# Enford > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Enford > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Enford.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enford > Source revision: 1347084597 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Enford** is a village and [civil parish](/source/Civil_parishes_in_England) in [Wiltshire](/source/Wiltshire), England, in the northeast of [Salisbury Plain](/source/Salisbury_Plain). The village lies 10 miles (16 km) southeast of [Devizes](/source/Devizes) and 14 miles (23 km) north of [Salisbury](/source/Salisbury). The parish includes nine small settlements along both banks of the headwaters of the [River Avon](/source/River_Avon,_Hampshire). Besides Enford, these are **Compton**, [Coombe](/source/Coombe,_Enford), **East Chisenbury**, **Fifield**, **Littlecott**, **Longstreet**, **New Town** and **West Chisenbury**. The name is derived from the [Old English](/source/Old_English) *Enedford* meaning 'duck ford'.[1] ## History The parish carries much evidence of prehistoric activity, including [bowl barrows](/source/Bowl_barrow).[2] Lidbury Camp, on Littlecott Down, was occupied in the [Iron Age](/source/Iron_Age_Britain) and in the [Romano-British](/source/Romano-British_culture) period,[3] and further evidence of Romano-British occupation has been found around Compton.[4] A site on the west bank of the Avon near Compton is possibly that of a [Roman villa](/source/Roman_villa).[5] The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded 34 households at Enford and a smaller settlement at Compton.[6] Medieval [strip lynchets](/source/Strip_lynchet) are visible north of East Chisenbury.[7] Enford manor was held by [St Swithun's priory](/source/St._Swithun's_Priory), Winchester until the [Dissolution](/source/Dissolution_of_the_Monasteries). Later owners included [Thomas Culpeper](/source/Thomas_Culpeper) (executed in 1541 for alleged adultery with [Catherine Howard](/source/Catherine_Howard)), and [Sir Edmund Antrobus](/source/Sir_Edmund_Antrobus,_3rd_Baronet) who in 1899 sold the manor to the [War Office](/source/War_Office).[2] The parish population in 1676 has been calculated as 616.[2] At the first census in 1841 there were 814; the population peaked at 911 in 1851 and then steadily declined to around 700 in the mid 20th century.[8] [Chisenbury Priory](/source/Chisenbury_Priory) is a [country house](/source/English_country_house), approached by a tree-lined drive from the road between Littecott and East Chisenbury.[2] The house was built in the later 17th century, with a brick front added in the 18th; it is Grade II* listed.[9] A school was provided at Enford c. 1845 by Sir Edmund Antrobus, and supported partly by Sir Edmund and partly by a fund organised by John Prince, former vicar. By 1871 it had become a [National School](/source/National_school_(England_and_Wales)) with some 61 pupils, increasing to 124 in 1906. The school moved to new buildings at Longstreet in 1966, next to the newly built village hall; it closed in 1989.[2][10] The parish gained a small area in 1885: West Chisenbury, formerly a detached part of Netheravon parish.[2] ## Archaeology The East Chisenbury [midden](/source/Midden) is a notable example of a large dump of [archaeological](/source/Archaeological_site) material, dating to the 1st millennium BC. Now within a military training area, the midden mound contains discrete layers of flint, charcoal, bones, pottery and excrement.[11] It survives to a height of 8 feet (2.4 m) and is 460 feet (140 m) wide despite 2,500 years of weathering. The accumulation is believed by some archaeologists to have a ritual basis, with organised deposition of produce and waste being suggested as an explanation for its size and longevity. The [Operation Nightingale](/source/Operation_Nightingale_(archaeology)) scheme, rehabilitating injured and traumatised former military personnel, had their first dig in this midden.[12] [All Cannings Cross](/source/All_Cannings_Cross), 8 miles (13 km) to the north, is a similar site. ## Religious sites ### Parish church The [Church of England parish church](/source/Church_of_England_parish_church), All Saints', was described by Pevsner as "Quite a large and a very interesting church. ... The chancel is astonishing."[13] The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded a priest at Enford.