THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST
The parish is part of the Nadder Valley Team Ministry and services are taken by various priests of the team including retired clergy living in the area. Our designated Parish Priest is the Reverend Andrew Staley, Tisbury SP3 6LF Tel: 870312 e-mail: rev.staley@googlemail.com. We should be pleased if you would contact him or one of the Churchwardens if you would like to know more about the Church here.
Newcomers to the village are very welcome at the Parish Church. We are always pleased to see children in church at any service, and there is usually a short Family Communion service each month followed by coffee in church. Details of church services are published in the monthly Newsletter. In addition to the Sunday services, there is Holy Communion every Thursday at 10.00 AM.
Churchwardens
Mr John Walker Hindon SP3 6DJ Tel: 820526 e-mail: walker.jands@btinternet.com
Lieut. Col. Tony Streather Hindon SP3 6DR Tel: 820514
St John’s Choir is shared with Chilmark. If you might be interested in joining please telephone Mrs Felicity Pattenden on 01722 716271.
We have a team of bell-ringers who ring for about half an hour before the Service on Sundays, and practice on alternate Tuesdays from 7pm - 8.30pm. We would be delighted to hear from anyone who might like to join, either as an experienced ringer or who would like to learn. Please contact Mrs Anne Spanton on 820259.
Market stalls are run for the church at Rose Cottage in the High Street at 10.00 AM every Saturday from after Easter until mid July, selling home-made cakes etc. and local produce. They also provide a good opportunity for newcomers to get to know people.
St John’s Discussion Group meets monthly in various members homes. Everyone is welcome, whatever faith (or no faith). Contact John Walker on 820526 for dates and details of the subject to be discussed.
The Newsletter, which is produced by the Parochial Church Council, with some support from the Parish Council, is delivered free to every household in Hindon and around in the last week of every month. It gives details of all the following month’s Church services and many other village activities and news.
Please see the Rota page for details of Sunday services. There is also a service of Holy Communion (said) at 10.00 am on Thursdays throughout the year.
CLUBS & SOCIETIES
HINDON & FONTHILL BISHOP W.I.
Meetings are held on the second Thursday of the month at 7.30 pm in the Village Hall.
For an annual subscription members can attend eleven meetings a year. The topics of our meetings are very varied, endeavouring to suit the interests of our members. There are frequent opportunities to attend county and national events.
New members are welcome. Contact: Mrs Thelma Caughey (Secretary) Tel. 820840
THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION
The Hindon Branch meets in the Lamb at 7.30 pm on the first Wednesday of every month.
For membership details contact the Hon. Secretary, Richard Bryson, tel. 820372
THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION WOMEN’S SECTION
Meetings of the Hindon Branch are at 2.30pm on various Wednesdays throughout the year. Fund raising events include a lunch, cream tea and a Poppy Appeal Saturday market. For details contact the Hon. Secretary, Mrs Kay Maycock, tel. 820306
HINDON HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
Chairman: Mrs Doreen Potts
Hon. Secretaries: Mrs Barbara King and Miss Geraldine Fairfax-Cholmeley
Hon. Treasurer: Mrs Rose Roe
The Hindon & District Horticultural and Industrial Show (Hindon Flower Show) takes place at the end of July. Other activities such as Plant Exchanges and Halloween Pumpkin Competitions are organised from time to time and are advertised in the Newsletter.
HINDON FELLOWSHIP CLUB
The Fellowship Club, next door to The Lamb, offers great local entertainment: bingo, skittles, darts, pool, cribbage and other events. Open daily, except Tuesday, 7.30pm – 11.00pm (10.30pm Sunday). If you have an event you would like to run, come and tell us about it; all details available at the club and will be posted around the village. If you are not yet a member why not join for a small fee? If you are a member please come along and support us ‑ it is your club.
HINDON ALLOTMENT AND CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION
A community enterprise run by a group of volunteers working with the Parish Council with the aim of promoting horticulture and nature conservation in Hindon. Discover the world of Allotment Gardening! Further details from the Secretary, Tony Wills, tel. 820482.
HINDON PARISH COUNCIL
Meetings are held approximately once a month and take place in the Village Hall (Reading Room) starting at 7.00 pm. Dates are announced in the Newsletter and the agenda is posted on the Parish Council Notice Board adjacent to the bus shelter one week in advance. Members of the public are always welcome to attend these meetings and time is set aside for public questions.
Minutes of the meetings are published on the Notice Board, at the Post Office, The Lamb, and on www.nadderfocus.com.
