Rawlence Road, Salisbury and Rawlence Road, Wilton

The derivation of the Wilton Rawlence Road is probably the Rawlence family who lived in Wilton.

I have found several mentions of Rawlences who have lived in the area.

James Rawlence

Thepeerage.com lists both James Edward Rawlence ‘who lived at The Chantry, Wilton, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England’ and his son, Leonard Curtis Rawlence who died on the 7 Dec 1957 ¹

An article in ‘The Agriculture History Review’ says that the work of William Humfrey, a leading sheep-breeder was

‘continued by James Rawlence who farmed at Bulbridge near Salisbury in Wiltshire. Rawlence provided the foundation stock for many famous pedigree flocks of Hampshire Downs as well as helping to establish a flock book in 1890′²

Presumably the same James Rawlence is mentioned in ‘A History of the County of Wiltshire’:

In 1887 James Rawlence, of Bulbridge, gave £1,000 to the trustees of the Wilton Municipal Charities to be invested for the maintenance of a parish nurse for the sick poor. This gift was increased by £400 from the children of James Rawlence³

Frederick Rawlence

There was a Frederick Rawlence (1886-1909) who painted water colours and made furniture in the style of the ‘Arts and Crafts Movement’⁴. Frederick Rawlence started a craft guild in Wilton.

Guy Rawlence

Finally, another Rawlence with a slightly tenuous Salisbury connection was Guy Rawlence. Guy Rawlence wrote several books ⁵, including one published in 1945 called ‘The Enchanted Village’, an ‘Uncommon childrens fantasy, set in England, somewhere west of Salisbury’, illustrated by Mary Shillabear⁶. He also seems to have published a book called ‘Knighton’, which is a hamlet and a manor house close to Broad Chalke ⁷.

Perhaps Broadchalke is his ‘Enchanted Village’?

Rawlence Road

The Rawlence Road in Wilton must be derived from the Rawlence family, some of whom are described above.

I would guess that the Rawlence Road in Salisbury might be derived from the same family – it’s on the Wilton side of Salisbury.

Footnotes

1. thePeerage.com – Person Page 23788 [↩]
2. ‘New Sheep for Old-Changes in Sheep Farming in Hampshire, 1792-1879′, GGS Bowie, The Agriculture History Review, 1987 [↩]
3. Wilton – Schools and charities | British History Online [↩]
4. The Art Fund – Coffer [↩]
5. Guy Rawlence (Open Library) [↩]
6. Guy Rawlence books on Aucott & Thomas [↩]
7. Wiltshire County Council – Wiltshire Community History Get Literary Association Information [↩]