Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and also civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south-western edge of the Cotswolds, simply 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 historically a centre for agriculture and also later, the woollen industry, and stays a focus for quarrying Bath Stone. It includes numerous remarkable historical buildings, amongst them the stately home of Corsham Court. Throughout the Second World War and also the Cold War, it became a significant administrative and production centre for the Ministry of Defence, with countless facilities both above ground and also in disused quarry passages. The parish consists of the towns of Gastard as well as Neston, which is at the gates 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' appears to have actually entered the name later on under Norman influence (perhaps caused by the recording of regional pronunciation), when the community is reported to have remained 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 additionally had a huge forest which was cleared to give way for additional development. There is proof that the town had actually been referred to 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 communities that succeeded significantly from Wiltshire's wool sell middle ages times, it kept its prosperity after the decline of that profession with the quarrying of Bath stone, with below ground mining works including the south and west of Corsham. The major 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", nevertheless there is little cogent evidence to sustain this name as well as it appears most likely to stem from a handful of Dutch employees that arrived in the 17th century. The Grove, opposite the High Street, is a typical example of timeless Georgian style.