There are eight parish councillors (currently two vacancies):
Acting Chairman Mr John Robinson, Willow Cottage, High Street, Hindon Tel: 820393
Miss Joan Davies (Chairman, Planning Sub-Committee), Top House, High Street, Hindon Tel: 820258
Mr Duncan Gough (Footpaths Officer) Harrier’s Roost, High Street, Hindon Tel: 820668
Mr Richard Kaufman, Merlin House, High Street, Hindon. Tel: 820055
Mr Jim Caughey, Steeple Close, High Street, Hindon. Tel: 820840
Mr Tony King, Pine Cottage, The Dene, Hindon. Tel
Mr Frank Freeman, (Highways Officer) Red House Farm Tel: 820495
Clerk of the Council: Mrs Elizabeth Young, 2 Ladydown View, Tisbury, SP3 6LL Tel: 870528 e-mail: Ladydown@waitrose.com
DOCTORS’ SURGERY
The Surgery, Hindon, Wilts SP3 6DJ Tel: 820222 Fax: 820736
Dr Patrick Craig-McFeely and Dr Sally Hayes
LATEST SURGERY DETAILS & NEWS
Minor Injuries Unit – Westminster Memorial Hospital, Shaftesbury. 01747 851535
Accident & Emergency – Salisbury District Hospital. 01722 336262
SURGERY HOURS (by appointment)
08.40 – 10.30 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
15.30 – 17.30 Monday, Wednesday and Friday
SURGERY BUILDING OPENING TIMES
08.00 – 12.45 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday
13.45 – 18.30 Monday, Wednesday & Friday
08.00 – 12 noon Tuesday
13.45 – 17.00 Thursday
The Surgery will be closed between 12.45pm and 1.45pm daily
LIBRARY SERVICES
The Mobile Library from Warminster visits Hindon every Wednesday between 2.00 pm and 4.00 pm and parks in the High Street, outside, or near, Bank House. There is a good stock of fiction and non-fiction, children’s books and talking books. The Library will also obtain a book not being carried for a small charge. The vehicle has full disabled access.
There is also a Library in Tisbury which is open on Mondays and Fridays from 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm and 5.30 pm - 7.30 pm, and on Wednesdays from 10.00 am - 1.00 pm.
HINDON VILLAGE HALL
The Village Hall, formerly the Reading Room, is widely used for meetings, fund raising events and social activities.
Whist Drives are held on the first Thursday of the month at 7.30pm and attract players from many of the surrounding villages.
Yoga classes take place on Monday evenings, Pilates classes on Thursday mornings and there are two art groups meeting on Wednesday and Friday mornings.
For bookings contact Mrs Pearl Foster on 820445
Treasurer - Mrs Doreen Potts on 820520.
SCHOOL
St Mary’s & St John’s School, Hindon
Headteacher: Mrs Sarah Colman Tel. 820260 Email: admin@hindonce.wilts.sch.uk
Chairman of Governors: Mr Richard Bryson
Primary school for children aged 4 – 11. Flying Start Nursery for 2 – 5 year olds attached to the school. Feeder school for Gillingham.
Small classes ~ Christian environment ~ Good provision for Special Needs and able pupils ~ French taught in school ~ Instrumental music taught at Key Stage 2 ~ Swimming lessons ~ Football coaching ~ Free after school clubs ~ Home cooked school meals.
POLICE (for more details and latest bulletin click police)
Tisbury Neighbourhood Policing Team: PC Mark Steele & PC Mark Littlewood
Tisbury Police Station, The Avenue, Tisbury SP3 6JJ
Opening Times: Monday, Saturday, Sunday -CLOSED.
Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday- 9.00am To 1.00pm.
Thursday- 9.00am To 5.00pm.
In cases of Emergency dial ‘999’
non emergency phone number - 0845 408 7000
BOBBY VAN
The Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust is a registered charity which works closely with the Wiltshire Constabulary and whose operations room is located in Chippenham Police Station. The Bobby Van provides a courtesy home security service for people over 60 who are vulnerable or disadvantaged, to reduce fear of crime and the incidence of burglary. It does not provide a service for landlords or businesses. No charge is made for the service provided (e.g. fitting window locks, door chains etc.). The Bobby Operators all wear a uniform and carry formal police identity badges.
FISHMONGER Chris Healey’s fish van visits the village on Tuesdays.
PERTWOOD ORGANICS CO-OP deliver boxes of Organic Vegetables to Hindon every week. For further details telephone 820763.
BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY
Medical loans and equipment - tel. Mrs Butler 830215
VET The Longmead Veterinary Practice in Shaftesbury holds a surgery in Tisbury on Monday and Thursday afternoons between 2.30 & 4.00pm, in addition to the daily surgery in Shaftesbury. Phone 852064 or 853911 for an appointment. There is also a veterinary surgery in Gillingham, telephone 822428.
MARQUEES FOR HIRE
The village now owns two marquees that are available for hire for that special occasion.
One is approx. 48’ x 18’ and the smaller one is approx 15’ x 10’. There are also some chairs, trestle tables and matting available. For details and booking contact Sue Warren on 820321.
