New Booklet: The 1841 Map

In the late 1830s the Bristol surveyor George Culley Ashmead (1801-1895) was commissioned to survey the parish of Bradford (then including Atworth, Holt, Limpley Stoke, South Wraxall and Winsley too) which was published in 1841. The survey was for the Tithe Apportionment, to determine who was liable to pay tithes (a tax) to the church. The tithes were to be commuted from goods...
Read MoreDiscussion Group: The History of the Bradford on Avon Fire Brigade

Wednesday 4th October, 7:30pm, Library Meeting Room
In October’s Discussion Group, our Hon. Curator, Roger Clark, will talk about the history of the Bradford on Avon Fire Brigade. The Museum holds a collection of items and photographs from the Fire Brigade through the ages, and it promises to be an interesting evening.
Discussion Group covers a...
Read MoreJournal Articles
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This is by no means an exhaustive list; there are bound to be missing articles- please let us know!
WAM stands for the Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine; they can be read online at the Biodiversity Heritage Library
Guardian Angel...
Read MoreHolt in 1841

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Holt, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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The old centre of Holt as mapped by the Bristol surveyor George Culley Ashmead in the late 1830s for the Tithe Apportionment of Bradford Parish. The elm tree on Ham Green was even then big enough to be marked. The woollen cloth factory buildings can be...
Read MoreDotesio’s Cycling and Rambling Map

Dotesio & Todd were printers and publishers with premises in Silver Street, Bradford and had acquired an outlet in Trowbridge as well. This map is entitled “Dotesio’s new touring, cycling, and rambling road map of forty miles about Bradford-on-Avon“. There is no date, but was...
Read MoreBradford Manor Map

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The area that was included in the Manor of Bradford that was given by King Æthelred II to Shaftesbury Abbey in 1001 is within the thick line. The dashed lines are the boundaries of the present parishes.
Click on the thumbnail picture for a bigger...
Read MoreTurnpike Roads of the Bradford Hundred

Click on the map for a larger version.
The roads of the Bradford Roads Trust are in red; other turnpike roads are in blue.
The first Bradford Road Act in 1752 authorised a Turnpike Trust to make, maintain and charge tolls on a road from Combe Bridge (at the boundary of Bradford with Monkton Combe, near the Viaduct) to Winsley, Bradford, Staverton...
Read MoreSources on the internet
Neil Mattingly’s Bradford on Avon site has huge amounts of pictures, reproductions and transcriptions of old documents. The National Monuments Record PastScape -archaeological and architectural heritage Bath in Time -photographs of Bradford and some of the villages Francis Frith -photographs from the postcard maker National Archives Family Search -the Mormon index of... Read More
A Bradford on Avon Bibliography
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Books and booklets about Bradford on Avon and its surrounding area.See also articles in journals
Those in orange are available for purchase at the Museum
Canals to Bradford on Avon

Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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The Kennet & Avon Canal through Bradford on Avon was fully opened in 1810, connecting the town to London in the east and Bristol to the west. The Somersetshire Coal Canal linked it to the North Somerset Coalfield and the Wilts & Berks Canal and North Wilts Canal gave easier access to...
Read MoreThe Bradford Manor Charter of 1001
Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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A copy of the grant by King Æthelred II gives details of the boundary of the manor in 1001
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The letter ð in the Anglo Saxon text represents a voiced “th”, as in “this”
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The Bradford Hundred

A Hundred was the administrative division below that of the Shire, or County. The name was probably originally related to the area of land nominally required to support a hundred eligible families. Hundreds and Shires came into being in the Saxon period, perhaps as early as the 7th century.
The Bradford Hundred Court was held by the Abbess of Shaftesbury, but was in fact presided over...
Read MoreBradford Hundred Timeline
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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c2000 BC: Early Bronze Age burial at Jugs Grave, Inwood
7th century BC: Early Iron Age Budbury hilfort
late 3rd century: Bradford and Atworth Roman villas built
652: King Cenwalh fought at Bradanforda be Afne
705: A monastery at Bradford...
Read MoreA Bradford-centric railway map

Bradford was well-served by railways, but was not really the hub of the system! The map shows lines and stations, some still functioning, some swept away by the Beeching axe in the 1960s.
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click on the map for a bigger...
Read MoreThe River Avon

Bradford’s river is generally distinguished from other Avons as the Bristol Avon. The name derives from Welsh afon, which simply means river.
Its course is unusual. It begins as several streams flowing east down the dip slope of the Cotswold Hills. They should really join the upper Thames, but the Avon turns to the SW following a vale cut in soft clay. Just above Bradford it...
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