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Broughton Gifford Common

Broughton Gifford in the Hundred of Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire

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If there is one thing that perhaps Broughton Gifford is known for, it is its Common. This a roughly triangular piece of land of 28 acres in the north and at the highest point of the parish, that is open ground and almost completely surrounded by houses. Very desirable these days, this was considered to have been an unhealthy place not so long ago, noted for ‘agues’ (fevers) and epidemics among the population. While the situation is fresh and airy, the ground itself tends to be very wet and muddy due to the impermeability of the underlying clay. References in deeds of the early 18th century call it Broughton Marsh. It has been supposed that the surrounding houses developed as a squatter settlement of poor weavers, but there does not seem to be any documentation. Most of the houses date from not much earlier than the 18th century, but they might have been replacements for original poor houses of the settlers.

In 1798 a petition was signed by various residents hoping that the commons of the parish would not be inclosed. The rest of the parish, except Norrington Common and some smaller spaces, had been inclosed by 1783. Another scheme to inclose the commons was made in 1848-1850 and an Act of Parliament was obtained for the purpose, but it was never carried out. In 1879 Sir Charles Parry Hobhouse, Lord of the Manor and the Manor Court published a list of the rights of freeholders or their tenants to graze animals on the commons- at a rate of one head of cattle or five sheep to each three acres of land they held, according to Ancient Manorial Custom.

The Rev John Wilkinson, Rector of Broughton, reported in 1860 that there was a “constant tradition” that one of the church bells was given by Melksham in exchange for transferring a fair that was held on the Common to the town. This was held as the reason for the pub on the Common being called The Bell, but conversely the folk-tradition is just as likely to have been invented to explain the pub’s name.

Like much else in the village, the Common belonged to the lord of the manor until the then lord, Sir Charles Hobhouse of Monkton Farleigh, gave it to the Parish Council in 1951. A number of people retain Rights of Common -grazing of cattle is limited to the period from 13th August to 26th October in each year, although generally, animals are no longer grazed there at all. In the south-east corner an area has been made into the village football and cricket pitch and in this corner a big bonfire and firework display is held annually. The North Wiltshire Water Board claimed a right to maintain a water main there, under the Water Act of 1945 and presumably this has passed down to Wessex Water, the present provider.

Attempts to provide some drainage have been carried out at various times, latterly in about 1970 following on perhaps from the storm of 1968, when flood water ran down through the village.

The surface of the Common is marked by a network of earthworks. Strong enough to be visible on the ground, they show well in aerial photographs and on the LiDAR survey that was carried out by the Environment Agency. These features have been interpreted as the remnants of a deserted medieval village that was perhaps abandoned because of the Black Death in the 1340s, or depopulated when the land around here changed from arable to pasture. However, as yet, there is no documentary or archaeological evidence for a settlement on this damp ground.