[6] There may have been a church here at that time, as 12th-century arches are cut into earlier walls. The chancel arch is late 12th or early 13th, while the chancel is 13th except for its south wall. A small octagonal building on the north side, built as a chapel but now the [sacristy](/source/Sacristy), is from a similar date. The north aisle is 14th century; in the 15th the south aisle and the tower were rebuilt. There was a spire, which fell in 1817, requiring repairs to the church in 1825–30. [Restoration](/source/Victorian_restoration) by [C.E. Ponting](/source/Charles_Ponting) took place in 1892–3.[14] In the churchyard is the lower part of a medieval stone cross.[15] The six bells in the tower include three from the 17th century.[16] The church was designated as [Grade II* listed](/source/Listed_building#Categories_of_listed_building) in 1964.[14] Today it is part of the Avon River Team parishes.[17] ### Methodist chapel A chapel was built at East Chisenbury c. 1845 by either [Primitive Methodists](/source/Primitive_Methodism) or [Independent Methodists](/source/Independent_Methodist_Connexion). A new chapel was built by the former in 1896[2] and continued in use well into the 20th century; the building was sold in 1990.[18] ## Local government Enford is a [civil parish](/source/Civil_parish) in the area of the [Wiltshire Council](/source/Wiltshire_Council) [unitary authority](/source/Unitary_authorities_of_England), which is responsible for all significant aspects of [local government](/source/Local_government). It also has an elected [parish council](/source/Parish_councils_in_England), with mostly consultative functions. ## Amenities There is a modern village hall at Longstreet. The parish has two [pubs](/source/Pub): the *Swan Inn* at Enford (17th/18th century) and the *Red Lion* at East Chisenbury. ## References 1. ["Enford, Wiltshire"](http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Wiltshire/Enford). *Key to English Placenames*. University of Nottingham. Retrieved 29 July 2012. 1. Crowley, D.A. (ed.) (1980). ["Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 11 pp115-134 – Enford"](http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol11/pp115-134). *British History Online*. University of London. Retrieved 20 August 2016. 1. ["Wiltshire Community History – Census"](https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Census?communityId=92). Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 23 January 2015. 1. ["Enford Church of England School"](https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/School/Details/1271). *Wiltshire Community History*. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 22 August 2016. 1. Walshe, Diarmaid; Osgood, Richard; Brown, Martin (January 2012). "Archaeology as rehabilitation". *British Archaeology* 1. Winterton, S. (2014). "From the Army Medical Centre to Operation Nightingale: My Entry into Archaeology". *Journal of Community Archaeology & Heritage*. **1**: 245‐247. [doi:10.1179/2051819614Z.00000000015](https://doi.org/10.1179/2051819614Z.00000000015) 1. Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget (revision) (1975 [1963]). *Wiltshire*. [The Buildings of England](/source/Pevsner_Architectural_Guides#Buildings_of_England). 2nd ed. Harmondsworth: [Penguin Books](/source/Penguin_Books). pp. 239–240. ISBN 0-14-0710-26-4. 1. ["Enford, All Saints"](http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?DoveID=ENFORD). *Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers*. Retrieved 20 August 2016. 1. ["Enford"](http://www.avonriverteam.org.uk/enford.htm). *Avon River Team*. Retrieved 20 August 2016. 1. ["East Chisenbury Primitive Methodist Chapel, Wilts"](http://www.myprimitivemethodists.org.uk/page/east_chisenbury_primitive_methodist_chapel_wilts?path=0p9p44p). *My Primitive Methodist Ancestors*. Retrieved 20 August 2016. ## External links - [Enford Parish Council](https://enfordparishcouncil.gov.uk/) - [Enford Newsletter](http://www.enfordnewsletter.org/) - [Enford](https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Community/Index/92) at Wiltshire Community History --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Enford](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enford) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enford?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.