Castle Combe
Castle Combe photos (113 available)
Castle Combe 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!
Castle Combe books (14 available)
- 5 photos on Castle Combe appear in 3 Frith books - View photos of Castle Combe
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Castle Combe and Wiltshire
Castle Combe memories
Read and share memories of Castle Combe and Wiltshire inspired by Frith photos
May 2006
I visited this beautiful town while on vacation. The day before they were still filming 'Stardust'. There was a sale happening in a hall. I met a wonderful woman who was selling watercolor and needlework pictures. She was helping to support her sick husband. She signed my picture, it's at home but I think her name was Ann. I also had a wonderfull dinner at the pub. Can't wait to come back some day soon. Love the town, love the people.
Thanks for the memories..... Kevin Gato, Maine, United States
Contributed by kevin gato
Wiltshire memories
May 2006
I visited this beautiful town while on vacation. The day before they were still filming 'Stardust'. There was a sale happening in a hall. I met a wonderful woman who was selling watercolor and needlework pictures. She was helping to support her sick husband. She signed my picture, it's at home but I think her name was Ann. I also had a wonderfull dinner at the pub. Can't wait to come back some day soon. Love the town, love the people.
Thanks for the memories..... Kevin Gato, Maine, United States
A memory of Castle Combe contributed by kevin gato
Biddestone
I was born in Biddestone in 1953. I went to Biddestone School, Mrs Taylor was the cook and I believe the teacher that I had was Mrs Walker. There was a large field out the back of the playground that we used in the summer for sports and at lunchtimes. There was some large trees along one side that gave us some shade on very hot days. On the 1st May we danced around the maypole on the village green. I also remember Miss Weeks who lived in the thatched cottage next to the school. My father helped when the pond was cleaned out in 1959, I have a photograph of this work being done.. I still go to Biddestone with ...read more here
A memory of Biddestone contributed by Verity Jeffery
Kington St Michael
The first memory of Kington St Michael, like most people of my age, is being beaten in the village school at the age of four. This and other memories are documented all at Kington St Michael official website.
A memory of Kington St Michael contributed by Alex H
Extracts From Castle Combe & Wiltshire books
Castle Combe was once a centre for cloth weaving
but now seems to trade on its picturesque qualities.
The village’s favourable microclimate encourages
the profusion of climbing plants up the walls of the
houses, which have the steep pitched stone roofs
typical of Cotswold villages.
An extract from from"Wiltshire Pocket Album".
The grandeur and size of Perpendicular
architecture owes its inception to the wealth
created by the wool trade. The Cotswold stone
tower of St Andrews Church stands fittingly
adjacent to the Market Cross, the scene of
Castle Combe’s once famous sheep market.
Nowadays, deemed the prettiest village in
England, it relies on tourism for its income.
An extract from from"Wiltshire Pocket Album".
Four heavy stone posts
standing on a tall base
decorated with quatrefoils
carry timber beams and
support the roof of the
Market Cross. The Cross
was once the hub of
the village; it has a well-
used mounting block,
but modern travel and
commerce have caught
up with the picturesque
village to a large degree.
An extract from from"Wiltshire Churches Photographic Memories".
Castle Combe was once a centre for cloth weaving
but now seems to trade on its picturesque qualities.
The village’s favourable microclimate encourages
the profusion of climbing plants up the walls of the
houses, which have the steep pitched stone roofs
typical of Cotswold villages.
An extract from from"Wiltshire Pocket Album".
St Andrew’s Church is pleasant enough to look at, but fussy in its numerous
outlines. It is mostly Perpendicular, but has a 13th-century chancel wall and a
Decorated north chapel. Most of the church was demolished and rebuilt, faithfully,
in 1850. The west tower, which was begun in 1434, has diagonal buttresses,
decorated with buttress shafts and relief pinnacles, panelled battlements and a
spire for a stair turret. On the chancel arch there are portal statuettes standing
under canopies and leaning up the arch. Flying buttresses separate the chapels
from the aisles.
An extract from from"Wiltshire Churches Photographic Memories".