Hilmarton Parish
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On the 6th September 2008, with a grant of £6485 from the Awards for All Lottery Fund, the Hilmarton Parish Heritage Society was able to revive the tradition of the Medieval Fayre, the first one of which was granted by royal charter to the parish of Hilmarton, Wiltshire by Edward the First during his reign in 1272 –1307.
In 1640 the Fayre came to an end during the rule of Oliver Cromwell and has not been held again until last year, 2008.
The Hilmarton Parish Heritage Society has been pro-active in assisting a resurgence of interest in the long history of the Parish, which can trace its written history back to the Doomsday Book. Archaeological digs, genealogical trees and several exhibitions have achieved this. Our chairman has written a book on the Salisbury Soldiers and we are continuing to gather information on the lives of those who appear on the war memorial in our church.
Hilmarton Village was placed first in the whole of Wiltshire, in the small village category on the 50th anniversary of this prestigious event. The village received considerable praise in all categories and the comments of the judges are as follows...
Residential gardens well kept, hedges and verges well tended. All outbuildings well maintained.
Playing field free from litter and well maintained.
Play area with play equipment kept to a good standard.
School hall and community room beautifully presented.
School garden and school well tended.
Notice boards - information current and well set out.
Bus shelter clean.
Burial grounds neat and tidy.
Baptist church beautifully presented.
Public house and Garage, clean and tidy.
No litter in the village.
We loved the lavender bushes in the churchyard!
Overall Comment: A feeling of public spirit throughout the village, and living village atmosphere with all people contributing to the overall effect.
The award ceremony took place on Sunday 5th October 2008 at 3.30pm.
Those present were welcomed by Mr George McDonic, the Chairman of the Wiltshire Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).
Mr J Bush OBE, President of the CPRE Wiltshire Branch, unveiled the CPRE shield positioned on the grass triangle behind the bus shelter. Due to wet weather the remainder of the ceremony was continued inside the Church, which was still beautifully decorated with flowers from the Harvest Festival Service.
Hilmarton - Best Kept Village Award Ceremony
Framed CPRE Certificate
Presented by Brigadier R Hall, Chairman of Wiltshire County Council, to Fred and Janet Jennings
Presented by Mr J Bush OBE,
to Mr John Reeves
Wiltshire County Council Best Kept Village Plaque
Prize Money from CPRE
Framed District Round Certificate
Presented by Mr George McDonic, Chairman Wilts Branch to Jeff Files
Presented by Mrs Anne Henshaw, Chairman North Wilts CPRE to Mr G Hudson.
North Wiltshire District Council Cheque
Framed Calor Certificate
Presented by Cllr Henderson, by Chairman of NWDC & Alison Bucknell, District Councillor, to Kevin Iles.
Presented to Tommy, by Mr Rob Woods,
Calor Representative.
All the awards were accepted on behalf of the Parish Council, and were received by people who had made a direct contribution in helping to achieve this prestigious award.
The ceremony concluded with a vote of thanks to all concerned, given by John Henly, Chairman of Hilmarton Parish Council.
Guests were then invited to the Duke Hotel where Rob and Teresa had laid on a delicious buffet.
Medieval Fayre
It was an excellent day, bringing together people of all ages from across the parish. We were particularly pleased that those who would not normally be able to see such an event due to disability, age or cost were there to enjoy the day.
One lady summed up the day by saying; “It was the best and most exciting thing that had happened in the Parish in her 53 years of living here”.
The Hilmarton Parish Heritage Society would like to say enormous “Thank You” to the Awards for All Team for enabling us to provide such a wonderful event for ALL.
It will be remembered in the Parish for a long time to come.
The medieval Fayre held in the centre of Hilmarton village was a tremendous success, with around a 1000 local people and their relatives attending. Despite a dreadful weather forecast for the day it was not until the very last hour that the rain arrived, but even this did not dampen the spirits of the large crowd as they cheered on the ‘Earl of Hilmarton’ in the jousting arena, where the Knights of Middle England captured the medieval spirit and the hearts of the local maidens!
Wonderful displays of medieval combat and dancing were provided by first class historical societies in glorious costumes of the period. We were excited to have the BBC Blue Peter camera team on site filming the Combat Society for a programme later in the year.
Some members of the public tried their hand at archery and helped in the arena to ‘fly’ the magnificent birds of prey from Hawksdrift Falconry assisted by ‘Elvis’ the ferret!
