparently relieved its own poor by the early 19th century. (fn. 210) Churchwardens' accounts for 1798–1869 and vestry minutes for 1802–72, entered in the same book, show Westwood to have pursued a vigorous policy in dealing with paupers. (fn. 211) The instigator and chief exponent of that policy was John Spackman, tenant farmer at Manor farm, who as a result incurred much enmity among local labourers and paupers. (fn. 212) A board of health consisting of six parishioners, appointed in 1831 to take precautionary measures against cholera, convened a sub-committee which reported that Westwood was generally in a clean and healthy state.

In 1835 Spackman was instrumental in setting up Bradford poor-law union in which Westwood was included in the same year. (fn. 213) Spackman, too, was probably responsible for the selection as a workhouse and subsequent purchase of the building in the north of Westwood called Avoncliff Square. (fn. 214) Declining numbers of inmates in the early 20th century resulted in those remaining being transferred to Warminster workhouse in 1917. The empty building was sold in 1923. (fn. 215)

Church.

The royal grant of 1001 to Shaftesbury Abbey of a large estate centred on Bradford probably included land to be identified with the later manor of Westwood. Although Westwood was alienated in the following year, it remained dependent ecclesiastically on the church of Bradford as a parochial chapelry with rights of baptism, marriage, and burial until the later 19th century. (fn. 216) The rectors and, after 1349, the vicars of Bradford appointed chaplains and, later, assistant curates nominated either to Bradford, or to Bradford and Westwood, or to Westwood and one or more of Bradford's other chapelries. (fn. 217) Because the vicars took the great tithes of the chapelry after 1349 they were sometimes called rectors of Westwood. (fn. 218) The chapelry is expressly mentioned in 1299 when John Waspray, who held Westwood manor at farm, presented a chaplain to the ordinary for institution. (fn. 219) By what right he did so is unknown, and his presentee was apparently not instituted. Since he restored the 'advowson of the church' of Westwood with the manor to St. Swithun's Priory in 1313–14, the presentation may possibly represent an attempt by the convent, as lord of Westwood, to create an independent benefice there. (fn. 220)

In 1876 Westwood was detached from the vicarage of Bradford and constituted a separate ecclesiastical parish and a perpetual curacy in the gift of Bristol chapter. (fn. 221) Under the Act of 1868, however, the living was at once deemed a vicarage and its incumbent styled a vicar. (fn. 222) In 1975, with the benefices of Holy Trinity and Christ Church, both in Bradford, Monkton Farleigh with South Wraxall, and Winsley, the vicarage became part of Bradford group ministry. (fn. 223)

When a vicarage was ordained at Bradford in 1349 the entire profits of the chapelry of Westwood were assigned to the vicar. They then included all the tithes of the chapelry and perhaps the 18 a. of glebe mentioned in 1704. (fn. 224) The value of the chapelry was always included in that of Bradford vicarage. (fn. 225) In 1771, however, the chapelry property was let to a layman separately from that of the vicarage at £54 yearly. (fn. 226) In 1843 the tithes of Westwood were commuted for a rent-charge of £190. A rent-charge of £1 8s. was allotted to the incumbent of Farleigh Hungerford for the tithes from 4 a., apparently originally part of Farleigh, to which he was entitled in Westwood. (fn. 227) When the chapelry became a parish in 1876 the rent-charge and the glebe lands were allotted to the incumbent of the new benefice. (fn. 228) In the following year the Ecclesiastical Commissioners provided an additional yearly endowment of £125. (fn. 229) The vicar of Westwood still had some 18 a. of glebe in 1978. (fn. 230)

Possibly in 1349, and certainly in 1704, there was a glebe-house attached to the chapelry. (fn. 231) In 1843 it was described as a cottage and stood south-west of the church. (fn. 232) Its unsuitability led the vicar of Bradford to remark in 1864 that, if better accommodation could be provided at Westwood, an assistant curate might be persuaded to live there. (fn. 233) In 1870 it was proposed that the cottage be refurbished but in 1877–8, with £1,500 granted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, a new house for the vicarage was built south-west of the church by Voisey & Wills of Bristol. (fn. 234) That house was sold in 1965 and replaced by another immediately east where the vicar lived in 1978. (fn. 235)

Few assistant curates, at least from the later 17th century, seem to have remained long. The curacy of Caleb Bevan, who apparently lived at Westwood, was unusual in lasting from 1622 to 1668. (fn. 236) From the late 19th century, at least, the vicars of Westwood frequently served as chaplains to the Bradford union workhouse at Avoncliff. (fn. 237) On Census Sunday in 1851 there was only one Sunday service. Over the past year, however, an average congregation of 70 had attended morning, and 100 afternoon, services. (fn. 238) The difficulty the vicar of Bradford encountered in persuading assistant curates to live at Westwood in the 1860s apparently did not result in spiritual torpor within the chapelry. Services with sermons were held at the church twice on Sundays in 1864 and were attended by an average congregation of 80 in the mornings and 100 in the afternoons. Congregations were similarly large at services held on Christmas day and Good Friday. Holy Communion, then celebrated at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun and in every other month, was received by an average of fifteen communicants. (fn. 239)

