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Bradenstoke
Bradenstoke maps
Historic maps of Bradenstoke and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Bradenstoke maps
Bradenstoke photos
We have no photos of Bradenstoke, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Great Somerford| Bremhill| Clyffe Pypard| Compton Bassett| Wootton Bassett| Calne| Derry Hill| Quemerford| Cherhill| Chippenham| Malmesbury| Purton| Avebury
Bradenstoke area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about Bradenstoke and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Bradenstoke
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Wiltshire memories
RAF Lyneham, 1947-48
My first job, after leaving Chippenham Secondary School in 1947, was in the Met. Office at RAF Lyneham. I sometimes cycled there from my parents' home at Box, between Chippenham and Bath. Airfield security seemed almost non-existent in those days, and one could go straight onto the station from the main road without even going through the main gate. As we were doing shift work at the office, the staff had to live on or near the airfield except on our days off. The senior civilian staff lived in the Officers' Mess, but junior staff members like myself were in the Sergeants' Mess, where I think we were regarded with slight disapproval by a few of the older NCOs.
At that time, RAF Transport Command was operating Avro York aircraft, replaced by the Handley-Page Hastings a year or so later. There were frequent flights from Lyneham to Malta and North Africa, and of course there was the Berlin airlift in 1948.
The View From A Volunteer Pub Garden Bench. 16TH JUNE
The most important bench I have had the privelage of sitting on one lunchtime on June 16th 2008 and the view of the Cross Roads. Over a diet coke and an Orange juice I met the best friend I have ever known. The Volunteer Pub, The pub garden bench and the slight view of the Cross Roads will linger with me for ever. That day at 12.15pm was the first time I had been in that village but it is now like a city in my heart. Had many a great meal there since.
Had to go Back.
The building to the right of the picture was one of only two shops in the village. From there, whilst waiting outside for my mother who was shopping in there I shot an arrow from my home-made bow straight up. It came down and hit the roof of a car parked outside the pub. All I got by way of reprimand was an "OI!" from the owner. There were so few cars about during the war and I had to dent the only one in the village!
My mother Jessica Morgan and my Dad, Bill Morgan, were regulars in the pub, and in 1959, when I was in the RAF, she made me wear my uniform to show off to the regulars, who bought me a few pints. I went back with my daughter on Father's Day 2007 and I mentioned to the staff that I had last been there when I was 18 years old. They were not impressed. I noticed on the wall a photo of local... Read more
Not Always Good to be Taller.
I attended this school, on and off during the war years as my father Bill Morgan, was frequently posted around the country, and I would end up with my grandparents, the Eldridges who lived at West House. My teacher was a Mrs Greenaway, who lived a bit further along in the picture, and always put me at the front of the line for our exercise period as I was the tallest ("E's gonna be 6 foot y'know"). This meant that whenever I was at the front I couldn't see what everyone else was doing and always got it wrong. Someone was always bleating out, "Please Miss, Keith Morgans not doing it right!" Nonetheless I loved that school. Just opposite was a cottage that housed the Brind family, and Julie Brind was always telling on me, but told everyone she was going to marry me one day ... I was only six.
So Cool Inside.
The house on the left used to be occupied by whom I called Auntie Eve and Uncle Jack. I never knew their surnames, and they were not real relatives, but close family freinds. They had a daughter, Diana, with whom I fell base over apex in love. The house had very thick walls I remember and was so cool in summer. It was eventually pulled down and rebuilt to almost the same design.
A Lucky Find Chestermans Farm.
Having started to work with a company in Fleet I needed to find somewhere to live that was commutable both to work and our home in Devon. Having spent a whole weekend looking at various properties in the surrounding area without any luck we had one more left on the list to look at before heading home again. To our delight it was just what we needed, plenty of space, peace and quiet and the dogs were well pleased. We stayed for two years before moving on again but we loved the farm and it still crops up in conversation.
The Village
I was born in the village in 1934, my grandfather Edgar Edwin Budge had Bremhill Grove Farm, we lived in the cottage attached to the farmhouse. I and my sister Janet went to the local school, where Miss Tavener was my teacher, Miss Simper was the head. We used to go to the local Sunday School and events in the village hall. In about 1942/43 my grandfather had foot and mouth on his farm when all his animals had to be killed, it was the last farm in the country to have foot and mouth at that time. During the Second World War my father was in the village Home Guard. We lived in the village until 1943 when we moved to Chippenham.
