The Teffont Parish History
1894-2013
Introduction
Richard Long-Fox moved to Teffont in 1963. He served on the Teffont Parish Council for over 30 years, with a short break in between. He was Clerk in 1977 (8 years), Vice Chairman in 1995 (4 years) and then Chairman until he retired in 2013 (14 years). He has left a truly remarkable legacy and we are indebted to him for his commitment to the Village.
After finally retiring, he then took on the complex task of compiling the ‘History of Teffont’, going back as far as 1894 when Parish Councils started to 2013 or later in some chapters. He extracted the information from the archived Minute Books from Chippenham and historical papers sent to him by villagers. His aim was for these records to tell the story of Teffont and to help future and present generations understand the Village’s history and its characters. It will also act as a useful reference book for future Parish Councils.
Unfortunately in 2015 Richard found this task increasingly difficult to complete due to the progression of Parkinson Disease. However, with his usual determination he struggled on to try to finish it. Therefore you might find some chapters ending slightly abruptly or are more succinct than others. Unfortunately, he was not able to achieve his aim of personally handing this to the Parish Council. After patiently recording this History, over so many years, he was suddenly taken into hospital then spent a short time in Longbridge Deverill Nursing Home where he sadly died on 23 February 2018.
On behalf of Richard Long-Fox I am therefore passing this ‘History of Teffont’ to the Parish Council for its safe keeping and for it to be made available to everyone in Teffont and historians. A copy as already been given to the Archivists at Chippenham.
Zillah Faulkner
Clerk to Teffont Parish Council 2001 – 2013
13.03.18
A MISCELLANY OF TEFFONT PARISH COUNCIL'S HISTORY 1894-2013
A - Z Index
Subject | Detail |
ALLOTMENTS |
At the very first Parish Meeting of Teffont Evias, on 20th December 1894, the earliest date when such a meeting was legal, Mr.Thomas Bugg proposed and Mr. Fredereck Horell seconded a proposal that an application should be made to the County Council to confer on the Parish Meeting, under Sections 10 and 19 (Sub Section 10 of the Local Government Act of 1894) the same powers to deal with Allotments as the Act confers on Parish Councils; the proposal was carried unanimously. |
BEST KEPT VILLAGE COMPETITION |
The Best Kept Village Competition was started in the 1950s, but Teffonts first entry was in 1960 before the Parish Council agreed to enter. Thereafter further entries were spasmodic. |
BUS SHELTERS
|
The two bus shelters were designed and developed by Mr Imrie of Home Close and by Colonel Kennedy Shaw of Bathurst Cottage in 1946. The Village is very proud of these characterful little shelters with their thatched roofs and weather boarding structure. They blend well with the neighbouring properties that sit within the Conservation Area of Teffont Magna and have played a key part in points of interest in the Best Kept Village Competitions. No costings remain, but over the subsequent years many repairs have been needed and the roofs required rethatching or patching. Some of the thatching costs have been funded by grants from Salisbury Council and other maintenance costs paid for out of the Parish Precept. The Parish Council is responsible for the up-keep of the shelters. |
BUSES |
The background to any building of Council Housing in Teffont must start from the beginning of the Twentieth Century and the passing into law of the Addison Act of 1919. It is almost certain that the service currently identified as the Wilts and Dorset Service 25 (at one stage it was the 225), which runs from Salisbury to at least Hindon and from there onwards to either Gillingham or Tisbury, has been running since the 1930s. |
COMMON LAND (VILLAGE GREEN) |
This is a subject well worth paying attention to as only Planning causes more confusion with more different types of "Registered Land"...... |
COUNCIL HOUSING |
The background to any building of Council Housing in Teffont must start from the beginning o the 20th Century and the passing into law of the Addison Act of 1919. |
ECCLESIASTICAL PARISHES
|
Although the purpose of the Teffont Parish History project states that it is to use the Parish (Civil Parish) Minutes from 1894 when Local Government split the worlds of Church and State, it quickly became obvious that the Church, at least in rural areas, would remain as a driving force in the new world of Parish Councils and Parish Meetings..... |
FLOODING |
There have been 4 floods in Teffont in the previous 20 years, but the major nd most significant was the flask flood of 5 July 1999. This was primarily cused by 81mm of rain falling in just one and a half hours... Read more about Teffont Flooding |
GOVERNANCE OF THE VILLAGE
|
“TWO CIVIL PARISHES OR ONE”Following the establishment of County Councils in 1888, the Local Government 1894 Act of Parliament split the powers of the existing pre-1894 Parish system between the Church of England ecclesiastical Parishes and the new civil parishes. Although the 1894 Act was eventually replaced by the Local Government 1933 Act, the system it set up is, in principle, unchanged. |
KEY NAMES |
Lists of persons serving the Parish Council since 1894. |
PAVEMENT PATHS |
It took from 1966 to 1978 and that did not include the final fixing of a “temporary” Chestnut paling fence and at least 25 discussions at Parish Council Meetings had been minuted before the pavement was made. |
PIPED WATER AND SEWERAGE |
With a stream that reputedly never runs dry, water is the one facility that the inhabitants of Teffont should never be short of but The Minutes of various meetings are full of comments about pollution and rubbish being in the stream. Therefore, in the same year (1894) when Parish Councils and Parish Meetings started, a piped water system was built providing clean water from Springhead on downwards - at a cost of £300...... |
POST OFFICE |
Exactly when the village(s) acquired a Post Office and where it was originally is still to be resolved but it almost certainly preceded the Local Government Act of 1894 and it is understood that it was in Three Hands Cottage before being moved across the road to Forge Cottage which had a pillar box in its wall. |
PRECEPT |
The Precept was started in 1934 when the two Parishes of Magna and Evias were merged. We only have records since the merger (hand written accounts recorded in the small red hard back Account Book dated from 31 March 1934 – 11 August 1997). Thereafter all account records formed part of the Parish Council Minutes and the Annual Audited Accounts which were signed off by the District Auditors. |
READING ROOM |
Almost all of the documentation concerned with the Reading Room prior to the 2nd World War and for the first twenty years afterwards has not been kept. As a result, the history of the erection of the building, of the funding of that and much of its usage before 1963 no longer exist..... |
RIGHTS OF WAY (BRIDLEWAYS & FOOTPATHS) |
Descriptions are taken from the Wilshire Council Public Rights of Way Map of Teffont Dated 14/09/2016 (O.S. SHEET ST 93 NE AND ST 93 SE) |
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION |
The first documented references to a school or schools in the village comes from the 1851 census followed by a mention in 1858 of one in Magna...... |
STREET LIGHTING |
But if we don’t have any (and we don’t) why do we have an entry covering it? The answer is simple - we nearly had it installed on TWO occasions and the story may be of interest? |
TEFFONT TRUST |
At a meeting of the Parish Council (the PC) on 11th September 2006 unanimous support was given to the establishment of a new charity called “The Teffont Trust” (the TT), having as its principal charitable object “the restoration, repair, renewal, improvement and maintenance of the fabric of the Village Hall, the Reading Room and the two churches in Teffont. |
TELEPHONES AND TELEPHONE KIOSK |
There was no public telephone access in the village until 1948 although private telephones started to being installed between the two World Wars and an exchange must have existed at that stage probably in the Post Office as all calls had to be plugged through by hand. |
TIMELINE |
A history of the last 120 years of the Teffonts as seen mainly through the eyes of its Parish Meetings and Parish Councils. |
VILLAGE APPRAISAL AND VDS |
If you read the Governance section of this Project, especially for the middle of the 1970s, you should be left with the strong realization that Local Government in England and Wales was at that stage on the up-and-up. Following the passing of the 1972 Maude-Radclyffe Act and after the various structural reorganization were implemented in 1974 Read more about the Village Appraisal and Village Design Statement |
VILLAGE CELEBRATIONS |
The village seems to have a tradition of organising a celebration of some sort on Royal occasions (Jubilees, Coronations etc) as well as on special occasions of notable events. It is not known when the tradition started as the first of these which is mentioned is at a Teffont Magna Parish Meeting held on the 16th January 1912. This celebration was for the Coronation of King George V. |
VILLAGE CHARITIES |
John Lush Charity This charity was founded by Will on 30 September 1836 and the whole of the property of the Charity of Edward Harris (founded by Will on 25 August 1876) was transferred under the Charities Act 1985 to the Charity of John Lush on 20th January 1992 having been considered obsolete or lacking in usefulness with regard to the social and economic changes that had taken place. The Coal and Blankets Charity was also incorporated into the John Lush Charity. Read about Village Charities - See also the Charities webpages |
VILLAGE HALL |
Ever since the building of a National School in Teffont Magna in 1876 on land donated by the 14th Earl of Pembroke, which is described in the Section entitled “Schools and Education”, the main room of the Hall was used, in addition to Teffont’s primary education, as a centre of Village life. For the years when it was the Village elementary, School, the main room was called the School Room. When, in 1936, the building ceased to be a school........ Read about the Village Hall - See also the Village Hall webpage |
VILLAGE SHOW |
Origins of the Show - The Teffont Village Show was originally known as The Flower Show and was thought to have had its roots in 1918 or 1919. There are few references to the Village Show between the Wars, and during the Second World War the Show was suspended. |
WAR MEMORIAL |
The Village War Memorial stands some ten feet tall in the Churchyard of the Church of Saint Edward King of the West Saxons in Teffont Magna. It was almost certainly built in 1919, 1920 or 1921 and is the centrepiece of the Remembrance Day Service for the whole village. There is no separate memorial outside the church in Teffont Evias, possibly because there were no First World War facilities from Evias. It is, however, not the only War Memorial in the Village in that the Reading Room was built in 1922 as a War Memorial – a separate section gives the details of that building. |
WEBSITE |
At the Teffont Parish Councils Annual Meeting on 12 May 2010 it was agreed to investigate a village website. |