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{{short description|Village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England}}
{{Distinguish|Pusey, Oxfordshire}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox UK place
| official_name = Pewsey
| static_image_name = File:Pewsey, The High Street - geograph.org.uk - 1400395.jpg
| static_image_caption = The High Street, Pewsey
| static_image_2_name = [[File:Pewsey_village_flag.svg|150px]]
| static_image_2_caption = Flag
| coordinates = {{coord|51.339|-1.765|type:city(5000)_region:GB-WIL|display=inline,title}}
| os_grid_reference = SU165600
| label_position = top
| population = 3,797
| population_ref = (2021 Census)<ref name="bua2011">{{cite web |title=Pewsey |url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/southwestengland/admin/wiltshire/E04013045__pewsey/ |website=City population |access-date=25 October 2022}}</ref>
| civil_parish = Pewsey
| unitary_england = [[Wiltshire Council|Wiltshire]]
| lieutenancy_england = [[Wiltshire]]
| region = South West England
| country = England
| post_town = Pewsey
| postcode_district = SN9
| postcode_area = SN
| dial_code = 01672
| constituency_westminster = [[East Wiltshire (UK Parliament constituency)|East Wiltshire]]
| website = {{URL|https://pewsey-pc.gov.uk/|Parish Council}}
}}

'''Pewsey''' is a village and [[Civil parishes in England|civil parish]] at the centre of the [[Vale of Pewsey]] in Wiltshire, about {{convert|6|mi|km|0}} south of [[Marlborough, Wiltshire|Marlborough]] and {{convert|71|mi|km}} west of London. It is within reach of the [[M4 motorway]] and the [[A303]] and is served by [[Pewsey railway station]] on the [[Reading to Taunton line]].

The parish includes the settlements of Kepnal to the east, Pewsey Wharf (on the [[Kennet and Avon Canal]]) to the north, Sharcott to the west, and Southcott on the south-east.

==History==
The place name comes from the Old English "peose", or "piosu" meaning "pea" "island," collectively meaning "island, or dry ground in marsh, where peas grow."
<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.houseofnames.com/pewsey-family-crest|website=houseofnames.com|title=Pewsey History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms|access-date=7 February 2025}}{{better source needed|date=February 2025}}</ref>
[[Archaeological]] excavations on Pewsey Hill show evidence of a settlement in the 6th century.{{Cn|date=January 2024}} In the [[Tudor dynasty|Tudor]] era, the [[Manorialism|Manor]] of Pewsey belonged to the [[Duchess]] of [[Somerset]]. {{Cn|date=January 2024}} Several of the village's houses were built in this era: the [[timber framing|timber framed]] [[cruck]] house at Ball Corner, Bridge Cottage on the Avon and the Court House by the Church.

In 1764, the founder of the [[Methodist]] movement [[John Wesley]] (1703–1791) preached at Pewsey's [[Church of England parish church]]. The [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] at that time, [[Joseph Townsend]], was responsible for the building of Pewsey's first bridge over the River Avon.

The [[Kennet and Avon Canal]] reached Pewsey in 1810. Of more lasting effect for the village was the completion of the Hungerford to Devizes section of the [[Great Western Railway|GWR's]] [[Berks and Hants Railway|Berks & Hants line]] in 1862, which allowed fast travel to London and to the [[West Country]]. Since 1906, the line at Pewsey has been part of the [[Reading to Taunton line]], a more direct route via Westbury to the West Country.<ref>{{cite book|title=Wiltshire Railway Stations|last1=Oakley|first1=Mike|date=2004|publisher=The Dovecote Press|isbn=1904349331|location=Wimborne|pages=101–103}}</ref>

In 1898 Pewsey [[Carnival]] was first held, a tradition that flourishes today with a fortnight of events, including The Feaste, culminating in an [[illuminated procession]] in mid to late September.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pewsey & District Feast & Carnival|url=http://www.pewsey-carnival.org.uk/wordpress/|publisher=PADFAC|access-date=28 March 2015}}</ref>

A prominent statue of King [[Alfred the Great]], the former [[Anglo Saxon]] King of [[Wessex]] and a local landowner, stands in the middle of the village.

