Castle Combe

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Castle Combe has been called 'The Prettiest Village in England' and with good reason; visitors have been coming to enjoy its charms for at least a century and the small street leading from the Market Cross down to the By Brook is as picturesque today as it ever was.
Castle Combe has featured regularly as a film location, most recently in The Wolf Man, Stardust and Stephen Spielberg’s War Horse. It was also used in the original Dr Doolittle film.

The village houses are all typical Cotswold type, constructed in stone with thick walls and roofs made from split natural stone tiles. The properties are many hundreds of years old and are listed as ancient monuments. Strict rules apply to preserve the beauty and character of Castle Combe for later generations to admire.
By the Middle Ages, the village in the valley had become an important center for the wool industry. The spinsters and weavers lived in the cottages (hence names such as "Weaver’s House") and the river, still known as By Brook, provided the power to run the mills.

I must confess that the first thing that sprang to my mind when the village was mentioned was the race circuit! Not some beautiful village such as this.


View from the river bridge


By Brook - the river running through Castle Combe



The Market Cross

This historic monument is in the center of the village. It is believed to date from the 14th century when the privilege to hold a weekly market was first granted. 


Just below this there is also a structure sometimes referred to as the 'buttercross', which was in fact for tethering and mounting horses. Nowadays for the tourists to sit on!


Location: Castle Combe, Chippenham SN14, UK

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