The Kelly's Directory of Wiltshire, 1939
illustrates the following commercial traders and inhabitants
within
the
village. The description provided: Lyneham is a village and
parish, on the road from Wootton
Bassett to Calne,
3¾ miles
south-vest from Wootton Bassett station and 2 miles southeast
of Dauntsey Junction station on the Swindon and Bath section
of the Great Western railway, and 6 north from Calne, in
the Chippenham, division of the county, Cricklade and Wootton
Bassett rural district, Cricklade petty sessional division,
Kingsbridge hundred, Calne county court district, rural deanery
of Avebury (Avebury portion), archdeaconry of Wilts and diocese
of Salisbury The Wilts and Berks canal passes within half
a mile north of the parish. Water is supplied by the Cricklade
and Wootton Bassett Rural District Council. The church of
St. Michael is
an ancient stone edifice, in the Perpendicular style, consisting
of nave, south aisle, north porch and a low embattled western
tower containing 5 bells, which were rehung and one recast
in 1926: there is a monument to the
Walker Heneage family: the
church was restored in 1863, and has 250 sittings. The register
dates from the year 1653 - The living is a vicarage, united
to that of Bradenstoke joint net yearly value £410,
with residence, in the gift of the exors. of Lt Col. Godfrey
C. Walker-Heneage D.S.O.,
M.V.0 ., D.L., J.P. and the Bishop of Salisbury and held
since 1915 by the Rev Edward Richard Zouche Walker B.A. of
St. Catharine's college, Cambridge.
The Methodist chapel was opened in 1934 and seats 120. A
Parish Hall, the gift of Major
and Mrs. Buxton, was opened
in 1937. There is a memorial hall to the men of Lyneham
who fell in the Great War, 1914-18. Charities amounting
to about £62 yearly, arising
from land at Lyneham, Bushton and Chiseldon, are distributed to the poor in money
and coal on the 21st December. The land is owned by the farmers. The soil is
corn brash; subsoil, sand. The chief crops are grass, wheat and roots. The area
is 3,431 acres of
land, of which about one-fourth is arable and the other pasture, and 9 of water;
the population in 1931 was 934 in the civil and 968 in the ecclesiastical parish.
Littlecott, 1 mile south-east; Barrow end, 1 east; Preston,
1 south-west and West Tockenham, 2 west, are tithings. Post
Office. Letters through Chippenham. Bradenstoke nearest M.
O. & T. office. Conveyance. - Motor omnibus passes
through the village daily, from and to Swindon & Chippenham
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