The area has a long history with the earliest evidence of settlement coming from the site of a Roman villa which was found at Stanton Park. The village and manor are mentioned in the Domesday Book and a Church is believed to have stood here from the 12th century. The name ‘Stanton’ has its origins in the Saxon for ‘stoney’ and the ‘St Quintin’ suffix was in use by 1283, but it had an alternative suffix ‘FitzHugh’ in the early 16th century; being the surnames of lords of the manor.
The map is fragment of Andrews’ and Dury’s Map of Wiltshire from 1773 and you can access the whole map on the McMaster University Digital Archive by clicking on it.
This beautiful watercolour of St Giles Church at Stanton St Quintin is by John Buckler (Nov 1770 – Dec 1851) and is held at Wiltshire Museum (Devizes).
As Tabitha, a Digital Volunteer at the museum tells us, ‘despite its beauty this graveyard holds a tragic tale’. Indeed a further clue to this tale can be found by looking carefully at the map fragment above to find a gallows symbol by the words ‘Upper Stanton Field’.
You can read how events unfolded in 1764 by clicking on Buckler’s watercolour.
In 1868 The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland described the village as “Stanton St Quintin, (or Lower Stanton), a parish in the hundred of Malmesbury, county Wilts, 4 miles N.W. of Chippenham, its post town and railway station, and 5 S.W. of Malmesbury. The village, which is small, is situated on Akeman Street, and is wholly agricultural. The Beaufort hounds meet in this parish. There are stone quarries. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £312. The church, dedicated to St. Giles, is an ancient cruciform structure with a Norman tower, and was once collegiate. There is a free school for both sexes, chiefly supported by the Earl of Radnor and the Rev. C. G. Cotes.” [Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]
You can find out more about the history of the St Giles Church by clicking on this sketch from the Samuel Loxton’s Wiltshire Drawings archive at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre.
Samuel Loxton worked for Bristol newspapers and was drawing between 1888 and 1922. This pen drawing would have been published in The Bristol Observer, early in the 20th century.
Stanton Manor is steeped in history. The original house was listed in the Domesday Book and was once owned by Lord Burghley, chief minister to Queen Elizabeth I, and was rebuilt in 1840. Nowadays all that remains of the original manor is the dovecote, although the large stone fireplaces that adorn the present 19th century building were salvaged from the original house.
Now a hotel – you can find more by clicking on the image.
The population of Stanton St Quintin was never large until land was purchased by the MoD to create RAF Hullavington Airfield when the population grew to over a 1000.
You can read the story of the airfield by clicking on this image from 2 December 1943 of a Short Stirling Mk III of the Empire Central Flying School about to land at Hullavington (Wikimedia Commons).
In recent times, RAF Hullavington Airfield has become Buckley Barracks and the home of 9 Theatre Logistic Regiment – The Royal Logistic Corps.
Find out about the 9RLC and about the heroism of Buckley VC by clicking on the emblem.
Some Village History Links …
The ‘Wikipedia’ entry can be found Here
‘British History On-Line’ contains a great deal of detail and can be found Here
Some more on the Church and its sculpture can be found Here
Some more on the Church Sheela Na Gig sculpture can be found Here
The Church as a Grade II listed building can be found Here
A brief history of Hullavington Airfield can be found Here
‘Chronicles of a Courtier’ by Fiona Baskett tells the story of Stanton Court and can be obtained from Fiona at fionabaskett@googlemail.com or Here
‘Jobs for the Women’ by Fiona Baskett tells the story of the WAAF Memorial Window and can be obtained from Fiona at fionabaskett@googlemail.com or Here