Winterslow

The area has evidence of prehistoric settlements, including Bronze Age features[2] and an Iron Age hillfort at Ashley's Copse, straddling the border with Hampshire in the northeast of the parish.[3]

Middle Winterslow lies along a Roman road which runs due west towards Old Sarum.[4][5] The three settlements (today's West, Middle and East Winterslow) are recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as Wintreslei,[6] meaning "Winter's mound or burial place".[4]

The Winterslows developed as separate manors, with Middle Winterslow known for a time as Middleton.[4] As recently as 1958, the village around All Saints' church was named on maps as Winterslow, with West Winterslow adjacent to its southeast.[7] On current maps and road signs, both areas are West Winterslow.

From the 17th century, the Winterslow Hut was a roadside coaching inn near Middle Winterslow. Later the Pheasant Hotel or Pheasant Inn, the business closed in 2007 and the much-altered building is now four dwellings.[8]

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

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward starts on the outskirts of Salisbury in the south west and stretches in a northeasterly direction to Winterslow. The total ward population taken at the 2011 census was 3,894.[9]

Roche Old Court at East Winterslow, a former manor house[4] and farm (named for the Roches family, tenants of an estate in the 14th century)[4] was partly rebuilt around 1620 in red brick with stone quoins. The house has six bays and 18th-century additions, and is Grade II* listed.[24] A six-bay barn from the 16th century or early 17th is also Grade II* listed.[25] There is another Grade II* barn of similar age at Old Manor Farm, West Winterslow.[26]

Also near East Winterslow, Roche Court is a country house standing in parkland, built in 1804–5 to replace an earlier house, for Francis Thomas Egerton to designs of the London architect C. H. Tatham.[27] The two-storey house in limestone ashlar at first had a four-bay front but three bays were added at the left side; the entrance has a tetrastyle Tuscan portico. The house was designated as Grade II* listed in 1987.[27] The orangery[28] and garden loggia[29] are thought to be part of the original garden design, in the same period as the house. The stable block is also of 19th-century date.[30]

Kings Farm at West Winterslow is a largely complete example of a cruck-frame open-hall house, built in 1460 and later altered and extended. It was designated as Grade II* listed in 2022 after its age was established by tree-ring dating.[31][32]

Madeleine, Countess of Bessborough founded the New Art Centre in Sloane Street, London in 1958, which was relocated to Roche Court in 1994 as the New Art Centre Sculpture Park and Gallery.[33][34] Exhibition spaces have been added to the property, including a 1998 glass wall which links the house and orangery.[35][36] Since 2005 the Roche Court Educational Trust, a charity,[37] promotes appreciation of sculpture and other arts among young people through visits to the park and by outreach.[38]

John Roches (c.1333–1400), ambassador, MP and admiral, inherited a share in Winterslow manor through his mother.[39]

William Hazlitt (1778–1830), author and critic, wrote in a room at the Winterslow Hut; his wife Sarah owned a cottage at Middle Winterslow.[40]

Robert Thistlethwayte (1690–1744), disgraced academic.

Peter Bellinger Brodie (1778–1854, conveyancer) and his brother Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie (1783–1862, pioneering physiologist and surgeon) were born here.

From at least 1955, Roche Court was the residence of Sir Geoffrey Ronald Codrington, a retired colonel in the Territorial Army.[41] He was a Gentleman Usher[42] to George VI and Elizabeth II,[43] and High Sheriff of Wiltshire for 1955.[44] A tablet in the church, commemorating refurbishment of the chancel in 1975, bears the names of Codrington and his wife.[13]

Winterslow CE Primary School, Middle Winterslow, serves the parish and nearby villages.[45] It was built as a National School in 1856 and educated children of all ages until 1962.[46]

At Middle Winterslow is a large modern village hall with a tennis court. There is one pub: the Lord Nelson at Middle Winterslow. The Lion's Head at The Common closed in 2018. There is a convenience store near the Lord Nelson.

The Clarendon Way long-distance footpath passes through Middle Winterslow and West Winterslow; its route along the Roman road is shared with the Monarch's Way.

A housing development at Middle Winterslow was proposed in 2011[47] and met with objections from some residents,[48] leading to part of the site – the 7.5 acre Brown's Copse – gaining protection in 2015 through classification as a village green.[49][50] A plan to build 46 houses was submitted in 2017 and withdrawn after meeting local opposition.[51]

Media related to Winterslow at Wikimedia Commons

• Winterslow village website