There was not so much as a ‘Game Boy’ to be seen as children of all ages sat enthralled by mysterious tales from the storyteller and dragon stories and plays from the puppeteer.
There was an opportunity to see demonstrations of woodcarving, which caused a lot of interest from the teenagers, and model making, together with an exhibition of the fascinating history of Calne, seat of the Witan in medieval times, by the Calne Heritage Centre.
All that have helped in any way should feel really proud that our village has been recognised as the "Best Kept" in Wiltshire
Notes on the best kept village competition
The criteria for judging is as follows:
1) Trees, hedges, walls, fences, banks, verges, residential gardens and outbuildings.
2) Open spaces (public & private) village greens, playing fields, allotments, ponds and streams, footpaths and rights of way, specified conservation areas.
3) Public and community buildings, and their surroundings, village halls, schools,
bus shelters, telephone kiosks, upkeep and currency of public notice boards.
4) Churches, church halls and their surroundings, war memorials, memorial gardens and burial grounds.
5) Shops, public houses, workshops, garages, advertising displays and their restraint, absence of fly posting, litter and rubbish.
The event is organised and sponsored by: Campaign to Protect Rural England.
The Spirit of Christmas Celebration
St Laurence Church, Hilmarton
All the decorations in the church looked fabulous. The candles were lit in the window decorations, and in the pews, so there was a magical atmosphere created for people to sit and chat or browse through some of the items for sale, including tickets for the amazing Christmas raffle. So many people fell in love with the Christmas teddy bear but rest assured he went to a loving home and is now awaiting the arrival of a new baby.
Once again it was highlighted what a fantastic community spirit we have in our parish.
The Spirit of Christmas was truly captured at St Laurence Church on Friday 12th December.
The first Spirit of Christmas event took place in 2006 and the idea was to present the church not only as a place of worship, but to celebrate its beauty and highlight some of the activities that happen in the church throughout the year. Therefore the bells were rung to welcome people into the church, the choir sang until they were hoarse and the organist played, filling the church with its wonderful sound.
Visitors to the children's corner were encouraged to decorate a Blessings tree with coloured cardboard baubles. On each of the baubles they wrote their names, ages and something they were thankful for in their lives.
Those that attended drank mulled wine, tea or coffee and ate delicious minced pies. Also served was a choice of homemade soups with crusty bread.
The talent and generosity of our local residents never ceases to amaze, as there were homemade Christmas decorations, cards, candles, wreaths, floral decorations, knitted goods, preserves and other delightful Christmas food donated for sale.
One resident brought some models of buildings that were made completely out of scrap materials, which proved fascinating to all. Hundreds of hours of work go into constructing these models and we felt priviledged to be able to display them in our church.
The Christmas tree sales did well again this year, and it truly makes you believe Christmas has arrived when you see children and their parents carry home their chosen tree!
Many others were instrumental in the project being successful, too many to mention by name, but you know who you are. Those that helped with fundraising, gave financial donations, took time of work to help with some of the manual work required to save on the overall cost of the project and everyone else that did anything however small that contributed in any way.
This was a dream that turned into reality through hard work and dedication. Ken & Pauline have been ringing in Hilmarton Tower since 1986 when they moved to Hilmarton. It wasn’t until the Spring of 1999 when a new band was formed, for the purpose of ringing for the Millennium. Since that time the band has been ringing regularly for all the Church services excluding the 8.00am ones.Not only has Ken dedicated his time to this project, over the years he has given many hours of his time to training new recruits.
The Restoration of the Bells at St Laurence Church
In September 2001 – The appeal for Stage 1 – Raising the floor level for the ringers was launched; this included moving some of the wall mounted monuments to different locations. Funding was secured and work commenced. This stage of the project was completed in May 2003.
In February 2003 – The appeal for Stage 2 – Removal, and retuning of the bells, replacement of the bell frame so that the bells could all be hung at the same level, replacement of the 2nd bell, restoration of the Church Tower pinnacles and replacement of the fantails, repairs to the stone stair case in the tower and removal and restoration of the Parish Clock was launched.
Through the dedication of many hours of filling in grant applications, writing reports to update parishioners and the PCC, organising volunteer helpers, and juggling work priorities on the tower (Not forgetting his real JOB of course) Ken’s vision finally came together.
