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Past Residents

The Right Honorable Jeremy Corbyn MP was born on 26th May 1949, in Chippenham, and lived in Hillside House, Kington St Michael until the age of seven.

Robbie was born in Pound Cottage, 42 KSM, on June 1st, 1935 and was the fourth generation of his family to be born in the village (his birth name is actually Lawrence!). He went to the village school, which is now the village hall, until he was 15 and then he worked for Mr Tayler at Manor Farm until he was called up for National Service in 1953, when he joined the army and served in Egypt and Cyprus.

On leaving the army he worked for a local building company, Hawkins & Hull, as a lorry driver. He went on to become a builder and by the time the firm closed in 1985 he was one of the Directors. He then continued as a self-employed builder until he retired (?!) in 2000.

Robbie was elected to the Committee of KSM CIU Club in 1962 and was Chairman for many years. He is now a Life Member. Robbie and Barbara were married on 30th March 1963 and their first home was in Folly Row until they moved to 45 Kington St Michael, where they lived until leaving the village. They have two grown-up children, Paul and Karen, who both live locally.

In 1973 Robbie was elected onto the Parish Council, and had recently held the position of Chairperson. He has been involved with many village projects, including the acquisions of the recreation field and the village hall and, more recently, with the opening of the new Post Office and shop. It is true to say that Kington St Michael has truly benefited from his local knowledge and the time he gave to the parish. The many friends he and Barbara have made over the years will surely miss them.

Robbie (left), at the signing of the lease for the Post Office in 2004, with Howard Greenman (sub-Postmaster) and Mrs Kathy Kirby, the then Chairperson of the Village Hall Management Committee.

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Bertha Gainey and Ivy Cottage

Ivy Cottage, 4 KSM used to belong to Margaret Lawrie's grandfather, William Gainey (the 4th son of Mr & Mrs Jones Gainey).  The Gainey's were an old KSM family. William married Bertha (formerly Bertha Gale, daughter of the late Mr & Mrs John Gale) also of KSM.

Many thanks to Margaret for providing the following information:

"Ivy Cottage was a ramshackled cottage when my Grandfather purchased it for £76 c1911. He had to go to the Squire at Kington Manor to speak for him to buy the cottage. I understand that he was the first person to buy a property in the village (apart from the wealthy who already had homes there). He restored it using the original materials and roof tiles but unfortunately c1940 the rain started to come in and the roof was replaced with modern tiles. In c1932 he was the first person in the village to have electricity.  From memory I believe there is a photo of my Grandfather with his bicycle. He was the first person in the village to have a bike and was very proud of it."

Mabel Jane Goodchild (neé Coleman)
Mabel was born in Kington St Michael in 1888.  She wrote a history of her life, which was kindly passed to us by Mr Newton Tainsh, who discovered it in the effects of his late wife, Tyrol-June.  It had been sent to her by Marion Adams of Etobikle, Ontario, Canada, who was Mabel's daughter.
To read Mabel's fascinating history please click here.

In 1860 he married Emily Sibella Phillpotts (1835-1918) in Cornwall.  In December 1861 his father died and he no doubt came into a substantial inheritance.  This encouraged him to buy the manor of Kington St Michael, near Chippenham in Wiltshire.  In 1863 his mother died and more money would have come his way. In that year he demolished the old manor house and built a magnificent replacement. He also had land in Scotland – presumably an estate suited to hunting, shooting and fishing.
Herbert died in April 1917 and Emily almost exactly a year later. Herbert left an estate of £82,681 and Emily’s amounted to £2,381.

There were seven children born at Kington St Michael between 1861 and 1876 – Cecil, Ronald, Harold, Charles, Gwendoline, Rhoda and Greville.

Please click here to read about these famous sons of Kington St Michael.

John Britton and John Britton's Cottage interior in 1777 - from a book by David Burnett called A Wiltshire Portrait 1568-1856. (With thanks to Matt Bridger)

John Britton's cottage stood where the old village hall now stands (next to the 'phone box). John Britton was born in Kington St Michael in 1777.  The single downstairs room served as a hall, parlour and kitchen.  Britton’s father was the village baker and shopkeeper, and Britton was later to explain his rise from such humble beginnings as proof “of what may be affected by zeal and industry with moderate talents and without academic learning.”

Britton was instrumental in the founding of the Wiltshire Topographical Society (now The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society).  He was also the author of The Beauties of Wiltshire and The History and Antiquities of the Cathedral Church of Salisbury.

From 1820-1857 Britton lived at Burton Cottage, 17 Burton Street, London - please click here to learn about his life there.

Britton is buried in West Norwood Cemetery, London, where his monument, a vertical 10' slab of brown granite, was designed to be as permanent as Stonehenge.  It is listed as Grade II*.

(Photographs by Robert Freidus)

Britton Street in Clerkenwell (formerly known as Red Lion Street) is named after him.

Nicholas Snell MP (d. 1577)
John Snell MP (1537-87)

Owners of Kington St Michael and Member of Parliament, the Snells were prominent on the Wiltshire-Somerset border.
Please click here to learn more about Nicholas and click here to learn more about John.

Links with Francis Kilvert, the Diarist
The mother of Francis Kilvert was a member of the Snell family who had bought the manor of Kington St Michael at the Dissolution of the monasteries.  Kilvert himself was a close friend of Charles Awdry, the vicar of Kington St Michael, and he deputised for him in 1864-5, living in the village for several months.

In the years 1874 and 1875 Kilvert made several visits to the village which he recorded in his diaries: ‘Around lay the rich undulating country, the emerald meadows in their setting of golden cornfields, and below nestled the King’s town, the home of my forefathers with the grey Church tower embosomed amongst its limes, and the long village street climbing the gentle slope beyond.’ [15th August 1875] He also relates that when the church bells were rung people in Kington Langley used to say “A hen has laid an egg at Kington”.  This was a saying, which indicated the local supposition that Kington inhabitants were too ready to ring their church bells without reason.

Bibliography: Kilvert’s Diary edited by William Plomer. Various editions
www.thekilvertsociety.org.uk