View source for Sutton Veny

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox UK place
|official_name= Sutton Veny
|static_image_name= St Leonards Sutton Veny.jpg
|static_image_caption= [[St Leonard's Church, Sutton Veny|St Leonard's Church]]
|label_position=
|coordinates = {{coord|51.179|-2.148|type:city(500)_region:GB-WIL|display=inline,title}}
|os_grid_reference= ST898422
|population= 734
|population_ref= (in 2011)<ref>{{cite web|title=Wiltshire Community History – Census|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Census?communityId=219|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=23 May 2015}}</ref>
|civil_parish= Sutton Veny
|unitary_england= [[Wiltshire Council|Wiltshire]]
|lieutenancy_england= [[Wiltshire]]
|region= South West England
|country= England
|constituency_westminster=[[South West Wiltshire (UK Parliament constituency)|South West Wiltshire]]
|post_town= Warminster
|postcode_district= BA12
|postcode_area= BA
|dial_code= 01985
|website= {{URL|https://www.suttonveny.co.uk/|Community}}
}}
'''Sutton Veny''' is a village and [[Civil parishes in England|civil parish]] in the [[River Wylye|Wylye valley]], to the southeast of the town of [[Warminster]] in [[Wiltshire]], England; the village is about {{Convert|3|mi|km|0|abbr=}} from Warminster town centre. 'Sutton' means 'south farmstead' in relation to [[Norton Bavant]], one mile ({{convert|1|mi|km|abbr=out|disp=output only|1}}) to the north. 'Veny' may be a French family name or may describe the village's [[fen]]ny situation.
The parish is bounded in the northeast by the Wylye, and in the east includes part of the village of [[Tytherington, Wiltshire|Tytherington]]. In 1885 when the small parish of [[Pertwood]] was extinguished, its northern section was transferred to Sutton Veny.<ref>{{cite web|title=Victoria County History – Wiltshire – Vol 8 pp58-61: Pertwood|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol8/pp58-61|website=British History Online|publisher=University of London|access-date=24 May 2015}}</ref>
== History ==
=== Prehistory ===
The upper Wylye area has much evidence of [[Neolithic British Isles|Neolithic]] and early [[Bronze Age Britain|Bronze Age]] activity.<ref name=henge>{{cite PastScape |mnumber=207567 |mname=Sutton Common Henge |access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref> There are several [[bowl barrow]]s, one of them close to the east of the present village.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1010514|desc=Bowl barrow 130m south-west of North End Farm|access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref>
To the west of the village, by the Longbridge Deverill road, is the site of a [[henge]] which survives as an earthwork, 80m in diameter. It was noted by [[Sir Richard Colt Hoare]] and sketched by [[William Cunnington]].<ref name=henge />
Robin Hood's Bower, in the middle of Southleigh wood, is an earthwork enclosure of uncertain date and purpose.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1020365|desc=Robin Hood's Bower earthwork enclosure in Southleigh Wood|access-date=18 April 2020|fewer-links=yes}}</ref> Several [[Iron Age Britain|Iron Age]] enclosures have been found on Cow Down, southwest of Sutton Veny village, including a D-shape bank and ditch, where partial excavation found evidence of a circular wooden hut.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1016676|desc=Iron Age settlement on Cow Down|access-date=18 April 2020|fewer-links=yes}}</ref>
=== Roman period ===
A [[Roman villa]] site with two buildings is at Pit Meads, near the Wylye in the north of the parish.<ref>{{cite PastScape |mnumber=211416 |mname=Pit Meads Roman Villas |access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref> The site of a [[Romano-British culture|Romano-British]] village is on Tytherington Hill, in the southeast.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1004727|desc=Romano-British village on Tytherington Hill|access-date=18 April 2020|fewer-links=yes}}</ref>
=== Later ===
[[Domesday Book]] in 1086 recorded three manors at ''Sutone'' or ''Sudtone'', with 43 households and a mill.<ref>{{OpenDomesday|ST9041|sutton-veny|Sutton Veny}}</ref>
By 1294 there were two townships: Great Sutton around St Leonard's church, and Little Sutton to the west, towards Tytherington. From the 14th century to the 19th there was another hamlet called Newnham, northwest of the church.<ref name=vch />
Later landowners included the [[Baron Hungerford|Hungerford]] family (from the 14th century) and [[Sir Stephen Fox]] (1680s), who sold the manors in lots.<ref name="vch" />
The [[Great Western Railway]] opened their [[Salisbury branch line (Great Western Railway)|Salisbury branch line]] across the northeast of the parish in 1856, and {{rws|Heytesbury}} station was nearby. That station closed in 1955 but the line and {{Rws|Warminster||Warminster}} station remain open.<ref name="Oakley">{{cite book|last=Oakley|first=Mike|title=Wiltshire Railway Stations|publisher=The Dovecote Press|year=2004|isbn=1-904349-33-1|location=Wimbourne|pages=64–65}}</ref>
== Religious sites ==
=== Parish church ===
<!-- Church of St John, Sutton Veny redirects here -->
[[File:St John the Evangelist Church, Sutton Veny - geograph.org.uk - 332597.jpg|thumb|upright|St John's Church]]