==Pewsey White Horse==
{{Main|Pewsey White Horse}}
[[File:Farmland near Pewsey Hill - geograph.org.uk - 506511.jpg|thumb|right|The Pewsey White Horse from a distance]]
The Pewsey White Horse [[hill figure]] is located on a steep slope of Pewsey Hill about {{cvt|1|mi}} south of the village, and can be viewed from several places in the surrounding area. It was cut in 1937 and is one of the smaller Wiltshire white horses. It replaces an earlier one which was possibly cut in 1785.

==Governance==
The civil parish elects a [[Parish councils in England|parish council]]. It is in the area of [[Wiltshire Council]], a [[Unitary authorities of England|unitary authority]] which is responsible for most local government functions. The Pewsey electoral division covers the parishes of Pewsey, [[Milton Lilbourne]], [[Wootton Rivers]] and [[Easton Royal]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Election Maps: Great Britain |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |access-date=26 July 2024 |website= |publisher=Ordnance Survey}}</ref> and elects one member to Wiltshire Council.<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Your Councillors |url=https://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=WARD&VW=LIST&PIC=0 |access-date=26 July 2024 |website=Wiltshire Council |language=en}}</ref>

==Education==
[[Pewsey Vale School]] is a state secondary school, without a sixth form.

Pewsey has a state Primary Academy, Pewsey Primary School which is linked to Pewsey vale secondary school. It appeared in the 100 Most Improved Schools table for its 2013 results and its 2014 results put it in the top 100 schools nationally.<ref>{{cite web|title=Primary school league tables: Best results|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30422467|website=News – Education|publisher=BBC|access-date=30 May 2015|date=17 December 2014}}</ref> An [[Ofsted]] inspection in 2012 rated the school as 'good' and this was confirmed by a short inspection in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://files.api.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/2651249|title=Short inspection of Pewsey Primary School|date=February 2017|website=Ofsted|access-date=13 October 2019}}</ref>

St. Francis School, an independent [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|preparatory school]], is just outside the village.

==Churches==
=== Parish church ===
<!-- Church of St John the Baptist, Pewsey redirects here -->
[[File:Church of St John the Baptist in Pewsey (geograph 5032327).jpg|thumb|St John the Baptist's Church, Pewsey]]
The [[Church of England parish church|parish church]] of St John the Baptist stands next to the main road in the south of the village and is built in flint and [[sarsen]] with limestone dressings.

A church at Pewsey was recorded in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086.<ref>{{OpenDomesday|SU1660|pewsey|Pewsey}}</ref> The present building has work from the late 12th or early 13th centuries in the four-bay arcades,<ref name=corpus>{{cite web|title=St John the Baptist, Pewsey, Wiltshire|website=Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture|publisher=King's College London|url=http://www.crsbi.ac.uk/site/3471/|access-date=24 October 2019}}</ref> on foundations of large sarsens;<ref name=chlisting>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1035703|desc=Church of St. John the Baptist|access-date=23 October 2019}}</ref> [[Nikolaus Pevsner|Pevsner]] suggests the arches were cut through the walls of an earlier building.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pevsner |first1=Nikolaus |author-link1=Nikolaus Pevsner |last2=Cherry |first2=Bridget (revision) |author-link2=Bridget Cherry |year=1975 |orig-year=1963 |title=Wiltshire |series=[[The Buildings of England]] |edition=2nd |place=Harmondsworth |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=0-14-0710-26-4 |pages=368–370}}</ref> The plain font bowl is also from the 12th century.<ref name=chlisting /> The chancel was rebuilt in the late 13th or early 14th century, the [[clerestory]] added in the late 14th or early 15th century,<ref name=corpus /> and the ashlar west tower added in the 16th century.<ref name=vch>{{cite web|website=British History Online|title=Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 16: Kinwardstone Hundred: Pewsey|editor-first=D.A.|editor-last=Crowley|author-first1=A P|author-last1=Baggs|author-first2=J|author-last2=Freeman|author-first3=C|author-last3=Smith|author-first4=J H|author-last4=Stevenson|author-first5=E|author-last5=Williamson|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol16/pp181-207|publisher=University of London|year=1999|access-date=24 October 2019}}</ref>

In 1861, [[George Edmund Street|G.E. Street]] largely rebuilt the chancel and added the south chapel,<ref name="vch" /> reusing early windows from the chancel. [[Victorian restoration|Restoration]] in 1889–1890 by [[Charles Ponting|C.E. Ponting]] included the addition of the north porch.<ref name=chlisting />

