Easton Royal

Easton Hill, in the south of the parish, carries prehistoric sites including a bowl barrow and a disc barrow.[3][4]

The village stands on or near the likely route of the Roman road between Mildenhall and Old Sarum. From the 13th century the village was on the Marlborough-Salisbury road, until the 17th century when the road was took a more eastward course through Burbage. Easton Priory, begun in 1234, was built next to the road in order to aid travellers.[2]

By 1833 the village had a small National School, which was replaced by a new building in 1874. A large hall was added to the school in 2005.[5]

In 1836 the vicar of Great Bedwyn mistakenly described Easton's benefice as royal; in the 1850s the village began to be called Easton Royal, and this name came into common usage.[2] The name of the parish remains Easton.[6]

The population of the parish peaked in the mid 19th century, with 532 recorded at the 1841 census. By 1881 the population had declined to 323, and there was a further slow decline until the number stabilised around 250 by the middle of the 20th century.[1]

The civil parish of Easton elects a parish council. The parish is in the area of Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which is responsible for all significant local government functions.

The primary school continues on the same site, now called Easton Royal Academy. There is a village hall at Easton Royal. A pub, the Bruce Arms, is in the west of the parish, close to the boundary with Milton Lilbourne.

• Several Esturmys, hereditary wardens of Savernake forest since the Norman Conquest, funded and were buried at Easton church; their monuments were later (c. 1590) moved to Great Bedwyn when the original church fell into disrepair. Named, amongst others, on a stone plaque erected in the church in 1950.[8]
• "Major" Sir John Wildman was captured here in 1655.[2]
• Duchess of Somerset, 1672, perhaps Lady Frances Devereux, the wife of William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset[11] and mother of Henry Seymour, Lord Beauchamp[12] and John Seymour, 4th Duke of Somerset.
• Edward Seymour of Easton, c. 1735 later Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset.[2]
• Dr David Herbert Llewellyn, surgeon of the CSS Alabama, was the son of the vicar and is commemorated in the church. He lost his life when the Alabama was sunk by USS Kearsarge in 1864.
• Sir Henry Howarth Bashford (1880-1961)[13][14] – historian of the village, who bequeathed land that is now the village recreation ground; commemorated by the village's first blue plaque at his former residence, the White House.[15]
• Nigel Stock (actor)

• Pugh, R.B.; Crittall, Elizabeth (eds.). "Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 3 – House of Trinitarians: Priory or hospital of Easton". British History Online. University of London. Retrieved 15 August 2016.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Easton Royal.

• Easton Royal at Wiltshire Community History
• Village website