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Church Street, CORSHAM, SN13 0BY

On the corner of High Street and Church Street.

In the centre of this attractive Cotswold village.

Edward III stopped wool exports from England in 1337. He then lured Flemish weavers to England, and many settled in the Cotswolds area where they had direct access to plentiful supplies of wool. They established a flourishing 'cottage' textile industry and were joined by more of their fellow countrymen in the 17th century when they were fleeing religious persecution.

In the small garden between the Flemish Weaver and the Town Hall is this decorative peacock.

The building dates from the late 17th century and is situated immediately next to the Town Hall. The inn was formerly known as the Packhorse Inn. For a close-up of the sign http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2018541

The town hall was built in 1882 by W H Bromley of Corsham using parts of the old Market Hall that was built in 1784. It has a list K6 type telephone box immediately next to it. In 1935, the Post Office commissioned a new kiosk from Sir Giles Gilbert Scott to celebrate the Jubilee of King George V. The K6 Jubilee Kiosk, as it is known, was similar to the K2 box, being made of cast iron and painted red but was 25% lighter in weight. By the end of the 1930s there were 20,000 K6 telephone boxes in use all over the UK. There is also an Ordnance Survey bench mark on the south east angle.

The bench mark is to be found on the south east angle of the building http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2018425 and for further information on the cut mark http://www.bench-marks.org.uk/bm25046 A bench mark is an Ordnance Survey arrowhead sign found on walls, bridges, churches and specially erected triangulation pillars where the altitude above sea-level has been accurately measured by surveyors. The arrowhead points to a horizontal line above it which marks the exact altitude. With rivets and pivots there is no datum (horizontal line) cut, the pointed-to horizontal surface defining the datum height.

Commemorating the Queen's lengthy reign, a clock was installed on the town hall.

The top of Corsham's town hall.

The monument in the form of a drinking fountain was erected in 1898 by public subscription to commemorate Charles Mayo, a local man of independent means whose mission in life was the doing of good works for his adopted town of Corsham (his birthplace was Tunbridge Wells). He was a councillor and, as Chairman of the Corsham Water Company, was responsible for bringing piped water to the town. Charles died on holiday in Switzerland aged 61 in 1895. For a look at the whole monument see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1944214