The tower has six bells, the oldest cast in 1620 by Purdue of Salisbury; two others from the 18th century are by [[Rudhall of Gloucester]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Pewsey, S John Bapt|url=http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?DoveID=PEWSEY|website=[[Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers]]|access-date=24 October 2019}}</ref> On the outside of the tower's east wall hangs a [[Sanctus bell (church bell)|sanctus bell]] cast by James Burrough of Devizes in 1754.<ref name=vch /> The church was recorded as [[Listed building#Categories of listed building|Grade I listed]] in 1964.<ref name="chlisting" />

Notable rectors include [[Joseph Townsend]], from 1764 until his death in 1816.<ref name="CCED">{{Cite web |title=Townsend, Joseph (1763 - 1816) |url=https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?PersonID=89610 |access-date=17 November 2024 |website=Clergy of the Church of England Database |publisher=King's College London}}</ref> Townsend, who lived in Bath, was known for his work in medicine, geology and the theory of economics.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Morris |first1=AD |year=1969 |title=The Reverend Joseph Townsend MA MGS (1739–1816) physician and geologist--'Colossus of Roads' |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine |volume=62 |issue=5 |pages=471–7 |doi=10.1177/003591576906200523 |pmc=1811030 |pmid=4890357}}</ref>

Today the church is central to the Vale of Pewsey Team, which includes many rural parishes around Pewsey.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pewsey - St John the Baptist|url=http://www.valeofpewsey.org/pewsey|website=The Vale of Pewsey Team|access-date=24 October 2019}}</ref>

===Others===
[[File:Wesleyan Methodist Church - North Street, Pewsey - geograph.org.uk - 946873.jpg|thumb|Wesleyan Methodist Church, Pewsey]]
A [[Methodist Church of Great Britain|Methodist]] chapel was built in 1873 and became a church in 1932.<ref>{{cite web|title=Methodist Church, Pewsey|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Church/Details/752|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=29 March 2015}}</ref>

The [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] Church of the Holy Family was built in 1964.<ref>{{cite web|title=Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family, Pewsey|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Church/Details/754|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=29 March 2015}}</ref>

==Amenities==
[[File:The Greyhound Inn - North Street, Pewsey - geograph.org.uk - 946876.jpg|thumb|left|The Greyhound Inn, Pewsey]]
Pewsey has a post office, a petrol station, and a Co-op supermarket. The village has an Indian restaurant<ref>{{Cite web |last=Molnar |first=Hannah |date=2022-02-11 |title=Wiltshire's cleanest curry houses according to hygiene ratings |url=https://www.wiltshirelive.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink/wiltshires-18-cleanest-curry-houses-6642407 |access-date=2024-05-29 |website=Wiltshire Live |language=en}}</ref> and five pubs (the Royal Oak, the Crown Inn, the Moonrakers, the Coopers Arms, and The Shed Alehouse micropub<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/13494129.Warm_welcome_for_Pewsey_s_new_micropub/|title=Warm welcome for Pewsey's new micropub|last=Hicks|first=Amber|date=23 July 2015|website=The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald|access-date=17 October 2016}}</ref>). At Pewsey Wharf, north of the village, is the Waterfront bar and bistro.

Pewsey Sports Centre, run by Wiltshire Council, is next to Pewsey Vale School. Its facilities include a 25m heated indoor swimming pool, squash courts and a large multi-sport hall.

[[File:Pewsey Heritage Centre.jpg|thumb|Pewsey Heritage Centre]]Pewsey Heritage Centre is a museum run by the local history society, housed in Avonside Works, a former foundry building used by the agricultural engineering firm of Whatley & Hiscock. The company's collection of historic farm machinery forms the core of the museum's collection.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pewsey Heritage Centre |url=http://pewsey-heritage-centre.org.uk/ |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=pewsey-heritage-centre.org.uk}}</ref>

[[Jones's Mill]] is a wetland nature reserve by the Avon. Pewsey is connected to London Paddington via its [[Pewsey railway station|railway station]], a short walk from the village centre.