The [[Church of England parish church|parish church]] of St John the Evangelist was built in 1866-68 by [[John Loughborough Pearson|J. L. Pearson]], about 700 yards to the northwest of the ancient St Leonard's church, which had been damaged by subsidence. [[Nikolaus Pevsner|Pevsner]] writes that the newer church is "impressive, with its crossing tower and spire and its large five-light E and W windows"; he also notes the large rose window in the north transept and expresses delight at the stone rib-vaulting over the chancel and crossing, which he describes as Pearson's hallmark.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pevsner |first1=Nikolaus |author-link1=Nikolaus Pevsner |last2=Cherry |first2=Bridget (revision) |author-link2=Bridget Cherry |year=1975 |orig-year=1963 |title=Wiltshire |series=[[The Buildings of England]] |edition=2nd |place=Harmondsworth |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=0-14-0710-26-4 |page=504}}</ref>
The church, which is built in [[Frome]] stone, was paid for by members of the Everett family in memory of Joseph Everett (d. 1865), who had built Sutton Veny House.<ref name=vch /> The six bells were transferred from St Leonard's church; three are from the late 17th century and two from the 18th.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sutton Veny|url=http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?DoveID=SUTTON+VEN|website=Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers|access-date=16 April 2020}}</ref> The church was recorded as [[Grade I listed]] in 1986.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1036429|desc=Church of St John the Envangelist|access-date=16 April 2020|fewer-links=yes}}</ref>
In the churchyard is a Portland stone war memorial in the shape of a cross, erected in 1920 with the names of 15 local servicemen who died during [[World War I]]; seven names were added after [[World War II]].<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1450373|desc=Sutton Veny War Memorial|access-date=23 April 2020|fewer-links=yes}}</ref> There is also an [[Office of Australian War Graves|Australian War Graves]] cemetery, where 127 men of the Australian Military Forces were buried during the First World War, most dying in local hospitals of disease or from wounds.<ref>{{cite web|title=Church of St. John the Evangelist, Sutton Veny|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Church/Details/944|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=24 May 2015}}</ref> Among the graves is the burial place of Matron [[Jean Nellie Miles Walker|Jean Walker]], the only Tasmanian nurse to die on active duty during that war; she succumbed to the [[1918 flu pandemic|flu pandemic]] in October 1918.<ref>[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15819661 "The Late Matron Walker"] ''Sydney Morning Herald'' (11 January 1919): 17. via [[Trove]]</ref>
=== Former church ===
{{Main|St Leonard's Church, Sutton Veny}}
A church at Sutton Veny was first mentioned in 1220.<ref name=vch>{{cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol8/pp61-74|title=Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 8 pp61-74 – Sutton Veny|year=1965|website=British History Online|publisher=University of London|access-date=16 April 2020}}</ref> St Leonard's church was built in the 13th century, incorporating a 12th-century doorway.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.crsbi.ac.uk/view-item?key=WXsiUCI6eyJUZXJtcyI6InN1dHRvbiB2ZW55In0sIkYiOiJleUowSWpwYk5sMTkifQ&WINID=1586967150104#yYaAUy7cTqgAAAFxfpztHQ/11965|title=St Leonard, Sutton Veny, Wiltshire|website=Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland|publisher=King's College London|access-date=16 April 2020}}</ref>
After it was replaced by St John's church in 1868 the chancel was used for a time as a mortuary chapel, while the nave was partly dismantled and fell into ruin.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1036423|desc=Church of St Leonard|access-date=16 April 2020|fewer-links=yes}}</ref> It was declared [[redundant church|redundant]] in 1970 and is now in the care of the [[Churches Conservation Trust]].<ref>{{citation|title=St Leonard's Church, Sutton Veny, Wiltshire|url=https://www.visitchurches.org.uk/visit/church-listing/st-leonard-sutton-veny.html|publisher=[[Churches Conservation Trust]]|access-date=16 April 2020}}</ref>
=== Notable rectors ===
[[Simon Sydenham]], [[Dean of Salisbury]] and later [[Bishop of Chichester]], was rector from 1417 to 1421.<ref name=vch />
=== Parish ===
The benefice was held in plurality with [[Norton Bavant]] from 1953.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=39991 |date=20 October 1953|page=5585}}</ref> In 1976 the two parishes were united, together with the parish and benefice of Heytesbury with Tytherington and Knook.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=46858 |date=25 March 1976 |page=4439 }}</ref> Today the parishes are among those served by the Upper Wylye Valley team.<ref>{{cite web|title=Church of St John the Evangelist Sutton Veny|website=The Upper Wylye Valley Team|date=26 August 2017 |url=https://upperwylyevalleyteam.com/our-churches/st-john-sutton-veny/|access-date=16 April 2020}}</ref>
=== Congregational chapel ===
