Gravestone at St. Aldhelm’s Churchyard, Bishopstrow, photographed by Danny Howell on Tuesday 10th April 2012. The inscription reads: “Sacred to the memory of Hanah Crook who departed this life the 22nd of March 1844 Aged 80 years. For nearly 50 years a faithful servant of William Temple Esq. of Bishopstrow. Well done good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. What is there here to count my stay or hold me back from home While Angels beckon me away And Jesus bids me come.”
A gravestone in St. Aldhelm’s Churchyard, Bishopstrow,
photographed by Danny Howell on the afternoon of Tuesday 10th April 2012.
The inscription reads: Treasured Memories of A Dear Wife and Mother Doris Hounslow, Passed Away, Aug. 25th 1966, Aged 63 Years. Also of a Loving Husband and Father Percy Hounslow, Passed Away Feb.15th 1995 Aged 90 Years. Reunited.
Friday 1st October 2004
Victoria Coombes has a letter published in The Times:
Sir, With winter approaching why are our shops and supermarkets heated to such a high temperature? While staff sit at tills wearing thin, short-sleeved blouses, customers arrive in heavy clothes to combat outdoor weather conditions.
In the interests of energy conservation wouldn’t it make more sense to reduce the heating in shops and provide staff with a warmer uniform? What has happened to wool? In my experience it is by far the best material for keeping the body warm, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to find any wool clothes in our shops.
Yours sincerely,
VICTORIA COOMBES,
2 Railway Cottages, Bishopstrow,
Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 0ER.
Thursday 8th February 1996
Former Warminster School student Harriet White is going to spend a year off with a difference. She plans to jet off to Indonesia to teach English to college students. Harriet, who is 17 and lives in Bishopstrow, has got to find £3,000 to pay for her journey with The Project Trust. She says: “I’m thrilled to be selected as I want to spend a year off which will be a challenge to me both physically and mentally. It will be a completely different culture but hopefully it will broaden my horizons and boost my confidence and independence. There are going to be some huge hurdles, especially with the fund-raising but I’m sure lots of people will help me. I’m looking forward to it.” Anyone who can help with the money for Harriet’s trip is asked to telephone 01985 212858.
1990s
Danny Howell, writes:
Sometimes, during the 1990s, when I went for a regular walk over the top of Middle Hill, Bishopstrow, or the neighbouring hills and fields, I would see Tony Emmerson.
He lived at The Cottage, Bishopstrow, and he was an artist. He used to paint the most delightful watercolours, usually of local scenes.
I can remember seeing him when he was sitting on the edge of the burial mound on top of Middle Hill, painting the view looking towards Warminster. He didn’t have an easel up, he just had a sketch pad on his lap and a brush his hand, with his paints beside him.
Whenever he saw me he would always have a little chat with me, while he painted. He was very sociable. I always found him very pleasant and very modest about his pictures.
You could buy greetings cards featuring his watercolours, in Boreham Post Office. I believe the proceeds from the sales of those particular cards were donated to St. Aldhelm’s Church, Bishopstrow.
(Danny Howell wrote these notes in 2010).
Rectors of the Parish of Bishopstrow From A.D. 1300 to A.D. 1993 as recorded in a framed list in St. Aldhelm’s Church, Bishopstrow.
