IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Coombe Lane, WESTBURY, BA13 4SY

Looking towards Combe Lane from Combe Hill.

On the north side of the combe.

Laid in stone steps, the footpath descends from the church to the bottom of the combe then rises to meet Upper Garston Lane. Bratton is a former agricultural village which lies on the ‘springline’ of the northern escarpment of Salisbury Plain about 2½ miles east of the town of Westbury. Large flocks of sheep were pastured on the Downs south of the village and corn was grown on the flat lands to the north. The village was the home of the renowned firm of R & J Reeves who produced agricultural machinery.

A small stream runs through the bottom of the combe from a pool fed by Church Springs. It is very hard to see when there are leaves on the trees (as is the pool) but this was my attempt from the bridge at the bottom of the combe.

From the bridge at the bottom of the combe looking up towards the church.

Church Steps is a stepped, cobbled footpath which connects the church with the village the other side of the combe. Image] in the background and Image] below it.

View towards Combe Farm.

A local story has it that when the clock in Bratton Church strikes midnight the Westbury White Horse walks down to Bridewell Spring for a drink. (There is no clock in Bratton Church.)

From Church Steps. On the north side of the combe is a community orchard containing several varieties of apple trees, many of which are marked by the name of the variety, the name of who planted it and the date of planting, the earliest dates I noticed were in the 1930s. The land was owned by the Reeves family who ran the ironworks and foundry in Bratton. The allotments on the upper slope are made on the bases of the hothouses that supplied the family with out of season fruits and vegetables. The pump house and pumps that drew water from the stream to supply the hothouses, are situated in the orchard but are not open to the public. In 1936 a mixed orchard of 146 trees was planted. There are a number of different varieties of apples, including: Green Bramley, Ellisons Orange, Laxton's Superb, Newton Wonder, Scarlet Bramley, Charles Ross, Peacemaker, Cox's Orange Pippin, James Grieve and Heron Pippin, and several varieties of Damson trees. The orchard was gifted to the village in 1988, and lay dormant and heavily overgrown for some years prior to the Parish Council's Conservation Management Plan in 1998. More details of their planned management of the area here http://web.archive.org/web/20150504205740/http://www.brattonvillage.co.uk/localhistory-Reeves_Community_Orchard_Project_Bratton.htm See also Image