A [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]] chapel was built near Dymock's Lane in 1793, and a schoolroom added in 1818. Around 1800 there were three Sunday services, with 300 attending the evening service. Numbers dwindled in the 20th century and the chapel, which had been rebuilt in the later 19th century, was demolished in 1970.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Church/Details/945|title=Congregational Chapel, Sutton Veny|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=20 April 2020}}</ref>
==Notable buildings==
Polebridge, a rambling former farmhouse near St Leonard's church, has at its core the great hall of a 14th-century house. The building was altered in the 17th century and extended in 1902.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1183558|desc=Polebridge|access-date=19 April 2020|fewer-links=yes}}</ref> Nearby is the [[Grade II* listed]] former rectory known as the Old Manor House. Originally a 14th-century [[hall house]], it was altered in the late 17th century and wings were added in the 1850s.<ref name=oldmanor>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1183551|desc=Old Manor House, Sutton Veny|access-date=24 May 2015|fewer-links=yes}}</ref>
Greenhill House (now Sutton Veny House) was built in 1856 on the site of an earlier house, for Joseph Everett of Heytesbury. Standing in parkland and with formal gardens, the two-storey [[Regency architecture|Regency-style]] ashlar house has a seven-window front, with a domed projection and Tuscan columns, and more columns form a verandah at the right side. Interior features such as the stairs, round-arched openings, panelling and fireplaces are in the style of the 17th and early 18th centuries.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1300544|desc=Sutton Veny House|access-date=19 April 2020|fewer-links=yes}}</ref> Lodges of similar date at the north and south entrances to the grounds have [[distyle in antis]] porticos.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1036422|desc=North Lodge|access-date=19 April 2020|fewer-links=yes}}</ref><ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1300481|desc=Lodge to Sutton Veny House|access-date=19 April 2020|fewer-links=yes}}</ref> Renamed Sutton Veny House around the 1920s, since the 1980s it has been used as a nursing home.<ref name="house">{{Cite web|url=https://suttonveny.co.uk/sutton-veny-house/|title=Sutton Veny House|website=Sutton Veny Parish|date=7 January 2017 |language=en-GB|access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Sutton Veny House|url=http://www.suttonvenyhouse.com/|publisher=Avon Care Homes|access-date=19 April 2020}}</ref>
Everett also built, in Tudor style, Greenhill Farm<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1364344|desc=Greenhill Farm|access-date=19 April 2020|fewer-links=yes}}</ref> and a range of farm buildings and estate houses next to it along the Norton Bavant road.<ref name=vch />
== Military sites ==
Large areas of Salisbury Plain began to be used for army training from the late 19th century. Troops and equipment travelled by train, and being near Warminster and Heytesbury stations, Sutton Veny parish was the site of some of the many encampments.
=== First World War ===
The [[60th (2/2nd London) Division]] of the [[Territorial Force]], established in August 1914, had its headquarters at Sutton Veny until it was sent to France in June and July 1916;<ref>{{cite book|author=Philip Hugh Dalbiac|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hpbGAAAAMAAJ|title=History of the 60th Division (2/2nd London Division)|publisher=George Allen & Unwin Limited|year=1927|pages=35, 42|author-link=Philip Dalbiac}}</ref> 88 trains conveyed the division to Southampton from camps around Warminster, Heytesbury, and Codford stations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol4/pp280-293|title=Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 4: Railways|year=1959|editor-last=Crittall|editor-first=Elizabeth|website=British History Online|publisher=University of London|access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref>
A hutted army hospital opened in the parish in 1916, with beds for 11 officers and 1,261 soldiers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://anzac-22nd-battalion.com/hospitals-england/|title=Hospitals: England|website=Following the Twenty-Second|date=21 January 2017 |access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref> After the armistice in November 1918, the 1st Australian General Hospital was transferred from France to Sutton Veny.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://throughtheselines.com.au/research/1-AGH/|title=No. 1 Australian General Hospital|website=Through These Lines|access-date=2020-04-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P02402.031/|title=Prime Minister with staff of 1st AGH|date=8 July 1919|website=Australian War Memorial|access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref> Greenhill House was used by the [[YMCA]] as a headquarters and recreation centre.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/H01729/|title=Australian soldiers at the front of the YMCA headquarters at Greenhill House|date=1919|website=Australian War Memorial|access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref> A {{convert|3.5|mi|km|abbr=|adj=on}} railway line was built by the War Department from {{rws|Heytesbury}} to the military camp; it was closed soon after the end of the war.
