More information : (ST922732.Sited to the area around the Market Place from authority (1) and OS 1:10,560 1960). Documentary evidence for development of medieval Chippenham is obscure. Chippenham manor was split up into Cheldon, Purden and Lowden shortly after the Norman Conquest. Fair and market granted to Lord of Sheldon and Chippenham,1223. The limits of the incorporated Chippenham borough were set out in charter 1554.(1-2) (See ST97SW51 for EM town)
There is evidence for an undocumented motte immediately west of the Market Place. A large earthen mound was found there in the 19th century, found in conjunction with masonry including a Romanesque doorway. However there is lack of corroboration that this was a motte. (3) |