The 1855 Post Office Directory
The 1855 Post Office Directory of 1848 provided a small descriptive paragraph of the village, its role and main Lord of the Manor details.

Lyneham is a township, village and parish in Cricklade and Wootton Bassett Union, Kingsbridge Hundred, North Wiltshire located 4½ miles south-west from Wootton Bassett. The living is a perpetual curacy, in a gift of G.H.W. Heneage Esq., who is Lord of the Manor. The Reverend Edward Henry Thompson, B.A., is the incumbant; the glebe comprises of three acres. The church is an ancient edifice, dedicated to St Michael, the perpendicular style, has a low tower, containing 5 bells, a nave, and a north aisle, and contains a monument to the Walker Heneage family. The Primitive Methodists and Baptists have places of worhip here but has no regular minister.

There is a school endowed with 25 acres of land, producing about £39 per annum. The Endowed Free School is controlled by the headmaster Mr James Hinton and Miss Emma Hinton and Miss Jane Hinton. The parish comprises of 3,242 acres, of which about one half is arable and the other pasture. The population count in 1851 was 1,046. The Great Western railway and Wilts and Berks canal pass within half a mile of the parish providing main transportation facilities. Fairs for cattle are held at Clack at Michaelmas and Lady-Day.

Clack is a village 1½ miles west. Adjacent to the village is a farm house, called Bradenstoke Abbey occupying the site of a priory for Augustian Monks, founded about 1142 and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, described in 1855 as, some parts of the present building are very ancient. The 1848 Post Office Directory displayed on the website illustrates how the village has changed and industry moves on. If you would like to know more ...