Castle Combe

Coordinates: 51°29′35″N 2°13′44″W / 51.493°N 2.229°W / 51.493; -2.229

Castle Combe is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about 5 miles (8 km) northwest of the town of Chippenham.

History

The 14th-century market cross, erected when the privilege to hold a weekly market in Castle Combe was granted, is situated where the three principal streets converge, beside which is one of Castle Combe's two village pumps. Some small stone steps near the cross were for horse riders to mount and dismount and close by are the remains of the buttercross.

The village prospered during the 15th century when it belonged to Millicent, the wife of Sir Stephen Le Scrope and then of Sir John Fastolf (1380–1459), a Norfolk knight who was the effective lord of the manor for fifty years. He promoted the woollen industry, supplying his own troops and others for Henry V's war in France.

St. Andrew's Church is the home of the Castle Combe Clock, one of the very few English medieval clocks still in use.