Cricklade

Cricklade is one of thirty burhs (boroughs, i.e. fortresses or fortified towns) recorded in the Burghal Hidage document, which describes a system of fortresses and fortified towns built around Wessex by King Alfred. Recent research suggests these burhs were built in the short period 878–879 to defend Wessex against the Vikings under Guthrum, and to act as an offensive to the Viking presence in Mercia. Cricklade was an important part of these defences, being a short distance down Ermin Way from Cirencester, where the Vikings made their base for a year. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, completion of this system precipitated the retreat of the Vikings from Mercia and London to East Anglia in late 879.[4]

The square defences of the fortification have been excavated in several places on all four sides since the 1940s, possibly making them the most extensively sampled fortification of the period. In the initial phase, a walkway of laid stones marked the rear of a bank of stacked turfs and clay which had been dug from three external ditches.[5] In the second phase, the front of the bank, which after only a short time probably became degraded, was replaced by a stone wall. This wall enclosed the defences on all four sides, considerably strengthening the defensive capabilities of the burh. It has recently been suggested the stone wall was inserted in the 890s. Other burhs of the Burghal Hidage were also strengthened with stone walls, which suggests this was part of a systematic upgrade of the defensive provisions for Wessex, ordered by the king.[5]

The third phase is marked by systematic razing of the stone wall, which was pulled down over the inner berm (the space between the wall and the inner ditch). The stones were used to fill the inner two ditches, which shows the process was deliberate. A similar phase can be seen in the archaeological record at Christchurch, Dorset, another burh of the Hidage. Observations at other burhs suggest this phase of destruction was implemented over the whole of Wessex as a concerted policy, again, by inference, on the part of the king. The destruction may be linked to the accession of King Cnut in the early 11th century, to prevent the burhs being seized and used against him by his rivals.[5]

The fourth phase is marked by reuse of the original Anglo-Saxon defences by inserting a timber palisade along the line of the original wall. This probably marks a renewal of the defences of the town during the civil war of 1144 under King Stephen.[5]

There is little archaeological evidence of the community protected by these defences in the Saxon period, although there are signs that streets were laid out in a regular fashion behind the main north–south High Street. A gate in the northern line of the defences led to a causeway over the flood plain of the Thames and a bridge over the river, which was probably of a defensive nature.[5]

Widhill, south-east of Cricklade beyond the River Ray, had two small estates at the time of Domesday Book[7] and was later a tithing of St Sampson's parish, Cricklade.[8] In 1934 the boundary of Cricklade parish was redrawn along the river, transferring the Widhill area into Blunsdon St Andrew parish (since 2017, St Andrews parish).[9][10]

On John Speed's 1611 map of Wiltshire, the town's name is recorded as Crekelade.[5] Cricklade Museum houses several publications recounting further historical details of the town and its people.[11]

The Jubilee Clock, on a cast-iron pillar, stands at a road junction on the High Street. It was erected in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.[12]

The club was founded in 1992 by ex-school players from many schools, meeting at the bar of the Vale Hotel, Cricklade, then owned by ex-President and life members the Ross family. Initially players were committed to other clubs, so Sunday fixtures were played, the first one against Aldbourne on 6 September.[14] In its second season the fixtures moved to Saturdays. The club joined the Dorset and Wilts leagues in 1994, but withdrew as the travelling involved was too burdensome. They were able to rejoin in 2001 when the leagues were re-structured into North and South.[14]

The club originally used pitches from Prior Park School and the Duke of Gloucester Barracks. Since 2001 it has played on a prepared pitch in the town leased by the Town Council.[14] The first game to be held there was between Cricklade and the President's Select XV squad from all rival clubs – about a dozen clubs formed the squad, who played in Gloucester jerseys donated for the day by Gloucester RFC.[14]

Over the years Cricklade Rugby Club has toured over England, West and South Wales and Ireland, with teams spanning a broad range of levels of skill and age category.[14]

The Cricklade Show is held each summer, typically featuring music, dancing and a cricket match.