The newly tuned bells were rung for the first time after reinstallation on 28th February 2006. After raising the enormous sum of £120,000
Behind the scenes Pauline and Sally & Mary offered their support in the endless cups of tea and cakes, trips to the bank, telephone calls from contractors and the upheaval generally in the Webb Household (mountains of paperwork, a garage full of bits and pieces from the tower and the wonder sometimes would they ever get their husband and dad back to do normal family things)
Ken’s Passion for Bells is incredible – but for that we should be thankful, especially on a sunny afternoon when we are in our gardens and we can hear the sweet sound of them ringing.
One of the first bells to come down
Taking a break
Here comes the Tenor
With some careful maneuvering it finally comes through the door
Ringing again!
The bells are all safely out of the tower.
Loading ready to be sent off for tuning...
Ken & Pauline with their babies
The Ringers and the Bells
..... and off they go
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What can be said?. Thank you! Well done! Wonderful!
These words can’t say enough to all those kind people who were involved in a very successful Flower Festival. Not only the creators
of the spectacular and artistic displays, but all of you who have given up your time to run the various attractions, generously donated items to sell - baked cakes, grown plants etc, and, last but not least, all who supported the event by parting with their hard earned cash, increasing the Church Kitchen/Toilet Fund by the staggering amount of almost £2000.00.
Thanks also to Alison, our Vicar, who presented an inscribed book to Janet Jennings in recognition of over 50 years organising the Church flowers.
Photo shows Jacquie & Jasmine discussing displays.
St Laurence Flower Festival
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Arts and Crafts Festival
The following presentations were made:
Ken first shared his vision for restoring the Bells in the Parish Newsletter in March 2001. He asked for support from parishioners as it was estimated that the total project would cost £45,000.
(If only he knew!)
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Huge thanks to everyone for all your efforts in making the 3rd/4th July a weekend to remember. What a team!!
Over 400 people attended the weekend's events raising £1753 for St Laurence Church.
The concert on the Saturday night was a delightful variety of music. Anna Ervine with Ukebox Jury was hugely entertaining (great voice Anna), Lingmara the Community Choir were a revelation giving us songs from across the world and even teaching the audience to sing in four parts, Pete and George our Hilmarton Jazz Duo were their usual fantastic selves. Special praise must go to our young performers Lily Packer and Helen Wiltshire who played the Flute Duet from Lakme so beautifully and professionally they were accompanied by Mary Forsyth, Joe Packer gave a really mature performance of America on the trumpet and Lauren Wiltshire played two pieces on the violin with such confidence. Delicious food and Pimms were served during the interval.
The sun shone brightly on the first Hilmarton/Goatacre Parish Art, Craft and Music Festival weekend and what a great weekend it was. 70 pieces of fantastic art and crafts were on display in the various venues throughout Hilmarton village showing an amazing array of talents across all age ranges. The children from the school put on a wonderful and imaginative show of art made from recycled 'everything' following a workshop by the Scrapstore.
The knitted house made by some 30 knitters of all ages and abilities finally took up it's position in the school hall and was hailed by the public to be a great success. It will be at the Calne Heritage Centre from the 14th July for two weeks if you did not get a chance to see it at the festival.
Demonstrations of woodturning, lacemaking, cross stitch, sugarcraft and art took place throughout the weekend.
Rare King James Bible found in Hilmarton Church
Mr Procter said: "We started doing some research and discovered that the Bible that, as far as I'd known, had always stood on a shelf at the church was in fact 400 years old."
There are fewer than 200 original printings of the King James version known to exist. And it is believed that the rediscovered Bible is one of the few remaining editions printed in 1611.
"It's one of those sorts of information that you don't know whether you should tell everybody or nobody," said Mr Procter.
Described as a fragment, despite most of the Bible being intact, it was first "rediscovered" in the 1800s. Since then it has suffered from both the ravages of time and some human interference. "The Reverend Francis Fisher found it in 1857 realised it was important and then tidied it up," explained Mr Procter. "He actually carved a cover from oak but trimmed the pages so that in places the top of the pages are missing."
The church now intends to get a glass case to keep the Bible in - partly for security and partly to protect it for future generations but also because the history books say it was kept in one.
Mr Procter said the most important thing about the Bible was that it was meant to be a living working book for people to live by.
"Well I think what it's going to do is enable us to talk about the Bible," he said.
"Because in a secular world it's seen as an important document it will actually bring the opportunities to us to go and discuss it in more detail. "When we took it for evaluation to the curator of a Bible museum, one of the first things he said was whatever you do you must display this so that people can read the word.
