Category: Wylye: Gleanings

The Distribution Of The Population In Wylye

1932 – 1934

The ancient earthworks, so numerous in this district, bear witness to the fact that the earliest occupied parts of this country were the downlands. It was not until the time of the Saxons that the population began to increase in the valleys. There was a gradual movement from the hills and hill slopes to the valley lands, possibly because of water supply failure or the greater possibilities of agriculture in the valleys.

With the movement of the Saxons to the valleys the downlands saw the end of their popularity as occupation sites, and today their only inhabitants are a few farm workers who live in isolated cottages on the downlands or in the small dry valleys between the hills.

The population, then, still remains in the river valley. Reasons for this seem to be, first and foremost, the people are and have been in the past quite satisfied with life in the valley of the Wylye river. The water supply is adequate, except in extremely dry seasons which do not often occur. From earliest times this district has had good communications, and now good main and secondary roads run on either side of the valley, and the main London to Exeter road cuts across the valley at Wylye.

Not only do the roads follow the river valley, but the railway does so too, linking up the valley villages with neighbouring towns such as Salisbury, Warminster and Trowbridge. The railway simplifies journeys to more distant parts of the British Isles. For a country district the Wylye Valley is extremely lucky to have such good communications, for there are many country villages and hamlets, even small market towns, which are situated several miles from a railway, and have no adequate facilities for travel or transport of goods. The largest villages of the Wylye Valley are on the railway, four miles being about the distance of the longest run between two villages. Such villages as Stockton and Langford, and hamlets such as Bapton and Deptford, have no railway stations and have, therefore, to make use of those att he neighbouring villages or travel by road.

The villages and hamlets in the valley are separated by a few miles only. None have any great number of inhabitants. It has been rather difficult to obtain population figures; some of the following figures are correct and up to date, while others are only estimated. Codford has the greatest population of this district. The number of inhabitants is 527. Of these 273 live in the Parish of Codford St. Peter (compared to 242 in the year 1901), and 254 live in the Parish of Codford St. Mary (277 in the year 1901). It is significant that this village is situated on the confluence of the small Chitterne Brook and the river Wylye. In past centuries it was probably a strategic position for a village, and at the same time was assured of a good water supply. It seems that in the past Codford was closely associated with the woollen trade, for a large wool store still stands near the main road and is used for village dances, entertainments and political meetings. During the War, army camps were erected at Codford and thousands of soldiers from all parts of the British Empire were to be found there. The village has seen prosperous times, but it is now smaller in population, and the prosperity of its inhabitants lies in the land, road and railway work, shopkeeping and domestic work; the usual occupations of the people of this district.

Wylye is the second largest village and at present has 223 inhabitants. Like Codford, however, its population has decreased. The oldest inhabitants, people who have lived in the village all their life, tell me that when they were children the numbers of people in Wylye were many more than there are at present in 1934. They can tell me of rows of houses where now there are but fields or gardens. Houses have fallen down, or been burnt down, and not replaced. In 1933, however, four council houses were completed and occupied immediately, and the district council propose to build four more before December 1935. If these are occupied so quickly as the first four were, there seems a possibility that the population of Wylye will be on the increase.

The Wells In Wylye

1932 – 1934

In a chalk district such as this, where clay underlies the chalk layers, springs are numerous and, up to the present day, are the only source from which the inhabitants can obtain their water supply.

To trap and conserve sufficient spring water for the houses, wells have been made, so that in every village, where possible, each house has a well or at least there is one well between three or four cottages. This is sufficient, except in times of extreme drought, which are not often experienced.

Some houses are provided with simple wells, with a chain and bucket attached to a windlass to obtain the water. They are covered by a wooden lid which is either removed bodily or opened in part for the bucket to be plunged into the water. At Hanging Langford the wells have not all a windlass. In some cases the inhabitants obtain the water by slipping the bucket on to a hook, securely fastened to the end of a long pole. This is put into the well and it is possible to imagine what a difficult and arduous task the men and women must accomplish before the day’s supply of water can be obtained. On laundry days it is all the more difficult, as the supply needed is necessarily greater.

Other houses have wells permanently covered in, and the water is obtained by pumping. Then there are wells in the valley from which the water supply is pumped to outlying farm buildings. At Wylye is a wind pump designed for this purpose, is in a field near Wylye Station. The wind pump (or pumping engine when wind is not sufficient) draws the water from a 53 feet deep well and supplies water to Bilbury Farm buildings, pumping the water 235 feet upwards in a distance of three quarters of a mile. There, it is stored in a tank capable of holding 3,000 gallons, which can be filled in 24 hours when a strong wind is blowing.

Several wind pumps of this type are to be found in this district, but not all of them are supplied with pumping engines for use at times when the wind is not strong enough to do the pumping by moving the great wheel (or sails of the pump). These wind pumps also supply water to the downlands for the cattle. This is the only way of providing the downlands with a good supply of water, for it would be far too costly, and possibly useless, to attempt to sink wells in upper chalk land districts, 500 or more feet above sea level.

Wells in the villages vary in depth, but are generally between twenty and thirty feet. The one providing Bilbury Farm buildings with water is 53 feet deep, as before mentioned, and has a bore of 20 feet. At present it is estimated that there is about 20 feet of water in this well. In Wylye Cow Down Bottom there are two wells. This Bottom was in all probability a river valley in prehistoric days, and one of the wells is situated near what would have been the source of the river, while the other would have been in the middle course. This latter well, the one nearest Wylye village, is 90 feet in depth, and a well house, which is kept locked, has been built round it. In 1933 after a summer drought period, the poultry farmer who uses this well could obtain no water from it and had to get water for his fowls from Bilbury buildings. The well near the head of the valley is 100 feet deeper than the other, and really consists of a well and a bore. It supplies the Wylye Down buildings with water. It is a comparatively recently made well – dating from 1923 or 1924 – and has a fairly good supply of water throughout the year. Its depth, compared with that of the other well in the valley, shows how much deeper the water level must be within half a mile of the first well, and about 350 feet above sea level.

