We had a fun conversation recently on Facebook following the discovery of Heritage England's Missing Pieces project, which is inviting stories and photos from the public about England's 400,000 listed buildings. They say in their preliminary blurb on the website:
In England, 99 percent of us live less than a mile from a listed place.
Is that the case for the Belles? It's really easy to find out by entering a postcode onto the website's search view and adjusting the resultant map to see where any listed buildings are. The photo above shows those for the whole of Chippenham, 279 in total, according to this list. Each teardrop shown on the website can be clicked on to reveal the actual building and further details, plus a photo sometimes.
For the Belles we found:
Closest to where we meet at PCC: Rooks Nest farmhouse - also applies to many of the Belles living on Pewsham, though for Diane it's the Cemetery instead.
Fiona B in Derry Hill: "I have five Grade II listed buildings around me. Christ Church, Village Hall, War memorial, Studley Lodge, and Strict Baptist Church. Strict Baptist Church is the closest."
Helen Dewbery: "A pair of cottages and a wall off Hungerdown Lane. Hadn't thought of a garden wall being listed!"
Jenny K on Monkton Park: "For me it is Cocklebury Farmhouse, then Monkton House and Rawlings Farmhouse, closely followed by all the houses in St Mary Street.* For some members on the Monkton Park Estate it will be Monkton House instead.
Carolyn G in Kington Langley: "I have 2 Grade II cottages less than 100 yards from my house. One is thatched, the other was in times gone by and had also been an ale house! There are a further 3 also Grade II listed about 500 yards away in our lane!! Kington Langley has some beautiful old buildings."
Diana Morrison: "I live in a flat in a Grade II listed building, The Old Rectory on Malmesbury Road!"
For Michelle, it's a pretty house (Turnpike Cottage as shown below) she walks past every time she goes to Lidl, which was used previously to take tolls along the London Road.
As Helen observed in her response not all listings are buildings such as the garden wall off Hungerdown Lane. Michelle's next nearest one is a milestone on the London Road! Chippenham also has a listed phonebox and several graves in various graveyards. I wonder what else there is out there...
For those who responded and also when we all meet at the PCC, we can do much better than English Heritage's statement at the top of this post - we're so much closer at between none and 500 yards.
How about you?
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