The town holds an annual festival, usually taking place on Father's Day in June.[15]

Run annually in the first Sunday of October, the Cricklade Fun Run hosts a half marathon, 10 km and Fun Run event for around 750 runners. This raises funds for a number of local charities.[16]

The Cricklade Triathlon runs in the summer for both adults and juniors.[17]

Towards the end of 2006, North Wiltshire District Council proposed closing the leisure centre. After a campaign, the local residents took over the running of the centre and were successful in turning its fortunes. It has a swimming pool, squash courts, sports hall with a range of markings, tennis/five-a-side football courts, a bar and lounge area with balcony and barbecue, a skate park, and children's play areas. In 2009, money was raised for a climbing wall.[18]

Cricklade Cricket Club was established in 1877 and has been located since 1947 on the north side of Cricklade, where its ground (Southam) is next to the River Thames. For the 2016 season the club is running two senior Saturday teams, a friendly Sunday team, a midweek team and three youth teams (U15, U13 and U11s), all in the local Cotswold District Cricket Association leagues.

Cricklade Town F.C. is a non-League football team which plays at the Cricklade Leisure Centre.

Cricklade Youth Football Club provides and promotes the playing of association football for the youth of Cricklade from U7s to U16s. The club was the first in Wiltshire to gain the Wiltshire FA Charter Standard, an award for clubs across the country that meet the high standards required by the Football Association.[19]

Since Autumn 2013, Cricklade Town Hall has shown films every 4th Tuesday of the month from September to April. They include recent releases, classics, and non-mainstream films.[20]

North Meadow is a large nature reserve which preserves some 80 per cent of Britain's wild snake's head fritillaries in its 150 acres (61 ha). The meadow lies between the Thames and the Churn, which create a unique habitat for the fritillary by winter flooding. Such meadows were once common in Britain, but many were drained and ploughed for arable crops from the 1730s onwards. North Meadow escaped this owing to preservation of its court leet, the Saxon system of town governance that ensured the land was held in common. The site is now managed by Natural England,[21] with support from the court leet.

In 2000, a disused airfield, formerly RAF Blakehill Farm, was bought from the Ministry of Defence by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust[22] to form a second larger meadow of around 600 acres (240 ha), which opened to the public in 2005. It rears a small quantity of organic grade beef, usually from rare breeds such as English Longhorns.

Cricklade lies between the east and west sections of Cotswold Water Park, an extensive nature reserve formed from disused gravel pits.

The state primary St Sampson's Church of England School was linked with the major local landmark, the Anglican St Sampson's parish church. It was divided in 1979 into two schools on the same Bath Road site: St Sampson's Infants' School, for ages 4–7, and St Sampson's C of E Junior School, for ages 7–11.[23] In 2014, the schools merged again to form St Sampson's C of E (VC) Primary School.[24]

This private school is non-selective and has around 200 pupils aged 3–13.[25] It is housed in the late 19th-century Manor House, which until 2017 housed a prep school linked to Prior Park College, Bath.[26]

Meadowpark School was an independent school established in 1996 for children aged 4–11, which closed in 2021.[27] It was housed in the former St Mary's School, built in 1860 just south of the Town Bridge.[28]

St Sampson's is the town's Church of England parish church. Dating from the 12th century, it is dedicated to the 5th-century Welsh saint, Samson of Dol. The present building rests on the remains of another, Saxon, church of AD 890. The main part was built in 1240–1280, although on close inspection the earlier work can still be seen. The large tower with four corner pinnacles, the dominant landmark of the town, was built in 1551–1553 by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, father-in-law to Lady Jane Grey. The church is a Grade I listed building.[29]

St Mary's Church

Since 1984, St Mary's Church has been leased by the Catholic congregation, after it was declared redundant by the Church of England in 1981.[30] The building is Grade II* listed.[31]

Standing just inside the Saxon town wall, it dates from the 12th century and has a low tower completed about 1400.[32] St Mary's had its own small parish, the northern part of the town and its environs, until 1952, when it was united with St Sampson's.[33]

The churchyard, south of the church, contains a complete 14th-century limestone cross, a Grade I listed structure.[34]

Cricklade United Church, Calcutt Street, was built by Congregationalists in 1878, in front of a small meeting house of 1799 which is now the church hall. The congregation joined the United Reformed Church on its formation in 1972 and later merged with Methodists as Cricklade United Reformed and Methodist Church.[35][36]

Primitive Methodists built a hall in Calcutt Street, near the High Street, in 1855,[37] and the Wesleyans built theirs just north of the town bridge, near the Priory, in 1870.[38]

In 1938 the two churches united and used the Calcutt Street hall. The Priory building was at first a Sunday school, then after the Second World War was taken over by Wiltshire County Council Education Department, and is now a community hall called Thames Hall. The Calcutt Street building became a doctors' surgery after the move to the United Church.[39]