John Dymond on ‘The Rise and Loss of a Downland Village’
In May, local history enthusiast John Dymond came to explain to HHA why the village of Snap, situated west of Aldbourne, Wiltshire, became abandoned by 1913.
‘Snap’ is a late 19th century spelling; it has been variously spelled ‘Snape’, ‘Snapp’, or ‘Snappe’; all meaning ‘spring or boggy place’, it is an apt name. ‘Snape’ was first mentioned in a document from 1268. In 1332 there were six households but only five households in 1509, by which time the land was owned by The Crown. The earliest map of Snap is dated 1598.
1643 saw the English Civil War arrive in Snap when the Parliamentarian Earl of Essex marched down the main street with 8,000 men. Espied by Royalist Prince Rupert, two riders were dispatched to Oxford to warn King Charles I. Essex and his army were chased through the centre of Aldbourne and on to Hungerford, making for Littlecote. It was known as the Battle of Aldbourne Chase.
Charles I had sold the Manor of Upham (including Snap) to the City of London back in 1627. The City sold off all the land as farms for enclosure in 1631. The farms at Snap and Upham were bought by a Puritan preacher and ‘Trier’ for the Protectorate, Obadiah Sedgewick of Marlborough whose widow sold it to her brother Edward Goddard in 1667.
By 1809 there were just four houses in Snap and between 1861 and 1911 the Census’ reveal a drop from 53 to five residents. Arable farming had collapsed in the late 19th century due to high imports of cheap wheat from North America, resulting in the residents of Snap leaving to seek employment elsewhere., some as far away as Patagonia. Rachel Fisher was the last to leave Snap around 1913. The only remnant of the village is a small pile of rubble.
John’s depth of research using primary sources including original maps and archival documents was commendable and made for an absorbing evening.
-Dr Caroline Ness, 28 May 2025
Alan Turton on ‘The Civil War in Wiltshire’
Alan Turton, former curator of the English Civil War site Basing House, Hampshire, and a founding member of the Battlefield’s Trust, spoke to HHA about the response in Wiltshire to the ‘war without an enemy’.
Wiltshire was generally pro-Parliament during the Civil War. Agriculture and cloth weaving were the main forms of employment when King Charles I began running into serious difficulties with Parliament resulting in the Civil War in 1642. The economic crisis, expedited by the 30 years war playing out on the continent, led to disagreements between Parliament and the King who wanted to raise taxes and reform customs. The cloth merchants of Wiltshire were already losing access to profitable markets in Flanders and were not in favour of the kings plans to further penalise their profits. No wonder they sided with Parliament.
Philip Herbert, Earl of Pembroke and Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, sided with Parliament and William Seymour, the Marquess of Hertford was kicked out of the county to become a Royalist commander. The Wiltshire Militia, in common with the militia in general, were untrained working men. There were many battles between the Royalist and Parliament men during the race to get to London between the King, supported by Prince Rupert, and Parliament led by the Earl of Essex. Essex reached London first and the King garrisoned at Oxford.
During the winter of 1642 Marlborough was attacked but the locals rebuffed the Royalists and forced them back to Aldbourne before chasing them back to Oxford. Shortly afterwards the Royalists returned with a much stronger force and captured the town.
The garrison in Malmsbury changed hands about six times during the course of the war. It was stormed by Sir William Waller MP for Andover in 1643 and on 5 July they lost the battle of Roundway Down near Devizes to the Royalists under the command of Lord Wilmot. Cannonballs hit the tower of the church in Devizes on 12 July and the holes can be seen there today.
After relieving the city of Gloucester in 1643, the Earl of Essex, chief commander of the Parliamentarian army, captured Cirencester overnight before heading to Swindon and onto Aldbourne Chase where Prince Rupert caught up with him. A running battle was fought towards Chilton Foliat and spread as far as the edge of Ramsbury. Essex captured Hungerford and went on to Newbury where he smashed the King aside. Wardour Castle had, meanwhile, held out for some time but one side of the castle was inadvertently blown up whilst being recaptured from the Parliamentary army, forcing Edmund Ludlow to surrender.
Tales of men hanged on the whim of a nasty Royalist commander in Woodhouse; poisoned bullets used at Pinhill House near Calne; houses burnt down; the theft of farmer’s stock; and village’s pillaged to feed the various militia running through the Wiltshire countryside, brought the enormous cost of the civil war to the general public into sharp focus.
Alan drew his talk to a close with a brief description of the end of the First Civil War in 1646, the Second Civil War of 1648 resulting in the execution of the King, and the eventual restoration of the monarchy with Charles II in 1660.
The next HHA talk will be on 26 March when Dr Hugh Pihlens tells intriguing stories of some of the historic monuments and gravestones of Hungerford.
-Dr Caroline Ness, 27 February 2025
Dr David Drake on ‘Life in occupied Paris during the war’ (originally published in 2023)
Hungerford Historical Association was pleased to welcome expert speaker in his field, Dr David Drake, on 23 November when he described life in occupied Paris during the war. Dr Drake has published four books and penned numerous articles on France and French life and he shared his knowledge of Parisian life between 1940 and 1945 with his audience of over 100 members and visitors.
The build-up to the Armistice in June 1940 between France and Germany and the division of France between occupied and Vichy France under Pétain was outlined. The ‘Germanification’ of Paris was then illustrated by photographs of road signs, parading troops and Nazi banners on buildings. Sobering details followed of the escape of three million Parisians from the city out of a population of five million. Unsurprisingly, over the subsequent months and years, survival was the key and Dr Drake described the privations of rationing, curfews, brutality and loss of freedoms under the Nazi occupation.
In time, relationships deteriorated significantly, particularly as a result of sporadic retaliation and the treatment of the Jewish population. The former led to brutal reprisals and the latter, as in other parts of Europe, led to the transportation of Jews from Paris to camps and, for many, to the horror of Auschwitz.
The Nazi regime’s invasion of Russia in 1941 had weakened the German strength in France by 1943, which in turn resulted in more resistance and more reprisals. The Allies advances in North Africa heralded a further turning point and any sense of French authority in southern France evaporated. Labour shortages in German factories led to a quarter of a million Frenchmen being sent to work there. Resistance to the regime was consolidated in 1943 under De Gaulle, then in London, and this movement supported sabotage and helped the return to Britain of airmen who had been shot-down.
The “D” Day landings spelt the beginning of the end to occupied France and Dr Drake described the positive actions of Parisians to rid their city of German control. Poignant images illustrated the many Parisian buildings that, to this day, show the marks of the battles that took place.
One mark of a good speaker is the keenness of his audience to ask questions. Eventually, Chairman Caroline Ness had to call a halt and thanked Dr Drake for what had been a sobering and absorbing talk.
-David Whiteley, Treasurer HHA, 2023
Upcoming Meetings for 2025
- Wednesday 26th March: “Whispers of the Past – The Stories Behind a few Hungerford Monuments and Gravestones” by Dr Hugh Pihlens
- Wednesday 23rd April: “A Guide’s Guide: Working in Historic Houses in the 21st Century ” by Sarah Somerville
- Wednesday 28th May: “The rise and fall of a Downland Village” by John Dymond
- June: Summer Outing (tba)
- Wednesday 25th June: AGM, followed by a talk on “Jemima Lye and her sampler” by Dr Caroline Ness and Dr Hugh Pihlens
All talks are in the Corn Exchange, Hungerford, at 7.30pm. Membership £15 per annum, visitors are welcome at £5 per person per talk. See here for more information on the Hungerford Historical Association and Hungerford Virtual Museum.
