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Gastard
Gastard maps
Historic maps of Gastard and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Gastard maps
Gastard area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about Gastard and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Gastard
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Gastard.
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No 1 And No 9 Lanes End, Gastard
I was born in Corsham in September 1949, and lived at Number 1 Lanes End, Gastard with my parents, sister and brother until my marriage in 1973. The cottage in the picture shows Number 3 Lanes End and around the corner is Number 9 Lanes End, where my grandparents lived throughout their married life. Aunts, uncles and cousins all resided within the village, so there was never a shortage of family life. My memories of the village as it was, when I was growing up, are very vivid, as both my grandfather and my father owned smallholdings in the village and much fun was had with friends collecting wild flowers in spring, haymaking in summer and harvest festival in the autumn. As much as I would have loved to have brought my children up in village life, property prices escalated to beyond the pockets of village children (first time buyers). However, I still visit the sleepy old village regularly and will never forget my roots. Nicola Wilkins
Childhood Home
I lived at Gastard House from 1953-1967. By that time it had been converted into flats, and we had the ground floor. There were other children there as well, and we had acres of space to play, in spite of part of the gardens being used as allotments. Every year we all had a big bonfire party on 5 November. I was told that it had been used by the military during World War 2. I believe it is very run-down now, but I have very happy memories of it.
The Harp And Crown
The pub in the picture is the original H&C which was burnt down only a few years after this picture was taken. The pub was then rebuilt further back from the road. There are still elderly people in the village who remember their parents and even their grandparents going to the local for their usual.
One old lady's husband used to go to the pub a lot. Mrs Liddle lived at the top of Velley Hill until the 1960s I think, when a lorry drove through her living room and she was relocated to The (then relatively new) Close at the bottom of the hill before the pub. Sadly, she's now passed away after years of giving sweets to the village kids.
My younger brother was the first baby born in the village for many years, causing quite a stir and ending in many visits from the elderly village residents who knew the couple who lived in the house before us, and who are now buried in the village.
Wiltshire memories
Monks Lane Chapel
I don't really have a memory but went to visit due to family research. Monks Lane has a plaque inside referring to my gt grandad Arthur William Humphries that lived at Broad Stone Cottage with his wife and children. His wife's family being Jones lived in Monks Lane, the Vellys, also Lindley so Corsham is quite near my heart.
Glenthope South Street
34 South Street was my home from 1963 to December 2007! My grandparents Ellen and Lewis Edwards lived here along with my mother Anne and myself.
It is the second house on the left with the single window upstairs. (This was my grandparents' room.) I spent many happy years here and can remember playing in the street with all the other children who lived in and close to South Street and being most suprised when a car came down the hill... Mk 1 Cortina!
The street has changed considerably as now it is difficult to park along the pavement. in the distance you can see the building which I believe must be something to do with the station which would be directly behind the house. I have also got copies of the deeds that came with the house stating that this was originally a field and permission was given to build these houses. I believe also, that the ones to the right of the picture were built slightly later?
My Home Town
I left Corsham in 1960 but although I haven't lived there for many decades I still consider it my home. I was born in a prefab in Clutterbuck Road, all my school friends lived in prefabs, even the Library in what was Beech Ave. was Prefab. the roads have all gone now, & when I returned there was a new housing estate where once were fields & allotments, I wonder if others remember, the happy times we children spent on our prefab estate.
The Old Milk Round
When I went to school in the High Street next to the Royal oak I can remember the milk man with his old horse and cart delivering milk all along the houses along the cobbled stone path. You had the cobbler's, it began with K I think, then opposite you had the dry cleaners, further on down you had Johnson's bakery with the fresh rolls just baked. What a treat in the morning for a small boy. I was born in Corsham in 1956 and left in 1977. I live in Bradford on Avon now but Corsham is still my home.
Things have changed a lot. I remember the bus coming up the High Street.
Lord's toy shop, what a place that was, down the back for all the toys. Then you had Smith's for the school uniforms, as I went to Corsham Boys School I had a wide range of friends, some I still see to this day. Well I must go as the thought of fresh baked rolls... Read more