The method of well making is simple. First comes the water diviner with his hazel twig. He finds the place where water is likely to be obtained most easily, and is followed by the well diggers. They begin by marking out a circle of about three feet in diameter, then start digging. Generally two men only are needed for this work. When the hole is too deep to be worked from above, they take it in turn to work from inside, first, throwing up all the earth with their spades and later making use of a basket and rope, with the aid of which loose earth may be removed from the hole. As the hole gets deeper a ladder is attached to the top, so that the men may easily get in and out of it. So the digging continues until water is reached. Then the well is ‘bricked in’ for about three quarters of its probable depth, and is made deeper so that plenty of water bubbles into the well from the springs in the soil. If a well has been dug to a great depth and no water has been obtained, a bore is necessary, and this means extra expense as boring apparatus is required. A bore was necessary in the making of the Wylye Cow Down Bottom well, and several times it was almost decided to cease work as water was so difficult to obtain, but eventually the subterranean waters were tapped and the well received water.

The Climate Of Wylye, 1932-1934

1932 – 1934

The prevailing winds of this district come from the south-west, although in the winter months north-easterly winds are frequent and make the valleys very cold. The south-westerly rain-bearing winds are far more pleasant than those from the north-east, which sweep bitingly through the valley and rage unheeded across the downlands. They are too chilly to be pleasantly bracing except in summer when they are not frequent.

Possibly, Wylye situated as it is on the southern side of the river valley, with half a mile or more of low lying water meadows between it and the downlands on the northern side, which would afford some shelter from the cold winds of the north and north-east feels these winds more than do Codford and Steeple Langford. These two villages are on the northern side of the valley and more exposed to the pleasanter effects of the south-westerly winds. Wylye is sheltered from these winds by the downlands lying south of the village, and in the summer months when a south-westerly wind is blowing across the downlands it is stiflingly hot in the village, with scarcely a breath of air to cool the hot and tired inhabitants.

Sudden weather changes are frequent in the district. Generally in summer one day might be very hot and the next of a wintry character, this all depending on prevailing weather over Britain, which in turn is dependent on the low pressure centres so often situated over Ireland, and the high pressure areas in Southern Europe in the winter months and over the Atlantic Ocean in the summer.

Sometimes there are long periods of drought, which are generally experienced when England as a whole is having hot, rainless days. Such a drought season occurred in 1921, when numerous wells in this district were dry and the river was very low. Nothing has since been done to provide a more adequate water supply for the villages, and again in 1933 (summer) the water shortage caused anxiety. The winter 1933-34 has been an extraordinarily dry one, and following on a summer drought period, it seems likely that should this coming summer be as hot as the previous one, the shortage of water will be a very acute problem indeed. In these chalk regions the water supply is entirely dependent on the rainfall.

Usually the yearly rainfall total for this district varies from 30.25 inches to 32.37 inches. On the 4th of August 1931 an extraordinarily heavy downfall was recorded. The day’s rainfall was 5.18 inches, and of this amount 5.10 inches fell in two hours during a thunderstorm. This was the heaviest day’s downpour experienced for many years, and caused the pond at the west end of the village to overflow and made the streets like rivers, whilst the ploughed fields on the downland slopes were cut in many places by miniature river valleys.

On the whole there is no very high daily or seasonal range of temperature. In the winter months it is not generally below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, although on March 18th 1930 18 degrees of frost was recorded. This was a very unusual temperature however. The usual temperatures experienced in July are between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit but in August, if the weather is fine and the sky cloudless, temperatures are often higher, being sometimes more than 80 degrees Fahrenheit. In 1933, during August, a temperature of 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded.

The watermeadows contribute to the general humidity of the air and very often heavy mists arise from them in the mornings.

Snow is seldom seen here in December – when January comes the inhabitants expect to see snow, but not generally before then. Heavy falls have been known, and drifts are frequent in the lanes and along the road sides. More than once Wylye and other villages in this district have been isolated from each other by heavy falls of snow, occurring in the latter half of the winter or the early spring months.

Occasional thunderstorms disturb the serenity of the Wylye Valley during the summer and early autumn. When they come they are generally bad storms, for the thunder clouds seem to gather and stay over the valley, as if hemmed in by the downlands. Heavy downpours of rain sometimes accompany these storms and can cause havoc in the corn fields, especially before the harvest.

Wylye By Walters In 1920

L. D’O. Walters, in A Complete Guide To Wiltshire, published in 1920, noted:

Wylye (Station on the G.W.R.). – This village lies half-way between Salisbury and Warminster. The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, on our right, was practically rebuilt in 1844, but the arch between nave and tower is 14th century, and the tower itself 16th century. It contains five bells, one of which is inscribed: “Give Thanks to God. J.W., 1857.” The pulpit and sounding-board date from 1628, and were given by Lord Herbert of Lea, from the old church at Wilton. In the chancel is a very beautiful triple lancet window dating from 1230. It has good corbel heads and dog-tooth ornament on the mouldings. The church possesses a handsome chalice, dated 1525, in a splendid state of preservation. The list of Rectors dates from 1318, beginning with Galfrid de Leighton.