Local History
Local Families
As much as anything history is about people, and Corsham has been associated with a number of families who have had longstanding connections with the Town.
At Hartham, the Goddard's and the Duckett's co-existed within 200 yards for over 400 years. Latterly Hartham Park was the home of Sir John Dickson-Poynder, the MP for Chippenham who became Governor of New Zealand and was created Lord Islington.
At the heart of the Town have been the Methuen's, and at Neston the great brewing family the Fullers.
The Hungerford's are commemorated as the original benefactors of the Almshouses and still retain a close relationship with Corsham through Guyers House.
The Goldney's once owned much of Pickwick (the lion's share of the estate was sold in 1948) and the Hulbert's ran Pickwick Brewery.
The Spackman's contributed a magnificent early photographic legacy, the Brakspear's added to the Town architecturally.
The Pictor family were principle characters within the stonemining industry in Corsham. On Dorothy Joan Pictor's death she bequeathed her house to Corsham Parish Council. "
Sir Michael Tippett lived in the High Street, and in it's day the Academy of Art attracted some of the leading artists of the 1960s and 70s.
And some families have contributed to the Town without fame or fanfare, but as residents and personalities for even longer periods. The Hancocks, and we all know one, can trace their Corsham heritage back over 600 years.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (Born 9.4.1806)
The GWR and Box Tunnel Connection
1830 - Won a competition for his design of the Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon, construction was started a year later and eventually completed as a memorial to him after his death.
1833 - Was appointed Chief Engineer of the Great Western Railway
1835 - Initial survey of the proposed GWR route began in September and work commenced on the Box tunnel almost exactly twelve months later.
By May of 1841 only the Chippenham to Bath section of the London to Bristol route remained to be done but this was acknowledged as being the hardest link to forge. This section included much deep cutting and embankments, another crossing of the River Avon at Bath, viaducts at Chippenham and Bath, the diversion of the Kennet and Avon Canal, but, above all there was that 'monstrous and extraordinary, most dangerous and impracticable tunnel at Box' still to be completed.
The tunnel was almost two miles long and by far the greatest railway tunnel of its day. The planned incline of 1:100 also caused much head scratching by the pundits of the day.
Work had started in September 1836 with the sinking of eight 28 foot diameter access shafts, one by the Bradford/Colerne road being some 300 feet deep.
For two and a half years the works consumed a ton of gunpowder and a ton of candles each week. Men and horses provided labour and many pumps were necessary to maintain acceptable water levels but in November 1837 water overcame the pumps, filled the tunnel and rose 56 feet up the shafts. Imagine the conditions in the tunnels, working in the dark apart from the spluttering candles, the fumes and noise resulting from the constant blasting operations, the wet and the dirt, also remember that modern health and safety regulations were yet to come.
The tunnel was projected to finish in August 1840 but as this date began to slip Brunel poured in all his resources with some 4000 men and 300 horses working round the clock. Imagine how the local inhabitants viewed the comings and goings of such a crowd.
Every available bed in the neighbouring villages and hamlets was occupied and these beds were seldom allowed to go cold! There was no local police force and the off duty drunken navvies (navigators) were 'controlled' by their foreman.
In June 1841 the great tunnel was opened at a cost of £6,500,000, this being well over twice the original estimate. On the last day of the month a decorated train pulled out of Paddington and arrived at Bristol some four hours later but many people were highly suspicious of 'high speed' train travel and especially of the unimaginable dangers of passing through a two mile unlit tunnel.
Discussions had started in June 1839 on the location of the GWR locomotive depot and repair facility and despite the rival claims of Didcot and Reading it was decided the site should be in the fields below the small market town of Swindon where the Cheltenham Railway joined the main line, the rail gradients being an important factor in this decision.
Two final points of interest:
a) remember that the gauge of the Brunel railway was 7 feet and our modern rail gauge is 4 feet 8 1/2 inches dates from around 1846, and,
b) it is reputed that at sunrise on the 9 April, Brunel's birthday, the sun shines right through his tunnel.
After completion of the Box tunnel it is believed several of the now unemployed stonemasons stayed in the area and used their skills by mining the stone for building purposes and hence starting a new local industry.
Stone
The ready availability of limestone in the Cotswolds had made it a convenient building material since at least Roman times. Corsham sits on the Greater Oolitic Seam which, since it extends in about a 20 mile radius of Bath, has been termed 'Bath Stone'. This stone differs from the Cotswold seams further north by having a lower ironstone content and therefore being lighter in colour. It is also less friable and so suitable for producing the dressed blocks of stone so common in the buildings of towns like Corsham and Bath.
Until the 19th century, the Corsham area had been quarried chiefly for local use. The construction of the Box Hill railway tunnel by the great engineer Brunel, however, brought the means of transporting stone easily further afield at the same time, coincidentally, as uncovering huge new deposits. So much stone was shipped from Corsham now that Bath Stone was sometimes also known as 'Corsham Stone'.
After the First World War, the expense of extracting stone and the development of cheaper building materials almost brought quarrying for Bath Stone to an end. With the renewed interest in conservation and building design sympathetic to its context, high quality limestone is again much in demand and quarries are being worked again, not only in the Corsham area, but also at Limpley Stoke near Bath. It is understood that stone is currently being extracted regularly from up to three different quarries in Corsham.
During the First and Second World Wars, abandoned underground stone quarries under Box Hill were used to store ammunition. In the 1950's part of the 35-acre Spring Quarry was developed as a Central Government War Headquarters site to which the government could retreat in the event of a nuclear strike. Code-named 'Burlington', the radiation-proof bunker 100 feet underground consists of a street with Whitehall ministries on each side and even included a pub called 'the Rose and Crown'. Until recently the facility was maintained by a small staff.
Burlington Bunker
Click here for details of a fascinating study of the quarries, their 20th century defence uses and related above-ground infrastructure. There is also some maps and images on the BBC website.
©2011 Corsham Town Council
Town Hall, High Street, Corsham, Wiltshire, SN13 0EZ
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