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Before the stupendous growth of its near-neighbour Swindon in the 19th century into the largest conurbation in Wiltshire, Malmesbury was the principal market town of the northern edge of the county from which it is now seperated by the M4 motorway. Sited on its hill. it was created the first borough in England by a charter of King Alfred the Great of Wessex in 880 and was fortified against the attacks of the Vikings and the Danes.
The town is now famous for the remains of its abbey which was a reknowned seat of learning throughout Europe when St Aldhelm was abbot here and where Brother Oliver, in 1025, made his early experiment in flight by gliding 200 yards from the roof and breaking both legs on landing.
The one-time market town, now deprived of its railway connections, still serves the surrounding area with a considerable number of pubs and most types of shops in the High Street.
The abbey was sold after its Dissolution and used as a source of building materials but many of the buildings which belonged to the monastery still remain; the remains of of the abbey itself; Abbey House (now private) and the Abbey Mill by the river. The town also possess the cottages of the weavers when the town took its share of the properity generated by England's all-important woollen industry.
Malmesbury Abbey
The south porch entrance to the Abbey posseses a Norman arch. The nave contains stained glass by William Morris & Co, and the tomb of the Saxon King Althelstan, first king of all England. There is also a window depicting Brother Elmer's 11th century attempt to fly.
In the Abbey churchyard stands the grave of the barmaid Hannah Twynnoy, who was killed by a tiger. Her memmorial reads;-
IN MEMORY OF
HANNAH TWYNNOY
Who died October 23rd, 1703
Aged 33 Years.
In the bloom of life
She's snatched from hence,
She had not room
To make defence;
For Tyger fierce
Took Life away,
And here she lies
In a bed of Clay,
Until the Resurrection Day |
Abbey House
Although Abbey House is private,the gardens are opened to the public from Easter until October, 11.00am - 6.00pm. Charges are Adults �5.00 Over 60s �4.00 Children 5-15 �2.00.
The Abbey House, Malmesbury, Wiltshire SN16 9AS tel: +44 (0)1666 822212 eMail: abbeyhousegarden@aol.com
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In 1971 the town became a conservation area which leaves it with something of a dilema; with about 400 listed properties, Malmesbury must balance onservation against becoming locked in the past.
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Athelstan Museum
| Displays include lace making, costume, rural life, coins, local industry, early cycles, an eighteenth century manual fire engine and paintings and photographs of Malmesbury |
| Mon - Fri 9am - 4.50pm (Fri 4.20pm)
Sat 9am - 1pm (4pm Easter to End Sept)
Bank Holidays 10am to 4pm
Admission: Free
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see also: WEST-COUNTRY MUSEUMS
see also; Wiltshire Museums and West Country Museums
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| Athelstan King of Wessex (924-939) |
| Athelstan made Malmesbury his capital. By the time of his death in 939, he had secured Saxon domination of all England. He was buried in the Abbey of which he was a great benefactor and which retains his tomb, if not his remains. |
| Thomas Hobbs (1588-1679) |
| The widely recognised philosopher was born in Malmesbury. |
| Maildub or Maidulph |
| The Irish monk established a hermitage here in 642 and the town of Malmesbury grew up around it. |
St Aldhelm
Studied under Maildub (or Maidulph) at malmesbury, founded the Benedictine Abbey here in about 683 and was buried in the abbey he founded on his death in 709.
Hannah Twynnoy (d.1703)
Hannah, a local barmaid, secured her place in the annals of history by her strange death - mauled by a tiger in a visiting menagerie on October 23rd, 1703. Her memmorial stands in the Abbey churchyard.
William of Malmesbury (c.1095-1143)
Sometimes known as William Somerset, he was librarian at the Abbey, and left us much information about life in his times. He is best known for his history, 'Gesta Regum Anglorum' ('The Deeds of the English Kings').
The town's strategic location, surrounded by rivers on three sides, as well as the resources they provided, has made it a desirable location which seems to have been occupied since about the start of the first millenium BC, during the Bronze Age.
It was the arrival in 642 of the Irish monk Maildub (or Maidulph) to establish a hermitage here which led to the growth of the modern town into a centre of knowledge reknowned throughout Europe of the time.
