Corsham is a historical market community and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It goes to the south-western side 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 also 4 miles (6 kilometres) southwest of Chippenham. Corsham was historically a centre for farming and also later, the wool industry, as well as remains a focus for quarrying Bath Stone. It consists of a number of significant historic buildings, among them the stately home of Corsham Court. Throughout the 2nd World War as well as the Cold War, it came to be a major administrative as well as production centre for the Ministry of Defence, with various establishments both over ground as well as in obsolete quarry tunnels. The church consists of the towns of Gastard as well as Neston, which goes to evictions of the Neston Park estate. Corsham appears to obtain its name from Cosa's ham, "ham" being Old English for homestead, or town. The town is referred in the Domesday publication as Cosseham; the letter 'R' appears to have gone into the name later under Norman impact (potentially caused by the recording of regional enunciation), when the town 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 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 forest which was removed to make way for additional expansion. There is evidence that the community had actually been referred to as "Corsham Regis" as a result of its reputed organization with Anglo-Saxon Ethelred of Wessex, as well as this name stays as that of a primary school. Among the towns that thrived significantly from Wiltshire's woollen sell medieval times, it kept its success after the decline of that trade via the quarrying of Bathroom stone, with below ground mining works reaching the south and west of Corsham. The major turnpike road (currently the A4) from London to Bristol passed through the community. Numbers 94 to 112 of the High Street are Grade II * listed buildings referred to as the "Flemish Weavers Houses", nevertheless there is little cogent evidence to support this name and it appears most likely to stem from a handful of Dutch employees that showed up in the 17th century. The Grove, opposite the High Street, is a typical example of classic Georgian design.