Broughton Gifford

Formerly much of Broughton Gifford and the surrounding area was covered with woodland. Much of this was felled during the First and Second World Wars. Villagers long used the common to graze their livestock and grow their crops. Although the common was not included when the rest of the parish's lands were inclosed in 1783,[2] eventually its agricultural uses died out.

The Wessex Main Line railway was opened across the south-east of the parish in 1848, following the Avon valley. In October 1905 a small station, Broughton Gifford Halt, was opened for the newly introduced steam railcar service between Chippenham and Trowbridge. The halt was south-east of the village at the Mill Lane bridge, near the road between Melksham and Bradford-on-Avon; it was closed on 7 February 1955 but the line remains open.[3]

The village has two parts. The lower village has the church, the school and the village hall. There are also two housing estates and some detached houses in this part.

The higher part, The Common, is a large area of open land with houses around it. As at 2008 there were three ponds on the common, inhabited by a paddling of ducks in their breeding season. At one end of the common is the Bell public house, and the football pitch and bowling green.

The River Avon forms a natural boundary to the south and east of the parish.

The civil parish elects a parish council. It is in the area of Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which is responsible for most significant local government functions.

Unusually the parish shares some land in common with the parish of Melksham Without.

Packhorse bridge over the Avon

Three houses are Grade II* listed:

• Gifford Hall, c.1700, The Common[9]
• Manor House, early 17th century, on the road to The Common[10]
• Monkton House, 1647, south of the village, by the Avon[11]

In March 2015 Mr Daniel Gerber, of Gifford Hall, obtained a decision in the High Court quashing a planning permission granted by Wiltshire Council for a £10.5 million solar farm erected by Norrington Solar Farm Limited and Terraform Power.[12] This decision was then overturned, allowing the solar farm to remain, some distance to the north of Gifford Hall.

A packhorse bridge dating from 1725 spans the River Avon to the south of Broughton Gifford, providing a route (now a public footpath) to the hamlet of Whaddon.[13]

The village has a primary school, St Mary's, a short distance north of the church. Its first building dates from 1856, when it became a National School following the rebuilding of an earlier charity school. The school became Voluntary controlled in 1952 and was remodelled and extended in 1975.[14]

Broughton has two public houses: the Fox and Hounds in the centre of the village, which reopened after refurbishment in October 2022 after being closed for many years, and the Bell On The Common, on the edge of the open area known as the Common. There is also a bowls club which was established in 1961,[15] and a village hall.[16]

Broughton Gifford is home to a war memorial in the form of an obelisk.[17]

• Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (revision) (1975) [1963]. The Buildings of England: Wiltshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 150–151. ISBN 0-14-0710-26-4.

• Chettle, H. F.; Powell, W. R.; Spalding, P. A.; Tillott, P. M. (1953). "Parishes: Broughton Gifford". In Pugh, R. B.; Crittall, Elizabeth (eds.). A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 7. Victoria County History. University of London. pp. 51–59. Retrieved 16 April 2023 – via British History Online.
• Broughton Gifford Parish Council

Media related to Broughton Gifford at Wikimedia Commons