Fovant
| Fovant | |
|---|---|
 Two of the Fovant Badges |
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 Fovant
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| Fovant shown within Wiltshire | |
| Population | 669 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | SU004289 |
| Civil parish |
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| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SALISBURY |
| Postcode district | SP3 |
| Dialling code | 01722 |
| Police | Wiltshire |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Parish Council |
Fovant is a village and civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England, lying about 9 miles (14 km) west of Salisbury on the A30 Salisbury-Shaftesbury road, on the south side of the Nadder valley.
The name is derived from the Old English Fobbefunta, meaning "spring of a man called Fobbe".
The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded a settlement called Febefonte with 22 households, held by Wilton Abbey. The abbey was surrendered to the Crown in 1539, and Fovant was among the villages granted to Sir William Herbert, later Earl of Pembroke. (Herbert was also granted the site of the abbey, where he built Wilton House). The Pembrokes continued as landowners at Fovant until the estate was broken up in 1919.
An elementary school was built in 1847 with places for 100 children, and gained a second classroom in 1875. Children of all ages attended until 1944, when those aged twelve and over transferred to the senior school at Tisbury. By 1958, when the buildings were modernised, there were 58 pupils. In the 1980s children aged 10 and 11 went to a middle school at Tisbury, and falling numbers led to closure of the Fovant school in 1997 when it had 27 pupils.
The Church of England parish church of St George dates from the 13th century and has a south doorway taken from a 12th-century building. Much of the church was rebuilt in the 15th century; the tower was built c. 1492 and is surmounted with stone friezes and battlements. In the 16th century the last abbess of Wilton Abbey, Cecily Bodenham, retired to Fovant and is said to have paid for the building or rebuilding of the south aisle.
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Wikipedia