1300 Gilbt. de Mereslu
1322 Robt. de Chippenham (also Rector of Upton Scudamore)
1323 David Wauter
1345 Robt. de Segbrok
– Hon. de Bradeham
1346 Adam Blake
– John de Derby
1347 John de Banham
1349 John de Clove
1350 John de Budestone
1354 Edm. Wastel
1399 John Maston
1401 Mich Webbe
1404 Roger Hurbe
1406 John Wynall
1410 John Per
– Thom. Frome
1420 John Hody
1425 John Exbrigge
1435 Roland Hardgyll
– John Munmuth
1440 Thos. Hyll (alias The Shepherd)
1472 Will Yate
1521 Rich. Belton
1531 Willm. Higham
1532 Thom. Jury
1542 Thos. Brugges
1545 Thom. Locke
1555 Humph. Roberts
1571 Hon. Hardorde
1604 Th. Blackwell
1618 Walter Bisse
1664 Thos. Bisse
1671 John Scott
1686 G. Straight
1727 J. Foreman
1756 James Viney
1767 Th. Fisher (also Vicar of Norton Bavant)
1795 Wm. Williams
1823 F.B. Astley
1830 John Gale Thring
1845 John W. Griffith
1859 John H. Walsh
1871 Fredk. Newman
1883 George Atwood
1921 J.W.S. Tomlin
1924 H. Raymond Wansey
1926 Herbert Johnson
1930 Jasper S. Bazely (to 1933)
1934 Ernest H. Earle (to 1947)
1948 F.L.W. Sealy (to 1952)
1953 H. Green (Priest in Charge to 1956)
1956 Peter F. Tamblin (Rector of the new Parish of Bishopstrow and Boreham)
1964 J. Skipper
1972 B.J. Lovatt
1979 A.B. Elkins
1992 D.R.A. Brett
April 1990
Old King’s Club Newsletter, No.76, April 1990 (King’s College School, Wimbledon Common, London, SW19 4TT), in its ‘Old Boys Today And Yesterday’ section, mentions Wing Commander James Everidge (RAF Retired), who spent his final years living at Shirley Cottage, Bishopstrow:
Very much a ‘city’ school, King’s has had its small number of horsey Old Boys. . . . . . . . Horsemen like W/Cmdr James Everidge, who fractured his skull while hunting at the age of 90 and lived on to 98.
www.oldkingsclub.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/okc-newsletter-76-web.pdf
From The London Gazette, 22nd January 1980:
Name of Deceased (Surname first): EVERIDGE, James.
Address, description and date of death of Deceased: Shirley House, Bishopstrow, Warminster, Wiltshire, Wing Commander, Royal Air Force (Retired). 3rd March 1979.
Names, addresses and descriptions of Persons to whom notices of claims are to be given and names, in parentheses, of Personal Representatives: Myer Collett & Co., 5 Beaconsfield Road, Weston-super-Mare, Solicitors. (Cordelia Mary Everidge, Charles John James Everidge and Charles Marshall Stephen Cuthbert Atchley.)
Date before which notices of claims to be given: 31st March 1980.
Monday 19th November 1973
Copy from the District Probate Registry, Winchester of the Will and Testament of Alexander Robert Turing Gibbon, of Barrow Lodge, Bishopstrow, Warminster, Wiltshire and formerly of Field House, Arnewood Bridge Road, Sway, Lymington, Hampshire. Dated 19/11/1973. [Includes three closed documents].
catalogue.jerseyheritage.org/collection-search/?si_elastic_detail=archive_110262539
Wilfred Middlebrook, in The Changing Face Of Warminster, first written in 1960 and revised in 1971, noted:
Another tree that figures in the history of Bishopstrow was also an oak. It was a hollow tree and the last home of Juliana Pobjoy in the eighteenth century.
The story goes that Juliana, a wealthy woman who claimed to be a relative of the millionaire Beckfords of Fonthill, met Beau Nash at Bishopstrow. They eloped, were ‘married’ at Gretna Green, then went to live in Bath, until her money was done, when Beau Nash went abroad to get away from her.
After years of poverty and a bad attack of smallpox, Juliana Pobjoy returned to Bishopstrow, where she lived with her faithful pug dog in a hollow oak that had been blasted by lightning. She had made a vow “never to tread threshold or floor, never more to lay head on pillow or bed, never more to make friends.”
The poor, crazy woman managed to keep herself by doing needlework, and by gathering herbs for Thomas Squire, a surgeon of Warminster. Dr. Squire married the daughter of a Bishopstrow rector. Dr. squire died in 1761 and was buried in the Minster Churchyard.
The end of Miss Pobjoy was as tragic as her life; she was found dead one cold winter’s morning, “stretched in the cold morning air, on the snow-covered earth, near the house of her birth, with her dog frozen dead on her breast.”
