Place:Lyneham, Wiltshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Lyneham is a large village in north Wiltshire, England, within the civil parish of Lyneham and Bradenstoke, and situated 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Royal Wootton Bassett, 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north of Calne and 11 miles (18 km) southwest of Swindon. The village is on the A3102 road between Calne and Wootton Bassett. The population of Lyneham numbered 4,945 in the UK census of 2011.

The civil parish includes the village of Bradenstoke and the hamlets of Preston, The Banks and Clack. Up until 1974 at least the civil parish was known simply as Lyneham, but since rural district system was exchanged for the municipal district and the unitary authority systems of government, the formal name was changed to include Bradenstoke. Bradenstoke was a separate ecclesiatical parish but it was never a civil parish.

The former RAF Lyneham station, now MoD Lyneham, is adjacent to Lyneham village, to the south and east. The RAF's C-130 Hercules fleet was based here until June 2011 and C-17 Globemasters from RAF Brize Norton made frequent visits. In 2012 all operations were transferred to Brize Norton in west Oxfordshire, 35 miles (56 km) to the north. The site is now home to the Defence Technical Training College, which became operational in September 2015.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Lyneham from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"LYNEHAM, or LINEHAM, a village and a parish in Cricklade [registration] district, Wilts. The village stands 1½ mile S of the Wilts and Berks canal and the Great Western railway, and 4 SW of Wootton-Bassett [railway] station; and has a post office under Chippenham. The parish contains also the village of Clack, and comprises 3,242 acres. Real property: £7,596. Population: 1,034. Houses: 230. The property is divided among a few.

"The manor belongs to G. H. W. Heneage, Esq. Lyneham Court is a farm house. An Augustinian priory, called Bradenstoke abbey, was funded, about the middle of the 12th century, near Clack village; and has left considerable traces at the farmstead of Clack. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £270. Patron, G. H. W. Heneage, Esq. The church is ancient, has been beautifully restored, and contains some monuments. The [perpetual] curacy of Clack is a separate benefice. There are chapels for Baptists and Primitive Methodists, a national school, an endowed school with £36 a year, and charities £53."

Research Tips

• Victoria County History - Wiltshire - Vol 9, pp90-104 - Parish: Lyneham. British History Online. University of London.
• From this Ancestry page you can browse the Wiltshire parishes which have parish register transcripts online, quite often from very early dates. However, reading the early ones requires skill and patience. Transcriptions should also be in FamilySearch.
• A further collection of online source references will be found on the county page for Wiltshire.