Where is Lacock? To my mind, it's a village near Melksham. Chippenham also lays claim to it though, having adopted Lacock's Folk Festival as its own. And now I see from the Wiltshire Times that Lacock is near Corsham - "Vandals break Corsham church windows", the headline reads in reference to yobs having thrown stones through the windows of St Cyriac's Church in Lacock. Well, sorry! Lacock is near Melksham and we are proud of it, so hands off!

By philmcm at 21:29 on 04/06/11

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""The Melksham Community area includes the Parishes: Atworth, Broughton Gifford, Bulkington, Great Hinton, Keevil, Melksham, Melksham Without, Poulshot, Seend, Semington, Steeple Ashton"" - http://tinyurl.com/3skz7oa . And ""The Corsham Community area includes the Parishes: Box, Colerne, Corsham, Lacock.""

By Well House Consultants at 05:25 on 05/06/11
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One really has to scratch his/her head over the logic of the parishes you listed under Melksham, Well House. Steeple Ashton yes but Lacock no? Certainly Poulshot and Bulkington would feel more inclined toward Devizes. *sigh* it's the habit that Lacock calls itself part of Chippenham. Goshdarnit, let's make Melksham the town everyone wants to be like!

By lisaell at 18:23 on 05/06/11
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Exactly, Lisa - that's my thinking and really what I was getting at in highlighting the admittedly slightly tongue in cheek issue of Lacock's church being relocated to Corsham. Melksham was for a long time the rebellious young upstart that places like Chippenham and Trowbridge seemed slightly embarrassed of having on their doorstep, but it's maturing into a respectable community with a spirit that others find enviable, and in the words of the bard, the times they are a' changin'. The boundaries and groupings referred to above are I suspect artificial constructs based not on traditional parishes (which tended to be linked by geography - often for example so that a vicar could cycle around from church to church) but more along political lines, and there's no reason at all why they shouldn't be reviewed and overhauled in future. Thus Poulshot could be returned to Devizes and anomalies such as Bromham [not mentioned above] sorted out - allegedly it's "Bromham, Chippenham, Wiltshire" but the village lies 7 miles from Chippenham and just 7 from Melksham.

By philmcm at 20:33 on 05/06/11
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sorry, Bromham lies just 4 miles from Melksham I mean... whoops.

By philmcm at 20:35 on 05/06/11
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I thought that Bromham was part of Devizes ... """The Devizes Community area includes the Parishes: All Cannings, Bishops Cannings, Bromham, Cheverell Magna, Cheverell Parva, Devizes, Easterton, Erlestoke, Etchilhampton, Market Lavington, Marston, Potterne, Roundway, Rowde, Stert, Urchfont, West Lavington, Worton""".

By Well House Consultants at 20:58 on 05/06/11
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In all seriousness, I was told that the 20 largest towns were designated to be centres of the areas / area boards. The town seats for each area were then fairly obvious to assign, but it wasn't as easy for the more rural ones as the seats tended to cover quite large hinterland areas which often include the social watershed between towns. There was also the desire to keep the areas as similar in size as practical, so a tendency to allocate larger rural seats (population wise) to smaller towns. I don't know how good my source is, though - perhaps someone could confirm my story, or feed us a new story!

By Well House Consultants at 21:06 on 05/06/11
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I'm with Phil - let's lay claim to Lacock for ourselves in Melksham!

By sashahes at 15:52 on 06/06/11
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I see both sides. I think the population count is a reason, but I also see historic prejudice coming in to deciding which similar-in-population village nearby (not closest to) went with which area board. For instance, Lacock is considered at the foot of the Cotswolds but Chippenham isn't included. Frankly, I think the good people of Lacock might be mortified to have to work with the Melksham Area Board...only for historic reasons, mind, and not seeing Melksham as coming in to its own, being very viable and in spite of everything, pulling up its bootstraps and really becoming a place to be proud of.

By lisaell at 15:54 on 06/06/11
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@Well house consultants - According to all the local estate agents (who generally know a thing or two about demographics) Bromham is near to Chippenham, not Devizes. If you Google Bromham you'll be offered "Bromham, Chippenham, Willtshire" as a default. Personally I shall always think of it as being near Melksham, with Sandridge joining the two like an umbilical cord!

By Phil_McMullen at 11:59 on 07/06/11
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