Littlecott, Wiltshire
Historical Description
Littlecott, a tithing in Enford parish, Wiltshire, on the river Kennet, 3½ miles NW of Hungerford. Post town and money order and telegraph office, Upavon. Littlecott Park belonged to the Dayrells or Darrels, and passed in the time of Elizabeth to the Pophams. The mansion was built in the loth century by the Dayrells, and remains almost unaltered. The great hall measures 46 feet by 24, and is hung with crossbows, buff-jerkins, steel caps, and other armour of Cromwell's soldiery; the gallery is 110 feet long, and contains family portraits, including those of Judge Popham and Nell Gwynn; another apartment contains the chair of Judge Popham and a curious instrument of torture called the finger-stocks, and another contains a piece of needlework representing a tessellated Roman pavement which was found in the park in 1730, measured 41 feet by 33, and exhibited a variety of decorated devices. A strange story respecting a barbarous infanticide is associated with the house at the time of the Dayrells and with some extant features in it, and has been told by Aubrey, by Scott in a note to " Rokeby," and by many others. William of Orange stopped at the house in December, 1688, when negotiating with James II. at Hungerford. Pickedfield, which belonged to the Littlecott domain, was purchased by Government in 1803 for the forming of an Ordnance depot, but it was repurchased after a time by General Popham, and the magazines, store-houses, and other buildings erected on it were taken down.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Wiltshire | |
Civil parish | Enford | |
Hundred | Elstub and Everley | |
Poor Law union | Pewsey |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Littlecott from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Littlecott)
Maps
Online maps of Littlecott are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Wiltshire papers online: