All Cannings

All Cannings

The edge of All Cannings
All Cannings
 All Cannings shown within Wiltshire
Population 649 (in 2011)[1]
OS grid referenceSU070617
Civil parishAll Cannings
Unitary authorityWiltshire
Ceremonial countyWiltshire
RegionSouth West
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town Devizes
Postcode district SN10
Dialling code 01380
Police Wiltshire
Fire Wiltshire
Ambulance South Western
EU Parliament South West England
UK ParliamentDevizes
WebsiteCommunity Portal
List of places
UK
England
Wiltshire

Coordinates: 51°21′14″N 1°54′04″W / 51.354°N 01.901°W / 51.354; -01.901

All Cannings (pronounced Allcannings) is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in the English county of Wiltshire, about 4 miles (6 km) east of Devizes. The parish includes the nearby smaller settlement of Allington.

History

The earliest settlement in the area of All Cannings was at Rybury Camp, on the downs above the village. The Iron Age settlement at the farm of All Cannings Cross is an important site in study of that period. There is also evidence of settlement from Neolithic and Roman times. The Wansdyke crosses the parish, below Tan Hill.

The toponym is believed to be a derivation of "Old Canning" and a village probably existed on the current site by the 10th century as the invading Danes at that time referred to Canning Marsh. There was a church from early in the 13th century and the earliest features in the current Church of England parish church are late Norman. By the 14th century the village had a water mill, but this had disappeared by the 18th century.

The Kennet and Avon Canal was built just north of the village and opened in 1810. The village's population peaked in the middle of the 19th century with the 1841 census showing 663 inhabitants.[1]

In 1868 Francis Baring, 3rd Baron Ashburton, and his tenant farmer Simon Hiscock decided to each build a pair of semi-detached workers cottages. They had two adjacent plots of the same size. The tenant built his pair of brick, his Lordship of concrete - the only major difference is that in the absence of internal shuttering the concrete chimneys are straight rather than bent to combine into a single chimney stack. Both pairs of cottages still stand largely unaltered, although one of the concrete houses had an extension added in June 2006.

The concrete house
The brick "template" house next door

It is assumed that this was a trial into the efficacy of using shuttered reinforced concrete as a building method. It seems to have been successful as two more pairs were then built, followed by a more elaborate villa style pair of cottages and finally a large Farmhouse. This experiment is unknown and unacknowledged outside the area. While these houses may not be the very first concrete houses built, they were built within a couple of years of the first one - the time-line is not clear and are certainly the biggest example of a group of dwellings built then.

Religious sites

The church of All Saints is Grade II* listed.[2] It dates from the 13th century and was restored in the 19th century.[3]

There was a church at Allington before 1100 but it fell into disuse, possibly in the 14th century.[4]

Bethel Strict Baptist chapel opened at Allington in 1828 and is still in use.[5]

A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was registered in 1890 and closed sometime before 1959.[6]

Education

All Cannings had a Sunday school by 1808 and a day-school by 1818.[7] 100 pupils were enrolled in the day-school but attendance was much less as many of the children worked in the fields during the week.[7]

By 1833 the village had two day-schools: the parish school with 105 pupils and a private school with 12 pupils.[7] The Rector had the parish school built that year on land given by the Lord of the Manor, Alexander Baring.[7] The private school had closed by 1858.[7] The parish school was reorganised in 1961[7] and moved into a new building in 2000.[8][9]

Amenities and events

The Kings Arms public house hosts an annual "Rock Against Cancer" concert. Artists at the 2012 event included Bob Harris (compere), the SAS Band, Mike + The Mechanics, Brian May, Kerry Ellis, Madeline Bell, Midge Ure, Tom Robinson, Chris Thompson, Patti Russo, The Fabbagirls, Dan Chisholm, Sweet and Strawbs.[10]

Notable people

David Curwen (1913-2011) built miniature railway steam locomotives at All Cannings.

References

  1. 1 2 "Wiltshire Community History - Census". Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  2. ↑ Historic England. "Church of All Saints, All Cannings (1365955)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  3. ↑ "Church of All Saints, All Cannings". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  4. ↑ "Victoria County History - Wiltshire - Vol 10 pp20-33 - Parishes: All Cannings". British History Online. University of London. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  5. ↑ "Bethel Strict Baptist Chapel, Allington". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  6. ↑ "Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, All Cannings". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Crittall et al., 1975, pages 20-33
  8. ↑ All Cannings C of E Primary School
  9. ↑ "All Cannings C. of E. Primary School". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  10. ↑ "Concert at The Kings". Concerts at the Kings Arms Ltd. 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2013.

Sources & further reading

External links

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