Royal couple coming to Bromham

11:12am Friday 6th July 2007

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The Duchess of Cornwall will be celebrating her 60th birthday by visiting the village of Bromham, near Devizes, which has just been named best in the West in a national competition.

The Duchess, formerly Camilla Parker-Bowles, will be visiting Bromham with her husband, the Prince of Wales, on the morning of Tuesday, July 17.

The couple will be calling in at St Nicholas Church, the Methodist chapel, the village shop, the post office and the Greyhound pub as well as planting a tree alongside those planted for the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

The visit celebrates Bromham being short-listed for the title Calor Village of the Year, making it to the final five after beating nine other contenders for the West of England title.

It also marks the completion of restoration work to the Bayntun Chapel, which was built in 1492, the year Columbus discovered America, and was in serious danger from deterioration.

Parish clerk Rosalind Humphries said the royal couple were originally invited to the rededication ceremony on Friday, July 13 but were unable to make it.

Mrs Humphries said: "But they came back to us with an alternative date and we will be delighted to see them."

Parish council chairman Pete Paget was cock-a-hoop about the visit. He said: "This is a wonderful honour for Bromham.

"There aren't too many villages who get a royal visit. I know the Queen Mother used to come to St Nicholas Church when she was staying at Spye Park while attending Cheltenham races, but before that we haven't had a royal visit since Henry VIII in the 1530s.

"It's a long time to wait!"

The couple will be arriving at around 10.40am and will see the work on the Bayntun Chapel ceiling, one of the very few medieval church ceilings still in existence, before calling in at the Methodist chapel, Stiles butcher's shop, village store and post office.

At the Greyhound Inn they will meet members of the Bromham Monday Club for senior citizens as well as younger members of the community.

The village will find out in October if they have been chosen as the national Village of the Year. They are judged on six criteria: building community life, business, young people, older people, environment and ICT.

The Bayntun, or Chantry, Chapel was built by Sir Roger Tocotes and his stepson, Sir Richard Beauchamp and the chapel contains an alabaster effigy of Sir Roger as well as his heraldry and that of Sir Richard.

The ceiling was protected by a Victorian roof, which had begun to sag and threaten the ceiling below it.

The restoration was completed with grant support of £78,000 from English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund, though another £50,000 was raised by local fundraising.