Aldbourne Archive

Looking back towards Aldbourne village from Four Barrows showing the beech and hawthorn trees on the track with hills in the distance and cloudy skies

13 November 1925 newspapers reported that Aldbourne's Four Barrows were selected for official preservation as just one of many sites (over 70 according to the paper) on 'Wiltshire's numerous list' (photo 2011)

The Not Forgotten Discover The Not Forgotten, enhancing lives of veterans and the serving military with events and support. Join us in honouring their service today!

The Parish News magazine 1980 tells us that veteran Jack Humphries from Aldbourne attended a Christmas Dinner at Buckingham Palace, the event was organised by The Not Forgotten, a charity still very much active today.
#OnePlaceWednesday
thenotforgotten.org

Gravestone in St Michael's Churchyard Aldbourne. Inscription reads Peace in loving memory of Mary Jane Walker who departed this life 12 Feb 1937 aged 78 years. Also of her husband William Henry Walker the last of a long line of dew pond makers who died 31 July 1941 aged 77 years. Reunited

St Michael's Churchyard is the final resting place of William Henry Walker, who died in 1941 aged 77. The last of a long line of dew pond makers #OnePlaceWednesday #31DaysOfGraves

Inspired to wander up to the top of St Michael's Churchyard for a moment of quiet. Paused on the way up for a breather and the colours on the beech tree are stunning.
#31DaysOfGraves #Landscapes #OnePlaceWednesday

Oh wow, what a discovery by @thelineagefinder.bsky.social
My most recent find was a copy of A Country Camera by Gordon Winter (1971 edition) in the second-hand bookshop at @valeanddownland.bsky.social featuring Blossom, Golden and Spark in the capable hands of Harry Wootton and Arthur Watts (1911)

One of Aldbourne's great institutions, shared today for #OnePlaceWednesday - with thanks for posting the concert photo to @janh1.bsky.social 🙂
Photo today shows the band in 1885, from the Aldbourne Civic Society Archive ref 155

The grave of John and Emily Veitch in Aldbourne churchyard shows an anchor on the cross

The grave of John and Emily Veitch in Aldbourne churchyard shows an anchor on the cross. This photo shows a close up of the anchor.

John Veitch (1856 - 1920), Royal Navy, then Coastguard at Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex and in retirement landlord at both the Crown and Blue Boar pubs in Aldbourne. Remembered at the weekend at the St Michael's Church Discovery Day - our village links with the sea
#31DaysOfGraves #OnePlaceWednesday

#OnePlaceWednesday. Image: A photo of open countryside with fields, trees, hedgerows, the occasional building, and some low, rolling hills. In the centre, and in the near distance, there is a tree in some sheep pasture, casting a long, early morning shadow while around a couple of dozen sheep are gathered beneath its leafy boughs. One-Place Studies, where family history and local history unite.

Welcome once again to #OnePlaceWednesday! As always, we’ll be using the hashtag throughout the day in posts about #OnePlaceStudies, that brilliant blend of #FamilyHistory and #LocalHistory, and we hope you will join us by sharing your OPS news, views, links, pics, questions, suggestions, and more.

All Aboard the Aldbourne Express Way back in 1999 I was puzzled by a photo of a postcard. It was part of the preparations for the Aldbourne Civic Society exhibition in the Old School Room, Millennium Festival 2000. This coloured i…

The railway didn't quite make it to Aldbourne, although it looked like a possibility in 1883 - read on ...
#OnePlaceStudies #Railway200 @railway200.bsky.social
aldbournearchive.wordpress.com/2020/12/05/a...

Poster for Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre’s “Architecture in the Archives” Open Day on 20 September, 10am–4pm. Includes event details: archive displays, behind-the-scenes tours, conservation lab visits (10am–1pm), and a pop-up café. Poster includes photo of the History Centre plus logos for Wiltshire Council, Heritage Open Days, and Swindon Borough Council. A pink banner reads “FREE TO EXPLORE.”

