Compton Bassett

Coordinates: 51°26′47″N 1°56′57″W / 51.446425°N 1.949111°W / 51.446425; -1.949111

Compton Bassett is a village in Wiltshire, England between Calne and Cherhill with a population of approximately 250. It is a largely rural village with several farms, a church, a pub.

Midge Mather Incident

In 1998 Compton Bassett church gained notoriety when a local resident (in fact neighbour of the church), 65-year-old Midge Mather, broke into the church and cut through the bell ropes because she could not stand the noise of the bells. It took her upwards of two hours after breaking down the doors to cut the ropes and when she got home she rang the Police and told them what she had done. She was given a Conditional Discharge for her actions.

RAF connection

RAF Compton Bassett was first opened as an air base in World War I and like RAF Yatesbury, continued in the interwar years before again taking on a major role in World War II and then closing in the 1960s. The housing around the airbase continued to be used after the main base had shut by RAF staff working at RAF Lyneham and other westcountry RAF bases, and in the 1980s the housing was used for American service personnel stationed at US airbases such as RAF Fairford and RAF Greenham Common. The housing has now been sold to private buyers.

Compton Bassett (Upper Marlboro, Maryland)

Compton Bassett is a historic home in Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, that was constructed ca. 1783. It is a two-story brick Georgian house, covered with cream-colored stucco, on a high basement of gray stucco. A two-story wing was added in 1928. Remaining outbuildings include a chapel to the southeast, a meathouse to the southwest, and a dairy to the northwest. Also on the property is a family burial ground.

The Hill family and descendants lived at this site from 1699 to 1900. Hills Bridge (700 meters to the southeast) has carried traffic over the Patuxent River here since a toll bridge was first constructed in 1852 by W.B. Hill. Compton Bassett was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. In July 2010 the house and grounds were acquired by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

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