The church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, so called in the later 19th century but in the early 14th dedicated to All Saints, (fn. 240) is built of ashlar rubble and has a chancel, nave with short north aisle, and west tower. (fn. 241) A window, reset piscina, and a doorway in the chancel are all of the 13th century. The narrow three-bay nave perhaps retains 12th- or 13th-century proportions, and masonry of early character survives in the lower part of the north wall. It has no doorway either to north or south. A lancet window in the north wall of the chancel was blocked when the church was enlarged in the later 15 th century by the addition of a north aisle entered through a two-bay arcade. That aisle served as a chapel and a squint was inserted to provide a view of the high altar. The coloured decoration on the aisle walls was obliterated during a 19th-century restoration. It may have been at the same time that the west half of the aisle ceiling, which was of carved oak, was replaced by one of lath and plaster. A plain wooden ceiling to match the original east half was put up in 1968. (fn. 242) It has been suggested that the 15th-century glass in the chancel windows was moved there from those of the north aisle. (fn. 243) The south nave wall was probably rebuilt when the tower was constructed by Thomas Horton(d.1530). (fn. 244) The tower, elaborately designed with panelled faces and embattled parapets, has an octagonal stair turret with a dome at the south-east corner. The ornamental plasterwork of the nave ceiling may date from 1786. The south wall of the chancel was rebuilt c. 1840. An extensive restoration, during which the west gallery erected c. 1696 was dismantled and the chapel repewed, was undertaken by W. H. Jones, vicar of Bradford 1851–84 and a noted antiquary, and the church was reopened in 1856. (fn. 245)

The font is of the early 13 th century and has an elaborate 16th-century cover, suspended from an iron bracket, which imitates the cupola on the stair turret of the tower. Above the font on the west wall of the nave is a carved stone devil of the early 16th century, known as the 'old lad of Westwood' and 'the Westwood imp', beneath which is inscribed 'Resist me and I will flee'. The pulpit, dated 1607, is said to have been brought from Norton St. Philip. (fn. 246) The 17th-century screen probably served originally as the communion rail. A large oval plaque by T. King of Bath on the south nave wall commemorates Richard Cox (d. 1789).

The plate was lost in the earlier 19th century and by 1891 had been replaced by a chalice, paten, and flagon of plated metal. (fn. 247) In 1978 Westwood had, besides a modern set of plate, an antique chalice and paten given by Sir Michael Peto, Bt. (fn. 248) The church had four bells in 1553. In the earlier 20th century, as in 1978, there was still a ring of four: (i), 1677, is by John (II) Lott of Warminster; (ii) and (iii) are by Henry Jefferies (fl. mid 16th cent.) of Bristol; (iv), possibly of the later 15th century, was cast at Bristol. All were recast between 1884 and 1886 by Llewellins & James of Bristol. (fn. 249) Registrations of baptisms are extant from 1666, but are lacking from 1697 to 1726; those of burials are entered from 1669 and are complete; and marriage entries survive from 1672, but are lacking from 1685 to 1727. (fn. 250)

Roman Catholicism.

A chapel of ease, served from Trowbridge, was founded at Westwood in 1940 and was attended by Irish workers building the factory in the quarry at Upper Westwood. It closed c. 1942 after the work was finished. (fn. 251)

Protestant Nonconformity.

Baptists registered a house at Westwood in 1814. (fn. 252) What was probably the same group certified another house there in 1817. (fn. 253) The meeting flourished and a chapel at Lower Westwood was opened in 1865. (fn. 254) It was connected with the Particular Baptist meeting at Back (now Church) Street, Trowbridge, later called Emmanuel chapel, of which the Westwood attenders were considered members. (fn. 255) A room for a Sunday school was built north-west of the chapel and opened in 1885. (fn. 256) Some fifteen people attended the chapel c. 1890 when there was also a flourishing Sunday school. (fn. 257) The chapel was still affiliated to Emmanuel chapel, Trowbridge, in 1950. (fn. 258) In 1978 the chapel was used as a studio and the schoolroom as a store.

A Wesleyan Methodist group at Upper Westwood originated c. 1840. Early meetings were held at the farm-house, in 1978 called Greenhill House, where the group's deacon, John Tanner, lived. (fn. 259) In 1851 an average of 20 people in the afternoons, and 60 in the evenings, had attended meetings there over the past year. (fn. 260) The group opened a chapel at the western end of the hamlet in 1862. (fn. 261) It was closed before 1971 (fn. 262) and by 1978 had been converted to a private dwelling.

Education.

The only school in Westwood chapelry in the early 19th century was a Sunday school. (fn. 263) In 1841, however, a day-school was built on the south side of the lane leading from Lower Westwood to Iford. (fn. 264) In 1859 a mistress taught 30 boys and girls at the school, which was affiliated to the National Society and supported mainly by subscriptions. Some ten or fifteen children from the chapelry then attended a school run by dissenters at Freshford. (fn. 265) On return day in 1871 thirteen boys and twelve girls attended the Westwood school. (fn. 266) The workhouse children attended a school in the workhouse grounds in the later 19th century. (fn. 267) In 1908 an average of 92 pupils, a much increased number which may have resulted from the closure of the workhouse school, had attended the National school over the past year. Average attendance remained fairly steady until 1913 but afterwards showed a gradual decrease until c. 1930. Thereafter figures dwindled rapidly and in 1938 only an average of 27 children had attended during the past year. (fn. 268)

The school proved inadequate for the increased numbers resulting from Westwood's growth after the Second World War and was closed in 1976. It was replaced in that year by Westwood with Iford County Primary School at the north end of Boswell Road where 120 children from Westwood and the surrounding area were taught in 1978. (fn. 269)

Charities for the Poor.

None for the chapelry is known.