Hobbs Cottage is located on the Calne Road elegantly located, adjacent to the RAF main entrance. This beautiful Cotswold stone Cottage is brimming with history both military and from the local community. The cottage as it stands today has not changed that much externally since its renovation from two houses into one by the Air Ministry.

The Cottage was part of The Lyneham Estate which was sold by Sale by Auction (Messrs. Walton & Lee) at the Lansdowne Arms Hotel in Calne on Thursday the 5th day of October, 1905. The description of the cottages was 'A pair of stone and thatched cottages known as Hobb's House each containing, on the ground floor, a living room, pantry and a wash house; and, on the upper floor, two bedrooms; whilst at the side and rear are excellent kitchen and fruit gardens, with outhouses and piggeries'.

The Cottage has stood as a semi detached property with two single bedroom houses named No l and No2 Hobbs House. Older historical documents show that the property on the right as we look from the road, had an out-building adjoined and was extensively used as a bake house. The cakes and bread were produced for the villagers. Most of the locally grown wheat was ground for the bread making in the local mills at Farthing Lane.

A reasonable notion that the property was named after the Hobbs family who lived in the village in the late 1690's. The 1691 Census mentions a Mr John Hobbs holding a cottage, garden & orchard made to Edward Hobbs his grandfather dated 7th July 1691 for a 99 years lease. An annual rent of 2 shillings was required from John and Elizabeth Hobbs who lived in the dwelling.

The cottage was renovated by the military in the 1960's to accommodate an Executive Officer, (Mr Bill Doick) the large renovation project to completely gut all the internal walls, combining the two houses into a larger detached building, internal corridors were move, bedrooms altered and the downstairs living area was completely changed.

Today some of the original internal architectural design is visible; at either end of the two properties within the roof apex are gable windows, on the ground floor you can see where the original front doors and downstairs windows used to be. These openings have been bricked in and the external surface of the house has been covered and painted to obscure the renovation worked, interestingly there are no windows at the rear of the house although during the renovation work windows were put in. One of the stone fireplaces was removed along with both the spiralling staircases and a central extra wide staircase was installed.

Early Days
Census records from the Wiltshire Museums and Heritage Centre document that this property was built between 1847 and 1851. The Tythe map of 1846 clearly shows the houses were not built. The 1851 Census, is a bit vague as definitive details of who lived in which houses were not clear enough to get accuracy, but what is recorded shows a Stephen and William Lovelock were living side by side in a dwelling on the Lyneham to Calne Road. It can be assumed the house was built then.

The 1861 Census of Lyneham. provides first precise records of who lived in the side-by-side dwellings. No. 1 Hobbs House (As it was called then), William and Hannah Clark live in the house nearer the Church. William, aged 55, was an agriculture labourer and worked long hours on the arable field around Lyneham Court. The married couple were both born in Lyneham and his wife Hannah was two years younger than her husband.

The other house living conditions must have been replete. Steve and Mary Lovelock living in the single bedroom property with two children, their daughter Asenath aged 14 and son Genubath aged 12. It is believed the children slept in the converted attic space. Steven Lovelock was another agriculture labourer working in the large close by farming fields. He was 49 and his wife Mary was aged 47.

Ten years later, the census of 1871, William and Hannah Clark were still residing in No. Hobbs House, William still employed working on the arable land. The neighbours had a few changes on this population count; Steven and Mary Lovelock owned the house and Steven was still occupied on the land. The records show that the daughter had moved out, and possibly got married to another local farmer and the son had followed his father's cultivation footsteps into the farming world, he was now 22.

A decade later the next numeration the first house occupants were still Mary and Steven Lovelock, now a retired couple who had lived in the house for over 39 years, Steven had to supplement his retirement income by keeping locally employed on an opportunity basis as a general labourer. In the adjoining house, records show a Hannah Clark 25 year old pauper born in Lyneham lived with Helen J Clark again another pauper but twice her age at 52. Timothy Hunt born in 1863 at Lyneham, he was a young scholar and border sharing the accommodation.

The 1891 census of Lyneham gave details that in No. 1 Hobbs House; Mary Ann Lovelock now a widow aged 79 lived in the house. She lived with her daughter Jane Lovelock who was born in the village in 1834 now aged 55. We cannot determine from the previous census records where the daughter lived prior to her father dying. Earlier Census forms do not show her living in this property.

The other end of the property, No.2 Hobbs House, first occupants were recorded as Fred Hillier, village mason aged 29 born in Castle Cary. He was married to Sarah born in 1865. The young couple had a 12-month-old baby boy called Fran, like his mother they were both born in Lyneham.

Recent Times
There is no history gathered as yet on the occupants of the now named Hobbs Cottage's. It is known that the Military renovated the cottage in the mid 60' s this was done specifically for Mr Bill Doick and his family to move into. Bill Doick was the Executive Office for the ground maintenance at RAF Lyneham and RAF Wroughton. He was passionate about the grounds of the two military bases and was a well-known character at Lyneham. Bill Doick and his wife moved into the completed cottage and eventually bought it from the MOD and spent many years there.

Bill Doick was a man of many talents and spent a lot of time make Gypsy Caravan replicas, and was a member of the Magic Circle and was a magician of some note; he performed for many dignitaries including the Queen Mother. Due to family circumstances and his wife's ill health Mr and Mrs Doick decide to sell Hobbs Cottage, it was a very big wrench for Bill and Hobbs Cottage was sold in 1991 and remained empty until Mr and Mrs Holland bought it in September 1992. Bill did come back and visit the cottage before he died in 1997 his love of Lyneham and Hobbs Cottage is reflected in the fact that his ashes were scattered over Lyneham from a Hercules.

The memories of this lovely cottage were aspirations to Mrs Holland when she was stationed here with her husband and also as a child living at Lyneham when her Father was stationed here, she often walked past the converted dwelling and dreamed of moving in one day. When they did buy the cottage Mrs Holland endeavoured to trace the history and occupants of Hobbs Cottage, but there are still big gaps in the history, the cottage has a 'happy' feel to it and Mrs Holland would love to fill in the missing pieces. There is one mystery that still plays on their mind. In the current kitchen, there is a curved brick wall where the old bake house once stood and the Holland's have often wondered what is behind the original brickwork. They often talk about getting a survey done, but other things have prevented them getting answers to their mystery. They think that it may have been part of the large bakers oven or storage area for all the bakery tins and utensils.

We would like to pass on our sincere thanks to Mr and Mrs Holland, for spending the time researching and providing the background information to this historic village cottage and especially for the reminiscences provided to share.