Corsham is a historic market community and also civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It goes to the south-western edge of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 national course, 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Swindon, 20 miles (32 kilometres) southeast of Bristol, 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Bath and 4 miles (6 km) southwest of Chippenham. Corsham was traditionally a centre for agriculture and later, the woollen industry, and also continues to be a focus for quarrying Bath Stone. It includes a number of noteworthy historic buildings, amongst them the stately home of Corsham Court. During the Second World War as well as the Cold War, it ended up being a major administrative as well as production centre for the Ministry of Defence, with numerous establishments both over ground and also in obsolete quarry passages. The parish includes the towns of Gastard and also Neston, which is at the gates of the Neston Park estate. Corsham shows up to acquire its name from Cosa's ham, "ham" being Old English for homestead, or village. The community is referred in the Domesday book as Cosseham; the letter 'R' appears to have actually gone into the name later on under Norman impact (perhaps caused by the recording of regional pronunciation), 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 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 also had a huge forest which was cleared to give way for additional expansion. There is proof that the town had actually been referred to as "Corsham Regis" because of its reputed association with Anglo-Saxon Ethelred of Wessex, as well as this name continues to be as that of a primary school. Among the towns that flourished substantially from Wiltshire's woollen trade in middle ages times, it kept its prosperity after the decrease of that profession via the quarrying of Bathroom rock, with underground mining works reaching the south as well as west of Corsham. The main turnpike road (currently the A4) from London to Bristol travelled through the community. Numbers 94 to 112 of the High Street are Grade II * listed buildings known as the "Flemish Weavers Houses", nonetheless there is little cogent evidence to support this name and it appears more probable to originate from a handful of Dutch workers who arrived in the 17th century. The Grove, opposite the High Street, is a typical example of classic Georgian design.