Great Bedwyn
Great Bedwyn photos (24 available)
Great Bedwyn maps (2 available)
Map of Wiltshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Great Bedwyn books (17 available)
- 2 photos on Great Bedwyn appear in 1 Frith books - View photos of Great Bedwyn
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Great Bedwyn and Wiltshire
Great Bedwyn memories
Read and share memories of Great Bedwyn and Wiltshire inspired by Frith photos
My Gt. Bedwyn Family.
The Eastman Family lived in Gt. Bedwyn from 1735. My Grandad lived in Brook Street then later at Railway Terrace, until his death in 1934. My Grandad had died several years before I was born, but I have vivid memories of my Grandma Carrie; she died in 1951. She was a tiny woman about 5ft 2ins - I was taller than her when I was 10 years old. She had very long hair which she put up in a bun on the top of her head. She took it out to brush it at night and I remember it was not that grey even when she was 80. I think she used to say she put soda in the water. She ...read more here
Contributed by Heather Trayhorne
my childhood days
My memories of Great Bedwyn are spending my holidays with my gran and grandad William and Beatrice Alderman in Castle Rd and my uncle Dennis. My uncle and grandad were both signalmen at Great Bedwyn and I used to go down to take their tea. It was lovely to watch the steam trains go by. My gran took me on lovely walks up through the forest where we would sit and I would make daisy chains with my cousin Shirley. We would go to the man who made baskets and I can still remember my gran buying me a little basket with orange weaved around it. I also loved going to the bakers where there was the lovely smell of bread ...read more here
Contributed by elizabeth fletcher
When I was a child.
My father was born in Great Bedwyn, his name Arthur Maurice Hatter. When I was young in 1952 we were invited to stay with a member of his family in 47 High Street, I remember they had a wonderful garden, layered with full flower beds, also they had a summer house in the garden, today it may be called a conservatory, that is where we stayed.
Almost opposite number 47 was a garage that looked like a wooden barn and we had our old Humber repaired there.
In Church Street on the right hand side was a stonemason and the names of some of his family was engraved above the entance to the shop, these were from family killed in the ...read more here
Contributed by arthur hatter
Wiltshire memories
My Gt. Bedwyn Family.
The Eastman Family lived in Gt. Bedwyn from 1735. My Grandad lived in Brook Street then later at Railway Terrace, until his death in 1934. My Grandad had died several years before I was born, but I have vivid memories of my Grandma Carrie; she died in 1951. She was a tiny woman about 5ft 2ins - I was taller than her when I was 10 years old. She had very long hair which she put up in a bun on the top of her head. She took it out to brush it at night and I remember it was not that grey even when she was 80. I think she used to say she put soda in the water. She ...read more here
A memory of Great Bedwyn contributed by Heather Trayhorne
Extracts From Great Bedwyn & Wiltshire books
In the foreground is a chained area enclosing the Jubilee Memorial lamp standard. It was erected on the site of the
old market hall, which was demolished in c1860. Behind the telegraph pole in the middle of the picture is a listed
cast iron telephone kiosk of a type designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
An extract from from"Marlborough Photographic Memories".
This is a typical lodge house
of the Ailesbury Estate variety;
it bears Gothic features such
as the ornate barge-boards
and detailing to the eaves.
This lodge has fish-scale tiles
that were popular in the later
19th century. Labourers work-
ing nearby have obviously
been drafted in to add a rustic
charm to the picture.
An extract from from"Marlborough Photographic Memories".
This fine old 17th-
century farmhouse, built
in a mixture of materials,
stone, brick, tile-hanging
and long straw thatch,
is typical of the area
around Marlborough.
It was known as Brown’s
by 1718. By the middle
of the 20th century it
was being used as an
outhouse, and it was
demolished in 1961–2
to make way for more
modern farm buildings.
An extract from from"Marlborough Photographic Memories".
We are looking towards
Back Lane. This is a street
mainly of 16th- or 17th-
century timber-framed
cottages. In the garden of
No 2, on the bottom left of
the picture, a plague pit was
found with the remains of
five skeletons, a legacy of
the Black Death in 1348-
9. The lady wearing a flat
cap looks like she means business!
An extract from from"Marlborough Photographic Memories".
Thought to have
been built in the late
17th century, this fine
old mill house, once one
of ten in the Ramsbury
area, was turned into
a dwelling as late as
the 1960s. Now called
Moon’s Mill, it was
previously known
as Upper Mill in the
18th century, Gibbs’
Mill, and Edwards Mill in
the mid 19th century.
An extract from from"Marlborough Photographic Memories".