Join us this Saturday 20th for our annual #heritageopenday this year celebrating all things architectural from our #archives & #localstudies collections. Meet the experts on #househistory & #familyhistory and why not drop in for a cuppa at our pop-up Heritage Café. See poster for more details.👇

"Aldbourne can boast that her name was formerly written Auburn; she can remember that Richard Jefferies, thus misled, sought to identify her with Goldsmith's "Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain"
Source: @wiltshiremuseum.bsky.social scrapbooks 1920
#OnePlaceWednesday

Thomas Fairchild 1667 – 1729 3 September 2025 update: The rejuvenated garden; as described by the creators of the bespoke street furniture and incorporating some excellent photos. Fairchild’s Garden, London – A former di…

Thomas Fairchild (1667-1729) was baptised in Aldbourne. The location of his memorial became known as the Hackney Road Recreation Ground. Renamed Fairchild's Garden in 2017, this open space has now been rejuvenated aldbournearchive.wordpress.com/2022/05/19/t... #OnePlaceWednesday #OnePlaceBaptisms

The Age of Innovation – Building in the 19th century - Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre Expert speakers at Wiltshire Buildings Record's Study Day on 'The Age of Innovation' will cover diverse topics including Model Farms, historic racecourses and William Morris.

There's a full day of expert speakers lined up for Wiltshire Buildings Record Study Day on Saturday 18th October on topics as diverse as Model Farms, historic racecourses, William Morris, Quaker architect Brightwen Binyon, & Victorian architectural ornament:
wshc.org.uk/the-age-of-i... #architecture

Aldbourne village pond in sepia tint with Pond House the Crown Inn and St Michael's Church. There is a gathering near the bench in the square where village worthies have long rested to chat and to put the world to rights.

Last weekend I met with a WWII evacuee to Aldbourne in 1939 with many memories and photographs to share. Inspired by this connection, I've been researching Raphael Tuck & Sons postcards. Love this one, showing the 'village council' gathering by the bench in the square
Source: www.tuckdbpostcards.org

Article clipped from Evening Express Clipping found in Evening Express published in Liverpool, Merseyside, England on 4/17/1933.

John Robinson, who played Professor Bernard Quatermass in the 1955 BBC Television serial, lived in Aldbourne from the early 1940s until 1946. His wife Kathleen was the granddaughter of Charles Smith 1818-1886, Maltster and Farmer in South Street #OnePlaceWednesday
www.newspapers.com/article/even...

Photo includes a poppy wreath labelled VJ 80 which was placed on the Aldbourne Memorial Hall at the commemoration also an arrangement of yellow flowers laid in tribute for a father who served in the Burma campaign. Other photos show the names of those who died in the Second World War remembered on the Aldbourne Memorial Hall and the chalkboard giving notice of the Two Minute Silence that was placed by the hall committee to alert passers by during the days leading up to VJ Day. Our vicar and two representatives from the village who gave readings are shown during the service with the wreath and flowers in position.

A simple and intensely moving commemoration. The National Two Minute Silence for VJ Day 80 at Aldbourne Memorial Hall on Friday 15 August 2025

Football field Farm Lane Aldbourne. Site of the American Army Camp during the second World War. The Pitch with goalposts and houses in the distance are framed by haw berries and green leaves.

Love this little tree. Blossoms and berries make frames in their season.
#DiggingBandOfBrothers Operation Nightingale
#OnePlaceWednesday #Aldbourne

A banner advertising the Aldbourne Art Exhibition beside the bench commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Aldbourne Memorial Hall opening in 1922. The Art Exhibition is raising funds for the Hall which can be seen in the background.

TODAY: A long standing village institution, supporting an even older village institution! The 21st Aldbourne Artists Exhibition (founded by Andrea & Peter West) in the Aldbourne Memorial Hall. Free entry to view and find a work of art. Profits to Hall funds. 10-4 Sunday 10 August 2025 🎨

Some #VJDay75 Recollections Aldbourne Memorial Hall VE and VJ Day 75th Anniversary commemorations have been vastly different to those originally envisaged. On 15 August 2020 there will be national events to mark the occasion,…

As VJ Day 80 approaches, my thoughts turn to the memories shared in Aldbourne for earlier commemorations. #OnePlaceStudies #OnePlaceWednesday

Rewind What will you find? Explore thousands of recent archive clips from around the UK.

I would really like to share a 1967 Village in the Downs: Harvest film presented by Desmond Hawkins @bbcarchive.bsky.social but can't get the link to work here. The film can be found at bbcrewind.co.uk and search for Aldbourne.

