Wiltshire Community History

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Question Date : Thursday 26th April 2007 10:56

Question:
We visited Wiltshire - Marlborough- Axford and Ramsbury areas in 2002. Some of my husband's ancestors are buried in St. Michaels's Church Cemetery where we found a few. Headstones were missing and were not able to locate others.
According to the censuses from 1841 to 1891, Axbury was a populated area with many names appearing in each of the census. What has happened to this village? We found so little of it. My husband's grandfather Robert Cope farmed near the Red Lion Inn. Is the Inn still there?.

Answer:
The population of Axford has decreased from the 400 - 500 people that were there in the early to mid 19th century. In common with most Wiltshire villages numbers declines from the 1850s. Unlike most villages however the population has not really increased since the 1960s as there is no village centre giving a purpose for small housing estates. These have been built in the village of Ramsbury, in whose parish Axford lays.

In the 19th century many people would have lived in tied housing around the farms and were scattered throughout the area. There was no nucleated settlement although there was ribbon development along the road and the river in the vicinity of the Red Lion. The church was not built until 1856 and so there was no central focus for a village and although there were a couple of shops and a few local craftsmen there was little for people to do here except move to the towns during the agricultural depressions of the later 19th century.

There are more people here today than you realised but they are in farms and other buildings away from the road.

Contact Details

Wiltshire Studies
Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre
Cocklebury Road
Chippenham
Wiltshire, SN15 3QN
Email: localstudies@wiltshire.gov.uk