Maildub's presence at Malmesbury attracted the young and studious monk Aldhelm, kinsman if King Ine of Wessex. Aldhelm soon gained a great reputation as a preacher and scholar and travelled widely throughout Europe. He returned to Malmesbury and founded a religious community here in 676 which quickly became a centre of pilgrimage and learning. In about 683, the community adopted the rule of St Benedict with Aldhelm as the first Abbot.
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The present Abbey dates from that great period of Norman church building in the 12th century and was consecrated in about 1180.
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Although there is no direct evidence fot it, King Alfred the Great of Wessex is reputed to have granted Malmesbury a charter in 888 incorporating the town as England's first borough.
Alfred's grandson, Athelstan, came to the throne of Wessex on the death of Edward the Elder on July 17th, 924. He made Malmesbury his capital and, not only did he re-establish Saxon control, but extended it to the extent where he is recognised as the first true King of England Athelstan died in 939 and his body was carried back to Malmesbury for burial in the Abbey. His tomb is still there but it no longer contains his remains.
After Henry VIII's Dissolution of the larger monastic houses in 1539, the dominant role of the Abbey in the economy of the town was superceded by the expansion of the existing wool trade. The Abbey was bought from the Crown by William Stumpe who must have been a man ofconsiderable means as he also bought the Abbey at Oxford. He arranged for the Abbey church to become Malmesbury's parish church, for which purpose it was consecrated on August 20th, 1541.
Strategically placed between Oxford and Bristol, Malmesbury was a valued prize during the Civil War and changed hands no less than six times between 1642 and 1646.
The introduction of mechanisation in the textile industry towards the end of the 18th century caused in increase in the properity of the town and this expansion was followed by a period when the town became a centre of the lace-making industry. In the long-term, however, the topography of the town and its population of established buildings hampered the building of new factories and, to a large extent, the industrial revolution passed Malmesbury by.
Malmesbury was connected to the railway network when a branch line from the GWR mainline at Little Somerford was completed in 1877 but the line succumbed to the pruning recommended by Beeching. The Swindon-Malmesbury passenger service ran for the last time on September 8th, 1951, and the line was finally closed to goods traffic in 1962.
A number of companies have chosen to establish their operations in Malmesbury during the 20th century. The largest employer is Dyson, makers of cyclonic vaccume cleaners and washing machines.
In 1971 the town became a conservation area which leaves it with something of a dilema; with about 400 listed properties, Malmesbury must balance conservation against becoming locked in the past.
| 642 | | Establishment of a hermitage on the site of modern Malmesbury (Wilts.) by the Irish monk Maildub or Maidulph | | BAAAGCDL | | 676 | | Aldelm founds a religious community at Malmesbury (Wilts.) | | BAAAGCBQ BAAAGCDL | | circa 683 | | The loose religious community at Malmesbury formed into a regular Benedcitine abbey with Aldelm as its first abbot
| | BAAAGCBQ | | 688 | | King Caedwalla of Wessex gives Purton, Wilts., to Abbot Aldhelm of Malmesbury Abbey | | BAAAGEDT | | 709.May.25 | | Death of St Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne (Wessex), at Doulting in Somerset
His body was carried back to the Abbey he founded at Malmesbury for burial | | BAAAGCBG BAAAGCBS BAAAGBHZ BAAAGCBQ BAAAGCDL BAAAGEEC | | 888 | | Malmesbury in Wiltshire granted a charter by
King Alfred the Great
... this would make Malmesbury the oldest borough in England | | BAAAGBPR BAAAGCBS | | 924.Jul.17 | | Death of Edward the Elder, Athelstan becomes
king of Wessex | | BAAAGCBS BAAAGDKU | | 939.Oct.22 | | Death of King Athelstan of England, buried at Malmesbury Abbey; succeeded by King Edmund I (-946) | | BAAAGCBS BAAAGDKU BAAAGEIO | | 1025 | | Brother Oliver makes an early experiment in heavier-than-air flight by gliding 200 yards from the roof of the abbey at Malmesbury in north Wiltshire
He broke both legs on landing | | | | 1139.Oct.07 | | Malmesbury burned by Robert fitz Hubert | | BAAAGCBO | | 1140 | | William of Malmesbury offered the abbacy of Malmesbury Abbey but he refused it, preferring to remain a bibliothecarius | | | | 1140.Mar.26 | | Robert fitz Hubert recaptures Malmesbury and begins devastating the surrounding countryside, declaring himself independent of Stephen and Matilda and intent on seizing the country between Winchester and London
| | BAAAGCBO BAAAGDIT BAAAGDKN BAAAGEIE | | circa 1180 | | Consecration of Malmesbury Abbey | | | | 1490 | | Building of the market cross at Malmesbury, Wilts. | | | | 1877 | | Branch line from the GWR main line at Little Somerford reaches Malmesbury, Wilts. | | BAAAGCOL | | 1951.Sep.08 | | Swindon-Malmesbury passenger service ran for the last time | | BAAAGCFQ | | 1962 | | Already closed to passenger traffic since 1951, the Malmesbury branch line closed to goods traffic | | | | 1971 | | Malmesbury becomes a conservation area | | | | 2004.Apr.09 | | Suspicious disappearance of 21-year-old nursery nurse, Amanda Edwards, from Purton in Wilts.
