Friday, 21 July 2023 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Great Britain / Großbritannien Category/Kategorie: GeneralReading Time: 3minutes
South Wraxall is a village and a civil parish in Wiltshire, England, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north of Bradford-on-Avon. The village is to the east of the B3109 road from Bradford-on-Avon to Corsham. The parish includes the village of Lower Wraxall, to the south of South Wraxall; one field separates the two villages. The hamlet of Bradford Leigh is in the southeast of the parish.
There are no longer any shops in the village and the school, built as a National school in 1841, closed in 1972. The school building now serves as the Village Hall. The Longs Arms public house is in the centre of the village. South Wraxall Club is located in Lower South Wraxall.
The civil parish of South Wraxall was created in 1894 by combining the former tithings of South Wraxall, Bradford Leigh and Cumberwell which were parts of the extensive ancient parish of Bradford on Avon. The parish gained 1040 acres, and around 170 residents, in 1934 when the parish of Bradford Without was abolished and its area redistributed to the surrounding parishes. Most of the buildings of South Wraxall are of the 17th and 18th centuries, built from locally quarried dressed stone, or stone rubble construction with stone slates. Besides quarrying, the main occupation around the area was agriculture, including shepherding; there were also weavers in the early 19th century, and some clothworkers by the mid-19th century.
St. James‘ parish church is Grade II* listed. Its tower dates from the early 14th century but the rest has been rebuilt: the north aisle in 1823 by Henry Goodridge, and the chancel and arcade in 1882 in late Perpendicular Gothic style. The six bells in the tower were cast by Abraham Bilbie in 1769, and restored and re-hung in 2022.
