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North Colerne
North Colerne maps
Historic maps of North Colerne and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all North Colerne maps
North Colerne photos
We have no photos of North Colerne, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Colerne| Ditteridge| Ford| St Catherine| Box| Kingsdown| Biddestone| Batheaston| Castle Combe| Bathford| Corsham| Yatton Keynell| Swainswick| Bathampton| Charlcombe| South Wraxall| Gastard| Dodington| Badminton| Widcombe| Bath| Kington St Michael| Old Sodbury| Great Chalfield| Chipping Sodbury| Melksham
North Colerne area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about North Colerne and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of North Colerne
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Wiltshire memories
Colerne in The Second World War
My parents and I came to Colerne in late 1939, having left London shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, and lived at Ford, a few miles from Colerne, for a few months. That winter, of 1939-40, was a hard one, as I remember. My father worked for a building contractor on the airfield at Colerne, and I remember him coming home one day with a piece of telephone wire coated about an inch thick with ice.
Our rented house at Colerne was in Watergates, just across the road from the school playground. After a few months there, we moved to lodgings in a large house called 'Elmsleigh', owned by an elderly lady, Mrs Froude, and her daughter, just off the market place. Near the house gate was an old elm tree, known as the 'cross tree', surrounded by large stone slabs and blocks. No doubt the tree is long gone, probably replaced by another, but I imagine the stones are still there.
I remember one... Read more
Bank House
My memories are of my Aunt and Uncle's house. They lived in Bank House from the 1930's until 1992 when my Uncle died. We had some great times there. He kept a pig and chickens and had a great vegetable plot. We would sometimes go to the Liberal Club for a game of skittles. My Uncle was a member of the local parish council. His name was Commander Cheetham. They were both well respected members of the village.
Colerne From 1916
My grandparents lived in Colerne, my mother Minnie Louise Rowe was born there around the 1880s and my father William Simpkins lived in Colerne with the Aust family from when he was a baby. I was born in Bath in Kingsmead Road in a nursing home, we used to visit my grandmother Rowe in Colerne, she lived in Rose Cottage. In Colerne's High street on the Bath end was a very small shop and on the right side of it was an alleyway which led to my grandmother's garden. The cottage was on the left, and the toilet which was a bucket-style toilet was on the right. This was used for fertilising the garden, and helped grow a wonderful patch of rhubarb which we ate stewed or in pies when we went to visit. She also had several apple trees which we used to harvest. The next cottage down from my grandmother was lived in by a little old man about 5' 4" called Ike Tanner who was considerably older than... Read more
Colerne in The Second World War - Continued
Those of us at Colerne school who passed our 'scholarship' exam at the age of about eleven usually went on to Chippenham Secondary School, which probably goes under a different name now: it's at Hardenhuish, just off the Malmesbury road at Chippenham. We walked from Colerne at about 7.30 a.m. to catch the train at Box, about two miles away. This train consisted of a small tank locomotive and two carriages, and was known as 'the Bunk'. We then had another walk of about a mile from Chippenham station to the school.
Like most boys during the war, I was interested in aeroplanes, so being near Colerne airfield was a bonus for me. I remember the arrival of some of the American aircraft which were supplied to the RAF under the 'Lend/Lease' scheme. In particular, a mock dog-fight over the village, between a Hawker Hurricane and a Curtiss P-40 'Tomahawk'.
As far as I recall, the airfield was bombed once or twice, probably by just one or two aircraft, but... Read more
Colerne in The Second World War, Continued (2)
Following my previous memories, it might be worth mentioning one or two of the Colerne shops and tradesmen. On the south side of the marketplace, opposite the 'cross tree', was a shop, a greengrocer's I think, kept by a man called Louis Jenkins. Further along the High Street, at the corner of Tutton Hill, was a butcher: I don't remember his name; and somewhere near there, on the north side of the High Street, was the pub, 'The Six Bells'.
The tradesman I remember most clearly was the local baker, Mr Bence, known for some reason as 'Blower' Bence. He went round the village with a pony and cart, selling his bread, including rolls that were known as 'Blower Bence's Penny Loaves'. They were like a miniature cottage loaf: a small round roll with an even smaller one stuck on top, and were much in demand by the children.
Thickwood Caravan Park
In 1974 my parents lived on a residential Caravan Park (2 Fox Corner, Thickwood Caravan Park, Colerne) and I am after some history of the site, for family tree purposes. They lived there for only approx. 8 months and then moved away. Does anyone have any photos of the old Caravan site locally - perhaps someone in the Parish collates such information? I was told that it was an old Prisoner of War camp, though cannot find evidence of this elsewhere. I would greatly appreciate any help you may be able to offer. Many Thanks. Becky
Ford in 1939
My parents and I lived at Ford for a few months in 1939, having moved there from north London when my father started work for a building contractor on the airfield at Colerne. We had lodgings with a Mr and Mrs Pearce (or Pierce) at Mount Scylla Farm. It's a long time since I passed that way, but I was delighted to be able to recognise the place recently, on the Google maps and street view. The general layout of the yard looks more or less as I remember it, but of course some of the buildings are different.
As far as I remember, Mr Pearce had a herd of about a dozen cows, and every morning the milk was left in large churns in a pool of water, which seemed to be fed by a natural spring, by the farmyard gate, and was picked up by a lorry, I suppose from the Milk Marketing Board.
There were two working horses on the farm, named Captain and Gypsy. They... Read more