The magic of Google tells me that the machine is a hay-binder

Two large horses possibly Shires standing still hitched to what looks like a baling machine. One of the horses has a nosebag. The driver of the machine may also have his lunch which was brought to him by a woman in a summer dress standing by the baler. Two traditional hayricks can be seen in the distance and beyond those the rolling Aldbourne downs.

Harvest at Eastleaze, Aldbourne circa 1941. From the Aldbourne Civic Society archives #OnePlaceStudies #OnePlaceWednesday

Harvest Festivals 1903 & 2023 St Michael’s Church – Community Harvest Service 29 October 2023 For over a decade, the Aldbourne Churches Together have organised the Aldbourne Harvest Appeal (A-Ha!) in support of the …

In 2023 (and the first year I noticed these delicate little flowers) the harebells appeared by the grave of Robert Cresser, and inspired this article later in the year aldbournearchive.wordpress.com/2023/10/29/h...

In 2024 the harebells graced the grave of Frances Frampton (1830 - 1912). Her mother and three siblings are buried nearby. Members of the Frampton family lived at Upham Farm and what is now Beech Knoll.

Harebell soft blue flowers growing in long grass beside a gravestone with the churchyard of St Michael's, Aldbourne in the distance

Each year harebells spring up in a different place in the churchyard, and focus our attention on a different family grave. This year we are thinking about Florence Kate Bowes, died aged 9 years 6 months in March 1914, and her parents Joseph and Rose #HarebellChallenge @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

The beautiful milky-blue, bell-shaped flowers of Campanula rotundifolia, commonly known as the Harebell or Scottish Bluebell. Can you find one in bloom for #WildflowerHour this Sunday? Share your pics 8-9pm.

Is there a wildflower more evocative of long summer days than the beautiful Harebell?! Campanula rotundifolia is of course also known as the Scottish Bluebell. The challenge this week is to see if you can find one for #Wildflowerhour! Share your pics this Sunday 8-9pm! 💙

Aldbourne village pond, famous for the origin of the Dabchick legend. A a little grebe spotted in the dim and distant past or was it a sea woodcock or bobchick? Over the weekend 12 and 13 July the pond had a new occupant. A Loch Ness monster swam amongst the water lilies.

Definitely not a Dabchick!
Thank you to everyone concerned with the Aldbourne Scarecrow Trail this weekend. A truly community inspired event supporting Aldbourne Churches Together and St Michael's School, Aldbourne PSA.

A gathering of older folk at the Silver Threads in Aldbourne. Centre stage is a cake with a single candle, so we think this was a first birthday celebration for the group.

Aldbourne Over 60's Club (later Silver Threads) started in 1952, organised by Mrs Marjory Sergeant and a group of friends. Meetings were originally in the Church Room, Marlborough Road. This may be a photo of the First Birthday Party for this excellent group. #OnePlaceWednesday #OnePlaceStudies

I have added William S Pike, who lives in Berkshire, to the 'Hall of Fame' aka my Aldbourne in Art Curation with @artukdotorg.bsky.social and hope to view Aldbourne Pond I and III very soon billpike.co.uk

Photo from the Aldbourne Heritage Centre collection shows the village pond at night. This was possibly how it looked for Her Majesty's Silver Jubilee in 1977. Jets of water from a central fountain lit by coloured lights below the water. Lights also hanging around the pond.

Cover of the Silver Jubilee 1977 programme for Aldbourne. Red letters spell out The Silver Jubilee 1977 and the royal crest is below in silver print.

Aldbourne Parish News April 1977 We invite ideas from anyone who may be interested, for a suitable Pond Fountain Display during the forthcoming Jubilee Celebrations. The Carnival Fountain will be used for the central display, and if someone can design and make an attractive centrepiece to fix to the fountain, it will add to the pleasures of the occasion. This provides a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate one's artistic ability, and at the same time provide enjoyment to others. There must surely be SOMEONE prepared to help the village and come to our aid? A suitable centrepiece might become a permanent part of the Pond fountain display. Time is not with us, hence the urgency of the this appeal. Will persons having serious thoughts on this problem be good enough to contact the Editor as soon as possible so that action can be taken.

Missed out on the purchase of Aldbourne Pond II by Bill Pike at auction recently, with reflections of the fair in the water, and a sketch showing the fountain in place for 1977. I wonder how it looked for Her Majesty's Silver Jubilee? Was a centrepiece created as per the request in the Parish News?