100 Years Ago.

GREAT CHEVERELL: Thanks to the kindness and generosity of the High Sheriff, a number of Belgian refugees are being cared for at Great Cheverell. They are accommodated at Great Cheverell House. The party number 19, made up in about equal proportion of men and women, but a preponderance of children. They are mainly composed of the working classes. All of them are Flemish and speak Flemish only, with the exception of a little boy, who has also mastered French, and acts as an interpreter.

BROMHAM: At the Calne Revision Court on Thursday last, the three kings were deposed. George H Milner, the Conservative agent for North-West Wilts, successfully objected to the votes of Alderman John King, James King and Thomas King, all of Bromham, in respect to a share in two freehold cottages at Heddington.

50 Years Ago.

CHIPPENHAM: Work on the new Town Bridge will start next week. The bridge will cost about £150,000. The Town Bridge carries the A4 London to Bristol and Bath trunk road traffic over the River Avon at Chippenham. For some years it has been a bottleneck responsible for much of town congestion.

DEVIZES: Coaches travelling from Wales to the South Coast via the new Severn Bridge may be encouraged to use Devizes as a stopping place. The suggestion has come from Devizes Trades Council and Devizes Town Council’s finance committee to ask the traffic commissioners and the coach proprietors about the possibility.

25 Years Ago.

BOX: Rock star Peter Gabriel assured worried villagers that plans to give his Real World studios more privacy will not mean the loss of a well-used footpath. Villagers were furious when they saw he was asking permission to divert the path near his state-of-the-art recording studio at Box Mill. They said the new route would be across a boggy area that is impassable for nine months of the year because of flooding. But the former Genesis frontman has specially bought a piece of land away from the boggy area. He said youngsters could use the brook, although technically they would be trespassing.

MARKET LAVINGTON: Loud explosions in the asbestos roof of a blazing barn roused people from their beds. Teenagers are suspected of starting the £8,000 fire at Knapp Farm, that destroyed the large barn and 100 tonnes of barley straw. Firemen from Devizes, Westbury and Melksham, who fought the blaze, were at the scene for 13 hours. There was a pall of smoke over the village for several hours.