An internment camp for German prisoners of war<ref>{{cite web|url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2617520|title=Foreign Office: Prisoners of War and Aliens: Reports of visits of inspection|date=1917|website=National Archives|access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref> was at Cooper's Bottom, north of Greenhill House, from 1916.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://suttonveny.co.uk/1st-world-war/|title=1st World War|website=Sutton Veny parish|date=7 January 2017 |access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref> A record made in February 1918 lists 131 civilian [[internees]] at Sutton Veny, engaged in work for the [[Royal Engineers]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/5568657|title=Archaeological survey of Felday Iron Age enclosure and WWI PoW Camp|date=January 2013|website=Surrey Archaeological Society|page=33|url-access=registration|access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref>
=== Second World War ===
From 1943, Sutton Veny House was an army headquarters, and units of the United States Army were barracked in the area in preparation for the [[invasion of Normandy]] in June 1944.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://suttonveny.co.uk/2nd-world-war/|title=2nd World War|website=Sutton Veny parish|date=7 January 2017 |access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref>
A camp with brick huts was built to the west of the village, on both sides of the Longbridge Deverill road, just over the parish boundary. A 1958 map shows unlabelled groupings of small buildings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://maps.nls.uk/view/95749751|title=Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps of Great Britain, sheet ST84|date=1958|website=National Library of Scotland|access-date=21 April 2020}}</ref> On modern maps the north side has reverted to farmland, but on the south most of the internal roads and some of the small buildings remain, and the area is a light industrial estate.
=== Today ===
[[Waterloo Lines]] at Warminster, about {{convert|2|mi|km}} northwest of Sutton Verney, is an army headquarters and training site.
==Governance==
The civil parish elects a [[Parish councils in England|parish council]]. It is in the area of [[Wiltshire Council]] [[Unitary authorities of England|unitary authority]], which is responsible for all significant local government functions.
The village is represented in [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|parliament]] by [[Andrew Murrison]] and in [[Wiltshire Council]] by Fleur de Rhé-Philipe, both [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]].
==Amenities==
Sutton Veny and the small settlements around it are served by Sutton Veny [[Church of England|C of E]] Primary School.<ref>[http://www.suttonveny.wilts.sch.uk/ Sutton Veny Church of England Primary School]</ref> The school was built in 1872, to a design by [[John Loughborough Pearson|J. L. Pearson]],<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1183645|desc=Sutton Veny County Primary School|access-date=24 May 2015|fewer-links=yes}}</ref> and catered for all ages until 1931, when children over eleven were transferred to Warminster.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sutton Veny Church of England School|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/School/Details/1059|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=24 May 2015}}</ref>
The village hall is next to the school.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sutton Veny Village Hall|url=http://www.suttonveny.co.uk/village-hall.html|access-date=24 May 2015}}</ref> The village has a [[public house|pub]], the Woolpack.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Woolpack|url=http://www.woolpackpub.co.uk/|access-date=24 May 2015}}</ref>
The home ground of the Heytesbury and Sutton Veny Cricket Club is in Sutton Veny.<ref>{{cite web|title=Heytesbury and Sutton Veny Cricket Club|url=http://hsvcc.org.uk/|access-date=24 May 2015}}</ref>
==Notable residents==
* [[Francis Lacey|Sir Francis Lacey]] (1859–1946), cricketer and [[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]] secretary, first person to be knighted for services to any sport, lived at Sutton Veny House from 1922 until his death in 1946.<ref name="house" /><ref>{{acad|id=LCY878FE|name=Lacey, Francis Eden}}</ref>
*Brigadier-General [[Reginald Francis Arthur Hobbs|Reginald Hobbs]] (1878–1953), retired to Sutton Veny
*[[William Nicholson (artist)|William Nicholson]], the prominent artist, lived at the Old Manor House in the 1920s.<ref name="oldmanor" />
* [[George Elder Davie]] (1912–2007), Scottish philosopher, died at his daughter's house at Sutton Veny
*[[George Sassoon]] (1936–2006), scientist, electronic engineer, linguist, translator and author; inherited Heytesbury House, lived at Sutton Veny in later years
==References==
{{Reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last=Sutton Veny History Group|title=Sutton Veny: A History|date=2007|publisher=Hobnob Press|isbn=978-1-906978-48-8}}
== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* [https://www.suttonveny.co.uk/ Sutton Veny community website]
{{South West Wiltshire}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Villages in Wiltshire]]
[[Category:Civil parishes in Wiltshire]]