Corsham is a historical market town and also civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south-western edge of the Cotswolds, simply off the A4 national course, 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Swindon, 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Bristol, 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Bath and 4 miles (6 kilometres) southwest of Chippenham. Corsham was traditionally a centre for agriculture and also later, the wool market, and also remains a focus for quarrying Bath Stone. It consists of a number of notable historical buildings, amongst them the manor house of Corsham Court. During the Second World War and the Cold War, it became a major administrative and also manufacturing centre for the Ministry of Defence, with numerous establishments both above ground as well as in obsolete quarry passages. The parish consists of the towns of Gastard and Neston, which is at evictions of the Neston Park estate. Corsham appears to acquire 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' shows up to have actually entered the name later on under Norman impact (potentially brought on by the recording of local enunciation), when the town is reported to have remained in the ownership 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 belonged to the King in Saxon times, the location at the time likewise had a big woodland which was gotten rid of to make way for further expansion. There is proof that the community had actually been called "Corsham Regis" because of its reputed association with Anglo-Saxon Ethelred of Wessex, and also this name continues to be as that of a primary school. Among the communities that succeeded significantly from Wiltshire's woollen trade in medieval times, it kept its prosperity after the decline of that trade via the quarrying of Bath rock, with below ground mining functions extending to the south as well as west of Corsham. The main turnpike road (currently the A4) from London to Bristol went through the town. Numbers 94 to 112 of the High Street are Grade II * listed buildings referred to as the "Flemish Weavers Houses", however there is little cogent evidence to support this name and also it shows up more likely to stem from a handful of Dutch workers that got here in the 17th century. The Grove, opposite the High Street, is a case in point of traditional Georgian style.