"That stuck with me - you know the fact that it's what it says rather than what it is."
A rare original King James Bible has been discovered on a shelf in Hilmarton church.
The discovery was made by residents researching the history of St Laurence Church.
Geoff Procter,said they read about a "fine chained Bible in a glass case" at the church.
They then made the link with a Bible that had been sitting on a shelf at the church for a number of years.
The biggest piece of art by far was the Monument to the (Glass) Milkbottle some 20 feet high made by Richard Broadhead depicting the amount of plastic milk bottles used by one family in nine months.
The event was the brainchild of Chairman of the Parish Council Mel Wilkins whose family have lived in the parish for many generations. Mr Wilkins was at pains to say “the event could not have happened if it was not for the enthusiastic support of the many volunteers who planned the event and helped set up the day “.
Hilmarton Victorian Street Fair, Saturday 3rd September
Although the event was organised as ‘not for profit’ but simply to provide the people of the Parish with a good day out, there was a surplus of £1230 which will go toward the ‘Community Corner’ in St Laurence Church. This planned space will make it much easier for the Parish Church to better support a wide range of community activities.
The historic fancy dress competition was won by, a ‘Victorian lady’, Val Procter, a ‘circus strongman’ Jeff Files, and Harry dressed as a ‘little street urchin’.
Nick Edwards, who gave the cider making presentation, said “this is my second visit to Hilmarton Parish and I am very happy to return as I found it to have such a warm and friendly atmosphere”.
Surrounded by some of the oldest buildings in Hilmarton, the first street fair for many years in the Parish of Hilmarton, took place over the afternoon and evening of last Saturday.
Church Road was officially closed for 24 hours giving the Parishioners of all ages hours of old fashioned fun.
Centre of attraction was the newly created mobile skittle alley, allowing the fair goers to try their hand at the age old village custom of ‘bowling for a pig’. Chris Moxey and Peter Addington tied for the prize and the pig was spared as they chose to split the £50 cash alternative.
There were face painters, a traditional cider-making presentation, ‘splat the rat’, a ‘Victorian’ photographer, Punch and Judy, toffee apples, a ‘yesteryear’ cake and sweet stall, tombola, kite making, raffle, and local landlord Rob organised an old brewer’s dray serving cask ales and organised a pork roast.
"But we thought that it was such an important artefact of the church and indeed the Church of England generally that we thought we ought to do some more research."
Described as a fragment, despite most of the Bible being intact, it was first "rediscovered" in the 1800s.
"But we thought that it was such an important artefact of the church and indeed the Church of England generally that we thought we ought to do some more research."
Churchwarden, St Laurence Parish Church Hilmarton with his daughter Lauren Henly, Chris Mastin Lee Deputy Chair of Hilmarton Parochial Church Council with two of his children, Tom Mastin Lee and Annabel Mastin Lee. Chris Mastin-Lee and Tom and Lauren Henly took part in the Service. They all had to leave Hilmarton and Goatacre very early to be at the Abbey in time for the rehearsals at 8.30.
A coach party, from the Parish arrived at the Abbey at 11.15 in readiness for the service starting at noon. The Archbishop of Canterbury The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr Rowan Williams gave the address and there were various readings and prayers including one by The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr John Sentamu Archbishop of York. New hymns and other musical works specially written for the event were performed. All this with a back drop of five King James Bibles resting on the High Altar.
After the service the King James Bible Trust invited all those involved with the St Laurence, King James Bible to a reception at Church house, Westminster, where the party, among others, met Frank Field MP, The Most Honourable the Marquess of Salisbury , Sir Donald Sinden and Revd David Smith who is Curator of The Museum of the Book in Limehouse London and was the latest expert to authenticate the St Laurence Bible.
The representatives from Hilmarton Parish included members of the Parochial Church Council and benefactors toward the design and building of a special display lectern which will house the St Laurence Bible. This is being undertaken by local artist and designer Alan Tilbury who attended the reception with his wife Catherine.
Westminster Abbey Report on the service:
A Service of Celebration to mark the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible. An historic and special pilgrimage took place on Wednesday 16th November by parishioners of St Laurence Parish Church Hilmarton to a service in Westminster Abbey. The service took place in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh and his Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. The advance party taking the 400 year old King James Bible from St Laurence Parish Church Hilmarton to Westminster Abbey for the processional service was John Henly,
