Everleigh, Wiltshire

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Everleigh is a village and civil parish in east Wiltshire, England. It sits about 7 km (4.5 miles) southeast of Pewsey, toward the northeast of Salisbury Plain. It is sometimes called East Everleigh to tell it apart from Lower Everleigh, which lies about 1.6 km (1 mile) to the west on the A342 road that links Andover and Devizes. The area is next to the Everleigh Drop Zone, a Ministry of Defence training area on Salisbury Plain. The partly wooded land was once known for recreational hunting.

History and village life
Everleigh grew at a crossroads where two old roads met: the Marlborough–Salisbury road (now a track in the south of the parish) and the Devizes–Andover road (now the A342). In the 18th and 19th centuries several inns served travellers. The Everleigh estate was bought by Sir John Astley in 1765 and then passed to his cousin Francis Dugdale Astley; it remained the seat of the Astley family for much of that period. Around 1811, Sir Francis reorganised the village, moving the road away from the manor and removing some buildings, including the old church and the Rose and Crown inn.

People and places
In 1603 James VI and I and Anne of Denmark came from Wilton House to Everleigh to visit Mr Sadler. Everleigh Manor, built in the 18th century, was expanded in the following century and rebuilt after a fire in 1882. It is a two-storey brick-and-stone house, originally five bays and later extended to nine. The manor is tied to a historical tunnel that connected it with a nearby public house called The Crown; the tunnel is now blocked but still exists.

The manor has had many uses: it was a holding area for prisoners during the Bloody Assizes of 1685, later became a convalescent home, and during World War II housed a military hospital and a vaccine laboratory. The West wing was named the David Bruce Laboratory in 1951, and the site was used by the Royal Army Medical Corps. The Army left around 1990, and the house today is a private residence, with the west wing operating as a hotel (as of 2016).

Church and records
Everleigh had a parish church by 1228, but the medieval church was demolished in 1814 when the present Church of England parish church of Saint Peter was built about 0.8 km (0.5 miles) northwest. The new church, designed by John Morlidge in a Georgian Gothic Revival style, includes the original Norman font from the old church. Parish registers from 1598 onward are held by the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre.

Population and administration
The parish had 352 residents in 1831 and 264 in 1951. Everleigh is a civil parish with its own parish council and falls under Wiltshire Council for local government. The Orange Way long-distance footpath passes through the village.

Location and services
The village is in the SN8 postcode district (Post town: Marlborough) and the 01264 telephone area. It lies in the South West region of England, within the ceremonial county and unitary authority of Wiltshire. The nearest major town is Marlborough.