Draycot Cerne

Draycot Cerne (Draycott) is a small village and former civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) north of Chippenham.

Draycot Cerne

Church of St James
Draycot Cerne
Location within Wiltshire
OS grid referenceST934787
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCHIPPENHAM
Postcode districtSN15
Dialling code01249
PoliceWiltshire
FireDorset and Wiltshire
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament

History

The parish was referred to as Draicote (Medieval Latin) in the ancient Domesday hundred of Startley when Geoffrey de Venoix ("the Marshal")[1] was lord and tenant-in-chief in 1086.[2] The morpheme dray is common in England's place names, yet unused elsewhere in the English language, so is considered an ancient Celtic word. By the 14th century, the old village was known as Draycot Cerne, in part to differentiate it from similarly named villages in other areas of England. The suffix Cerne is the French surname of the lords of the manor.[3][4]

The ancient parish of Draycot Cerne comprised three manors: Draycot Cerne, Knabwell (or Nables) and a detached part to the southeast at Avon, near Kellaways.[5] The old village of Draycot Cerne (also known in the 19th century as Lower Draycot), close to the church and Draycot House, was removed by Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley after 1865 and Upper Draycot was renamed Draycot Cerne. All of the cottages and farms of Draycot Cerne were within the Draycot Estate, belonging to Draycot House.

The parish of Draycot Cerne, together with Seagry parish to its north, was added to Sutton Benger civil parish in 1934. In 1971 all land north of the newly built M4 motorway, including part of the former Draycot parish, was transferred to a recreated Seagry parish.[5]

It is possible that Draycot Cerne lent its name to the town of Dracut, incorporated in 1701 in Massachusetts.

Former parish church
Main article: St James's Church, Draycot Cerne

St James's Church, a Grade II* listed building, was built around 1260 and has a 16th-century tower.[6] It was declared redundant in 1994 and is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.[7]

The benefice was united with Seagry in 1939[8] but in 1954 the union was dissolved,[9] and for church purposes the village is now within the parish of Kington Langley.[5]

Draycot House

A medieval manor has occupied the site since the 14th century.[5] Old Draycot House was probably built for John Long in the mid 15th century. The house was extensively re-modelled, over the years, by the Long family. In 1773–75 Sir James Tylney-Long (1736-1794) added a new south front, and east and west wings around the core of the medieval manor.[10][11] Further work was undertaken in 1864, after Lord Cowley's inheritance.[12] The house was demolished in 1952-4.[13]

The Long family of Draycot Cerne

The following family members were active in English politics:

Between 1412 and 1610, the Long family held Draycot House jointly with South Wraxall Manor, near Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire.

Other members:

The Draycot Estate

The Draycot Estate covered 4,300 acres (17 km2) at its most, covering as landlord (with some principal demesne, i.e. private parkland) all but a small minority of land (remaining commons, rectories, vicarages and glebelands) of Draycot Cerne, Kellaways, Sutton Benger and Seagry, parts of Startley, Little Somerford, Christian Malford and Kington Langley.[14] It was the third-largest holding of the Tylney-Long baronets.[14]

Notable people
  • John Buckeridge (c. 1562–1631), theologian, was born in Draycot Cerne.[15]
  • John Aubrey (1626–1697), antiquary, natural philosopher and writer, was a frequent visitor to old Draycot House.[14] His biography, by Ruth Scurr, was illustrated on the front cover with a watercolour of Aubrey and Sir James Long, 2nd Baronet of Draycot hunting together.[16] Some of the correspondence between Aubrey and Sir James Long, at the Bodleian Library, is published in Early Modern Letters Online.[17] Other letters were directed to Aubrey via Robert Hooke at Gresham College.[18]
  • John Britton (1771–1857), antiquary, was educated at Draycot House school, although he later complained about the quality of the teaching.[14]
  • Francis Kilvert (1840–1879), the diarist, was a frequent visitor to Draycot Cerne.[19][20]
  • Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley inherited the former Long family estate of Draycot Cerne in 1863 from his cousin the 5th Earl of Mornington, and lived there in retirement until his death in 1884.
  • Prince Franz von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg of the House of Hatzfeld and his wife, Clara, leased Draycot House between 1896 and 1915. He was the owner of Ascetic's Silver, the winner of the 1906 Grand National. She was the adopted daughter of the American billionaire Collis Potter Huntington.[14]

References
  1. RootsWeb: Geoffrey de Venoix le Marshal, accessed June 2017
  2. Draycot Cerne in the Domesday Book
  3. The Place Names of Wiltshire (English Place-Name Society), pp. 69-70, 72-73.
  4. 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 23, page 862.
  5. Baggs, A.P.; Freeman, Jane; Stevenson, Janet H (1991). Crowley, D.A. (ed.). "Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 14 pp75-82 – Parishes: Draycot Cerne". British History Online. University of London. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  6. Historic England. "Church of St James (1200500)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  7. "St James' Church, Draycot Cerne, Wiltshire". The Churches Conservation Trust. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  8. "No. 34643". The London Gazette. 7 July 1939. p. 4652.
  9. "No. 40149". The London Gazette. 16 April 1954. pp. 2286–2287.
  10. WSA 190:1
  11. Draycot House, by Geraldine Roberts, accessed June 2017
  12. WSA 1001/1-7
  13. http://www.lostheritage.org.uk/houses/lh_wiltshire_draycothouse_info_gallery.html
  14. Hand of Fate. The History of the Longs, Wellesleys and the Draycot Estate in Wiltshire. Tim Couzens 2001 OCLC 49204947
  15. http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/jbuckeridge.html
  16. http://www.ruthscurr.co.uk/books.html
  17. http://emlo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/forms/quick?everything=Sir+James+Long&search_type=quick
  18. Bodleian Library Ref MS Aubrey 12 ff. 267-268. 16 July 1676.
  19. http://www.christmas-time.com/ct-christmas1870.htm
  20. http://www.wshc.eu/blog/item/how-did-you-spend-christmas.html

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