THE NEWSLETTER
The monthly Newsletter is delivered free to every house in the village. Packed with useful information about events and activities in and around the area, details of church services, School news, Parish Council reports, the Community Bulletin from Tisbury & Mere Police, etc., etc., the newsletter is the way to keep up to date with what’s going on in Hindon. In addition, the LOCAL GOODS AND SERVICES DIRECTORY appears quarterly in the Newsletter. To advertise in this contact Miss F.Trotman, Downside, Chicklade Tel: 820503.
PARENTS/CARERS
If you would like to help run the club, we are always looking for more volunteers. Please contact Mandy Warren 01747 820361 or Jo Grant 01747 820551 and we will happily add your name to our rota of helpers.
THE HISTORY OF HINDON
W.H.Hudson wrote in A Shepherd’s Life in 1909: “Hindon is a delightful little village, so rustic and pretty amidst its green swelling downs, with great woods crowning the heights beyond, that one can hardly credit the fact that it was formerly an important market and session town and a Parliamentary borough returning two members; also that it boasted among other greatnesses thirteen public houses.”
Hindon is not old by English standards, but was ‘planted’ in 1220 by the Bishop of Winchester (Peter des Roches) who owned the manor of Knoyle Episcopi (now East Knoyle). It was sited at the intersection of several ancient trackways close to the market towns of Salisbury, Warminster and Mere thus maintaining the practice of establishing new boroughs with a market, a fair and a church, as commercial ventures.
Hindon was set on the slopes of a dry chalk valley so that wells (there were several in the village) might readily be sunk. Most of the cottages were then built along the High Street, which runs the length of the village, and this was made wide enough to accommodate the weekly market. The cottages on each side had narrow burgage plots behind, which still survive as gardens to this day. The avenue of trees was planted by the Shaw Stewart family to commemorate the marriage of the Prince of Wales in 1863.
An annual (later bi-annual) fair was held around the site of the present crossroads, and by the 17th century this had become one of the busiest fairs in South Wiltshire trading in horses, cattle, sheep, pigs and cheese until well into the 19th century.
On 2nd July 1754 a fire broke out which was spread by a strong wind along the thatched roofs destroying a large part of the High Street. The houses were subsequently re-built using Chilmark or Tisbury stone and brick with clay or slate tiles which still define Hindon’s character today.
The Great Fire severely impaired the prosperity of Hindon, but luckily a turnpike was created soon afterwards across the new stage coach route from London to Exeter (the present B.3089). This generated commerce and service trades and the village became renowned for the large number of inns in proportion to its population. At one time there were thirteen and of these The Lamb and The Angel still survive.
As Hindon began to flourish as a market town assizes were held here as early as 1453, and it became a Parliamentary borough in 1448 sending two MPs to Westminster. However, by the 17th century the electoral system was notoriously corrupt and Hindon became renowned as “one of the rottenest of rotten boroughs”. It was disenfranchised in 1832 under the Great Parliamentary Reform Act; from 2010 will become part of the new South West Wiltshire constituency.
In the late 18th century the Industrial Revolution caused a general decline in agriculture and this, together with the building of the Salisbury to Yeovil railway in 1859, with a station at Tisbury, spelt the beginning of the end for the coach trade and of the village as a market centre. The population slowly declined from 920 in 1831 to about 500 today.
The war memorial by the West door of the Church, commemorating men from the village who died in the two World Wars, was originally sited at the crossroads, but was knocked over by a tank in 1942 and later moved to its present position.
The School had originally been one of several small schools supported by local landowners from the 18th century. It was re-built in 1854 by Lady Shaw Stewart and in1972 became a Church of England aided First School and is now a Primary School with about 40 pupils plus a small nursery group.
There has never been a manor house in Hindon, the land having belonged to various owners none of whom lived here: the Bishops of Winchester, William Beckford, Lord Grosvenor. Lord Calthorpe, Sir Michael Shaw Stewart and John Morrison. What is now the Village Hall was once a Court House, then a reading room and was given to Hindon in 1922 by Mr Hugh Morrison of Fonthill.
The appearance of Hindon remained virtually unchanged over the centuries until after the First World War. In 1928 piped water was connected, in 1931 the cobbled pavements were re-laid with tarmac, and electric street lights were installed in 1934. The only recent building developments were East Street (1953), Whitehill (1958) and Hill Terrace. Otherwise individual properties have been built along The Dene and around the periphery of the village mainly in the 1960s and 70s.
The Friends of Hindon Church was formed in 2007 to raise funds for improvements to the Church (but not for its general running costs) so that once again it may become a meeting place for all the village for a variety of activities apart from worship. The Friends have already raised enough money to improve the heating, and our current project is to install WCs and better kitchen facilities in 2010. For more details, or to become a member please speak to Mrs Valerie Robertson on 820012.