Celebrating Chippenham's Past: The Official Launch of Chippenham – Our History

John Chandler signing copies of the Chippenham- Our History book.

Thursday 12th March saw the official launch of the Chippenham – Our History project at Chippenham Museum. To mark the publication of Victoria County History, Volume 20: Chippenham and the Surrounding Area, a programme of exhibitions and events is planned, leading up to publication in the Autumn. Centred on Chippenham Museum, the Town Hall, Chippenham Library and the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, it also involves local community groups.

Although this was the ‘official’ launch the project has already begun with a successful young persons’ writing group run by Elaine Davis at the Museum, which it is hoped will result in a publication of the pieces produced.  Elaine is currently running an adult writing group based on the list of ten worthies of Chippenham listed in our last newsletter.

The 12th March was chosen as the official start date of the project as it would have been John Aubrey’s 400th birthday. One of our ten ‘worthies’ (his own description), Aubrey was a 17th-century polymath who produced numerous manuscripts on many and varied topics, including archaeology, chemistry, mathematics, history, education, astrology, botany, and more.

Mark Smith, CEO of Chippenham Town Council, cutting John Aubrey’s birthday cake.

Also launched at the event was a new book, John Aubrey’s Villa, a facsimile of Aubrey’s writings and designs for the estate at Lower Easton Piercy that he inherited from his father but was forced to sell due to debt. Louise Ryland-Epton spoke briefly about John Aubrey, in whom she has a special interest.

But the main event was the introduction of John Chandler’s new book about Chippenham, also called Chippenham – Our History. John was on hand to sign copies of the book and spoke about how he researched it and put it together, as well as thanking those who had helped him along the way. John also introduced us to John Harris, the local artist, who produced the cover artwork for this and other books in the series of companion books to the Victoria County History volumes.

Obviously, for a birthday party, a cake was a must, and our cake was cut by the CEO of Chippenham Town Council, Mark Smith, who is himself keen on local history.

Gil Alder.