Corsham is a historic market community and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It goes to the south-western edge of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 nationwide path, 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Swindon, 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Bristol, 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Bath and also 4 miles (6 kilometres) southwest of Chippenham. Corsham was traditionally a centre for farming and later on, the wool industry, as well as remains an emphasis for quarrying Bath Stone. It includes several notable historic structures, amongst them the stately home of Corsham Court. During the 2nd World War and also the Cold War, it became a major administrative as well as manufacturing centre for the Ministry of Defence, with various facilities both above ground and in obsolete quarry passages. The church includes the villages of Gastard and also 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 publication as Cosseham; the letter 'R' shows up to have actually gotten in the name later on under Norman impact (possibly triggered by the recording of regional pronunciation), when the community is reported to have been in the possession of the Earl of Cornwall. Corsham is recorded as Coseham in 1001, as Cosseha in 1086, and also 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 likewise had a large forest which was cleared to give way for more expansion. There is evidence that the town had actually been known as "Corsham Regis" due to its reputed organization with Anglo-Saxon Ethelred of Wessex, and this name remains as that of a primary school. Among the towns that flourished considerably from Wiltshire's woollen sell middle ages times, it preserved its success after the decline of that profession with the quarrying of Bath stone, with underground mining works including the south and west of Corsham. The main turnpike road (now the A4) from London to Bristol passed through the town. Numbers 94 to 112 of the High Street are Grade II * listed structures referred to as the "Flemish Weavers Houses", however there is little cogent evidence to sustain this name and it appears more probable to stem from a handful of Dutch employees who showed up in the 17th century. The Grove, opposite the High Street, is a case in point of classic Georgian style.