Fonthill Gifford
| Fonthill Gifford | |
|---|---|
 Holy Trinity parish church |
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 Fonthill Gifford
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| Fonthill Gifford shown within Wiltshire | |
| Population | 102 (in 2011) |
| OS grid reference | ST925320 |
| 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 | 01747 |
| Police | Wiltshire |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Fonthill Gifford is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, to the north of the Nadder valley, 14 miles (23 km) west of Salisbury.
The name of the village and parish derives from the Giffard family, landowners, beginning with Berenger Giffard who was lord in 1086.
The parish had 70 taxpayers in 1377. From the 16th century until the 20th, most of the population were employed by the parish's wealthy households; 493 were recorded at the 1801 census, and numbers declined since then, reaching a new low of 102 in 2011.
In 1944, the 55th Armored Infantry Battalion of 11th Armored Division of the United States Army trained for two months on Salisbury Plain and was encamped at Fonthill New Abbey and in Fonthill Park. In 2004 a plaque was added to the war memorial at Tisbury in their memory.
In 1952, John Morrison (later Baron Margadale) began to breed racehorses at 19th-century stables to the east of the village. His son James, 2nd Baron took over the Fonthill Stud in 1972, and breeding continues under Alastair, 3rd Baron. The stud has produced winners of several classic races: the Nassau Stakes (Spree, 1963); the Oaks (Juliette Marny, 1975 and Scintillate, 1979); and the St Leger (Julio Mariner, 1978).
The Church of England parish church of Holy Trinity was built in 1864–66 to designs by the Gothic Revival architect T.H. Wyatt and is Grade II* listed. Pevsner wrote that the church: "... groups extremely picturesquely from the E, with its NE tower with a spire rising between pyramid pinnacles, an apse, and a round turret to its N." Today the church is part of the Nadder Valley Team Ministry.
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Wikipedia