Grant Proposal for Project Name - Biddestone Village

History of the Parish continued
In the 1870s the Poynder family of Hartham still
financed many dwellings in the village for their
employees. Until 1860, drovers from Wales used the
track from Yatton Keynell through the settlement to
herd their sheep and cattle to London. The animals
and men enjoyed refreshment from the pool created
by the ponded spring water or the beer brewed at the
numerous alehouses with their own water supplies.
Two of these hostelries remain as the 'White Horse'
and 'Biddestone Arms' (once the 'White Hart') public
houses today.
On its way to the battle of Lansdown, Oliver
Cromwell‟s army used the church of St Nicholas in
Slaughterford for artillery target practice leaving it in
ruins. For the next 200 years, until its restoration by
the Victorians, the villagers had to worship in
Biddestone where they were allowed to enter by a
back door onto a balcony at the back of the church,
thereby separating them from the people of
Biddestone!
It is believed that there were at least three water mills
on the By Brook in Slaughterford during Saxon times.
Initially, corn was ground and later, when weaving
became the important local industry, they took to
fullering and later still became paper mills.
Rag Mill closed in the 1960s. Chaps Mill, the last to be
in work, continued to make rag paper until its closure
in the 1980s. A Local Government Order joined the
two parishes to form a single civil parish in 1844.
Clockwise from top left:
The Old Forge 1980
The Close
The Pond and Green 1928
The White Horse 1980
Village Shop 1980
Reading Room Cottage 1910
Biddestone & Slaughterford Parish Plan
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