Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Avoncliff Aqueduct seen from the railway span
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Cadley and Brimslade Locks mark the start of the Wootton Rivers Flight. Brimslade Farm
has 17th century tiled buildings with many chimneys. Rivers of any size are not in evidence,
however, as the canal cuts through the Vale of Pewsey to Devizes with Lower Greensand and
clay, surrounded by chalk hills, in a conspicuously dry valley. The canal also runs parallel
with the Wansdyke earthwork to Devizes.
Wootton Rivers is a village of brick and half-timbered thatched cottages. The church,
which was rebuilt in the 19th century, has a wooden bell tower and a clock made by Jack
Spratt to commemorate the coronation of George V. It uses junk such as bedsteads, prams
and bicycles and has the letters GLORYBETOGOD instead of numbers on the face and 24
different quarter-hour chimes.
From Stowell Park, with its 19th century house, the Stowell Park Suspension Bridge
crosses the canal. The bridge is not spectacular in appearance but is one of only two James
Dredge bridges remaining in England, both over this canal. The light structure has suspension
catenary chains that reduce in thickness towards the centre of the span, and hanger chains that
become less vertical towards the centre.
A smart village cricket pitch fronts Wilcot. The village also has thatched cottages, the
Golden Swan's having the steepest thatch in Wiltshire. A manor and vineyards originated in
the 11th century and there is a school with a prominent bell as well as a 12th century Holy
Cross church with a Norman chancel arch, mostly rebuilt in 1876 after a fire.
Wilcot Wide Water and the neoclassical balustraded Lady's Bridge across one end were
features built to appease estate owner Lady Susannah Wroughton. The bridge leads towards
Swanborough Tump, where Alfred the Great is believed to have held a Parliament and written
his will while being attacked by the Danes. The Bronze Age Ridgeway crosses somewhere