==Notable residents==
* [[Richard Hardinge]] (c.1593 – 1658), [[Groom of the Chamber]] to the then [[Prince of Wales]], later King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]]
* [[Stephen Duck]] (c.1705 in Charlton, Pewsey Vale – 1756), poet<ref>[http://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/authors/pers00091.shtml Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive, Stephen Duck (1705?-1756)] retrieved December 2017</ref>
* [[Joseph Gilbert (winemaker)|Joseph Gilbert]] (1800 in Puckshipton – 1881), [[Pastoralism|pastoralist]] and winemaker<ref>[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gilbert-joseph-3610/text5605 Marjorie Findlay, 'Gilbert, Joseph (1800–1881)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University] retrieved December 2017</ref> from [[Pewsey Vale]] in South Australia from 1839 
* [[Francis Carter (priest)|Francis Carter]] (1851–1935), Anglican priest<ref>[http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2016.pl?sur=&suro=w&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=CRTR871FE&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50 A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge, Carter, Francis Edward] retrieved December 2017</ref> who served in Cornwall, Kent, East Anglia and South Africa
* [[Harold Sheppard (English cricketer)|Harold Sheppard]] (1889–1978), cricketer
* [[Peter Young (British Army officer)|Major General Peter George Francis Young]] (1912–1976), senior British Army officer,<ref>[http://www.kingscollections.org/catalogues/lhcma/collection/y/yo90-001?searchterms=Peter+Young Liddell Hart Military Archives|The Collection|YOUNG, Maj Gen Peter George Francis (1912-1976)] retrieved December 2017</ref> General Officer Commanding Cyprus District from 1962 to 1964
* [[Elinor Goodman]] (born 1946), journalist, political editor of Channel 4 News from 1988 to 2005
* [[Moose Harris]] (born 1967 in Devizes), bass guitarist
* [[Mary Killen]], newspaper advice columnist and TV personality known for appearances on ''[[Gogglebox]]''
* [[Tara Shears]] (born 1969), Professor of Physics<ref>[https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/physics/staff/tara-shears/  University of Liverpool, Department of Physics, Our Staff, Tara Shears] retrieved December 2017</ref> at the [[University of Liverpool]]
* [[Ian Walker (footballer)|Ian Walker]] (born 1971), former goalkeeper<ref>[http://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=8234 Soccerbase Database] retrieved December 2017</ref> for the [[England national football team]] and [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.]]
* [[Shelley Rudman]] (born 1981), winner<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/29392628 BBC Sport, Winter Sports, 27 September 2014] retrieved December 2017</ref> of the silver medal in the [[Skeleton (sport)|skeleton bob]], Britain's only medal at the [[2006 Winter Olympics]]

==Sport and leisure==
Pewsey has two rugby teams and a junior club. For the 2017–18 season, Pewsey Vale 1st XV plays in the SSE South West Division, Dorset & Wilts 1 North League. PVRFC have a joint second team called Alfred's Nomads, shared with Marlborough RFC; they play in Dorset and Wilts 3 North.

Pewsey has a [[Non-League football]] team [[Pewsey Vale F.C.]] who play at The Recreation Ground. In July 2014 Pewsey Vale Youth FC was awarded 'FA Chartered Standard' Club of the year by the Wiltshire Football Association.

Wiltshire Council run Pewsey Leisure Centre which is next to Pewsey Vale School. Its amenities include a 25m heated indoor swimming pool (used for swimming, float play, kayaking and snorkelling), squash courts and a multi-sport hall (used for badminton, indoor cricket/football/rugby, basketball, volleyball, circuit training, archery and martial arts (judo, taekwondo and kung fu)).

Pewsey has a running club. A Bowls Club is next to the Tennis club. A swimming pool and gym offer a range of courses including spinning and aqua-aerobics.

Pewsey Music Festival, established in 2007, is a celebration of live music held each August in Cooper's Field, behind the Cooper's Arms pub.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pewsey Music Festival|url=http://www.pewseymusicfestival.org/Pewsey_Music_Festival/Home.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120527002013/http://www.pewseymusicfestival.org/Pewsey_Music_Festival/Home.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=27 May 2012|access-date=28 March 2015}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://pewsey-pc.gov.uk/ Pewsey Parish Council]
* [https://pewsey-heritage-centre.org.uk/ Pewsey Heritage Centre]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/image_galleries/historic_pewsey_photos_gallery1.shtml Historic Pewsey Photos] at BBC Wiltshire
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2008/08/07/day_out_the_vale_of_pewsey_1984_film_feature.shtml ''Day Out: The Vale of Pewsey''] – a 30-minute BBC TV programme made in 1984 of a day spent exploring Pewsey Vale

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Villages in Wiltshire]]
[[Category:Civil parishes in Wiltshire]]