Pewsey

Pewsey is a large village and civil parish at the centre of the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, about south of Marlborough and west of London. It is within reach of the M4 motorway and the A303 and is served by Pewsey railway station on the Reading to Taunton line. The parish includes these small settlements: Kepnal – east of the village, south of the Burbage road Pewsey Wharf – north, where the A345 crosses the Kennet and Avon canal Sharcott – west, by the Avon; marked on some maps as East Sharcott as distinct from West Sharcott, a short distance downstream in Manningford parish Southcott – close to the southeast of the village. Archaeological excavations on Pewsey Hill show evidence of a settlement in the 6th century. In the Tudor era, the Manor of Pewsey belonged to the Duchess of Somerset. Several of the village's houses were built in this era: the timber framed cruck house at Ball Corner, Bridge Cottage on the Avon and the Court House by the Church. In 1764, the founder of the Methodist movement John Wesley (1703–1791) preached at Pewsey's Church of England parish church. The rector at that time, Joseph Townsend, was responsible for the building of Pewsey's first bridge over the River Avon. The Kennet and Avon Canal reached Pewsey in 1810. Of more lasting effect for the village was the completion of the Hungerford to Devizes section of the GWR's Berks & Hants line in 1862, which allowed fast travel to London and to the West Country. Since 1906, the line at Pewsey has been part of the Reading to Taunton line, a more direct route via Westbury to the West Country. In 1898 Pewsey Carnival was first held, a tradition that flourishes today with a fortnight of events, including The Feaste, culminating in an illuminated procession in mid to late September. A prominent statue of King Alfred the Great, the former Anglo Saxon King of Wessex and a local landowner, stands in the middle of the village. Pewsey White Horse The Pewsey White Horse hill figure is located on a steep slope of Pewsey Hill about south of the village, and can be viewed from several places in the surrounding area.