She disappeared after dropping her boyfriend off in Calne, her car was discovered by her family abandoned in a car park at Asda later in the day. Fears for her safety grew when it was found that her mobile telephone was switched off and her bank account had not been touched | | BAAAGEGB BAAAGCMS BAAAGEDT BAAAGCDL BAAAGCFQ BAAAGGAG BAAAGega | | 2004.Apr.09 | | Ian Cortis arrested by police and questioned regarding the disappearnce of Swindon nursery nurse, Amanda Edwards | | BAAAGEGB BAAAGCMS BAAAGEDT BAAAGCFQ BAAAGGAG BAAAGega | | 2004.Apr.16 | | Doscovery of the body of missing Wilts. nursery nurse, Amanda Edwards on a building site at The Knoll in Malmesbury
Police also discover the body of 48-year-old Ian Cortis, her murderer, released from custody after questioning the previous day | | BAAAGEGB BAAAGCMS BAAAGEDT BAAAGCDL BAAAGCFQ BAAAGGAG BAAAGega BAAAGEGA |
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The Parliamentary Gazeteer of England and Wales, 1840-1843
, publisher A Fullerton and Co., 1843
Malmesbury Then And Now
by Charles Vernon, publisher Malmesbury Civic Trust
Three portraits of the town from different periods - 1,000, 1,900 and 2,000
Life in a Medieval Abbey
by Tony McAleavy, publisher English Heritage
The History of the Abbey and Town of Malmesbury
by Richard Luce, publisher The Friends of Malmesbury Abbey
By the distinguished local hostorian, who lived in Malmesbury from 1867 to 1952.
A Hill Top Town
by Stan Hudson, 1977
A personal history of Malmesbury by the author, written in 1977 when he was aged 80.
Malmesbury
The "The Archive Photographs" series
by Dorothy Barnes, publisher The Chalford Publishing Company Ltd., ISBN0752401777
Wessex and England from Alfred to Edgar
by David N Dumville, publisher Boydell and Brewer, ISBN0851153089
Anglo-Norman Medicine: vol. II Shorter Treatises
by Tony Hunt, publisher Boydell and Brewer, ISBN0859915239
An insight into conditions in medieval England.
Domesday Book: Wiltshire
, ed. John Morris, publisher Phillimore and Co. Ltd., ISBN0850331595 (paperback ISBN0850331609)
Castle Combe to Malmesbury
The "Britain in Old Photographs" series
by A Wilson, publisher Sutton Publishing Ltd., ISBN0750901012
A History of Wiltshire
by Bruce W Watkin, publisher Phillimore and Co. Ltd., ISBN0850336929
Cathedral Shrines of Medieval England
by Ben Nilson, publisher Boydell and Brewer, ISBN0851155405
William of Malmesbury
by Rodney Thomson, publisher Boydell and Brewer, ISBN0851154514
The Malmesbury Branch
by Mike Fenton, publisher Wild Swan Publications, ISBN0906867886
Eilmer, The Flight and The Comet
by Maxwell Woosnam, publisher The Friends of Malmesbury Abbey, ISBN0951397801
The Story of Malmesbury
by John Bowen, 2000, ISBN0953971503
An authoritative history of the town from the earliest times to 1600.
Curiosities of Wiltshire
by Michael Watson, publisher SB Publications, ISBN1857700619
The life of Wiltshire people over the past 5,000 years.
William of Malmesburys Life of Saint Wulstan
translated by JHF Peile, publisher Llanerch Publishers, ISBN1861430256
Recommend a Book for this Page
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