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 Here is some more of the town John Sr was supposedly from, South Western England, Ireland is to the West..

Below you will find a potted history of Bishops Cannings.  If anyone would like to add to the history page please contact mail@bishopscannings.com

The Anglo Saxon Chronicles
The earliest reference to Bishop’s Cannings can be found in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles [1], where it is stated that in AD 1010 the Danes, after taking over East Anglia and moving out across the country, eventually returned over the Thames into Wessex, and so by Cannings-marsh, burning all the way. When they had gone as far as they would, then came they by midwinter to their ships.  Cannings marsh is thought to be in the area of the now Kennet and Avon Canal between Bishops to the west of the village.

The Doomsday Book
In the Doomsday book Bishop’s Cannings was surveyed in 1086 when it was called Cainingham, which, according to Archdeacon McDonald [2] in his article written in 1859 for the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History magazine means Canning’s estate or farm.  He goes on to say that in other documents of about the same time it was called Canyngas [3] this being the nominative plural, in the Saxon declination of the family, or clan, of Canning.  The prefix Bishop’s came later possibly in the 13th Century. 

The doomsday book records Cainingham as being a large and rich manor with enough land for 45 plough teams and with a population of about 600. The tithing of Cannings consisted of the manor of Cannings Canonicorum which consisted of 140 acres of arable, 32 acres of meadow and enough pasture for 730 sheep.

The Parish
The original parish was much larger than the present one encompassing the villages of Bourton, Easton, Coate and Horton, but the chapelry of St. James also known as Southbroom and the detached tithing of Chittoe 

In its present smaller form Bishop’s Cannings is the third largest parish in Wiltshire. Chittoe with the villages of Bromham and Poulshot  were separated away in 1883, and the Chapelry of St. James, which also included the tithings of Roundway, Wick, Nursteed and Bedborough, became the present day parish of Roundway in1894.

The main road from Devizes to Swindon (A361) runs just north of the village and crosses a minor road that runs from Calne to the village. Part of this road is known as Harepath Way, a name said to be derived from the Old English herepæeth indicating the track followed by a Saxon army.

The Waynsdyke runs east west through the parish just to the north of the village.  Originally a defensive earthwork comprising a large bank with a deep ditch to the north side, the Wanysdyke runs from the Avon valley south of Bristol to Savernake Forest near Marlborough. The Wanysdyke dates from 400 to 700 AD and is one of the largest linear earthworks in the UK.  The name Wanysdyke probably comes from the Saxon god Woden, but that does not mean that the Saxons actually built it.  The remains north of Bishops Cannings are still impressive.

The modern road breaches the Wansdyke, at Shepherd’s Shore.  Further north the old Bath and London coach road breaches the Waynsdyke at Old Shepherds' Shore. The word Shore deriving from a characteristic Wiltshire word 'sceard' meaning a notch or a gap [4].

At the extreme north of the parish is the course of a former Roman road. 

Bishops Cannings and the village of Horton used to be joined by a track which ran across the canal via a swing bridge to Horton Mill.  This track (which is still a public right of way today, but which probably is not as grand as it used to be was said to be haunted by a large black pig and in the 1800’s was used safely be day but little by night.

A Royal meeting
In 1613 Queen Ann, wife of James I was returning to London having taken the waters at the spa in Bath.  The then vicar George Ferrebe, together with a bunch of parishioners went out to meet her coach by Shepherd’s Shore.  The queen’s carriage stopped and they sang a specially composed song for the queen.  The words are recorded in Ida Gandy’s book [5] about the village. After the song, the Queen was invited to listen to the bells of the church in the valley below.  The Queen must have been pleased with the show as George Ferrebe was made a Court Chaplain.  The story is recorded in th parish register.

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