Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south-western edge of the Cotswolds, simply off the A4 nationwide route, 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Swindon, 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Bristol, 8 miles (13 kilometres) northeast of Bath and 4 miles (6 km) southwest of Chippenham. Corsham was historically a centre for farming as well as later, the wool sector, and continues to be an emphasis for quarrying Bath Stone. It contains a number of significant historic structures, amongst them the stately home of Corsham Court. Throughout the Second World War as well as the Cold War, it became a major management and also production centre for the Ministry of Defence, with countless establishments both over ground and also in disused quarry passages. The parish consists of the villages of Gastard and Neston, which goes to evictions of the Neston Park estate. Corsham appears to derive its name from Cosa's ham, "ham" being Old English for homestead, or town. The community is referred in the Domesday book as Cosseham; the letter 'R' shows up to have actually entered the name later on under Norman impact (possibly brought on by the recording of neighborhood enunciation), when the community is reported to have actually remained in the ownership of the Earl of Cornwall. Corsham is recorded as Coseham in 1001, as Cosseha in 1086, and as Cosham as late as 1611 (on John Speed's map of Wiltshire). The Corsham location came from the King in Saxon times, the area at the time also had a big woodland which was gotten rid of to make way for additional growth. There is evidence that the community had actually been known as "Corsham Regis" due to its reputed organization with Anglo-Saxon Ethelred of Wessex, and this name continues to be as that of a primary school. Among the towns that flourished substantially from Wiltshire's woollen trade in medieval times, it preserved its success after the decline of that trade via the quarrying of Bathroom stone, with below ground mining functions encompassing the south as well as west of Corsham. The main turnpike road (now the A4) from London to Bristol travelled through the community. Numbers 94 to 112 of the High Street are Grade II * listed structures called the "Flemish Weavers Houses", however there is little cogent evidence to support this name and it appears more probable to originate from a handful of Dutch workers that arrived in the 17th century. The Grove, opposite the High Street, is a typical example of timeless Georgian design.