Шерстон: История и описание деревни в Уилтшире

Sherston is a village and civil parish about 5 mile (8 km) west of Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England. The parish is bounded to the north by the county boundary with Gloucestershire, and to the southeast by the Fosse Way, a Roman road. The parish includes the hamlets of Easton Town, immediately east of Sherston; Pinkney, further east along the Malmesbury road; and Willesley, to the north. The infant River Avon passes Sherston, Easton Town and Pinkney, on its way to Malmesbury. The parish lies within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The Fosse Way, a major Roman road, passes nearby and forms the southeastern boundary of the modern parish. A Romano British farmhouse from around 350 was discovered at Vancelettes Farm, north of Sherston village. The earliest surviving record of Sherston, then called Scorranstone, is an Anglo Saxon document of 896. The parish church was built or rebuilt in the 12th century, and at some point a borough was laid out south of the church, with a broad market place where a weekly market was held from 1241 or earlier. Most of Sherston village was designated as a Conservation Area in 1973. Sherston Software, makers of educational games, was established in 1984 and continued in business in the village until 2015. Pinkney was also called Sherston Parva, meaning Little Sherston. The Ordnance Survey map from the 1890s has "Great Sherston" and "Sherston Parva or Pinkney"; by 1951 Great Sherston had become Sherston but both names were still shown for the smaller place.

The Estcourt family of Pinkney were influential at Malmesbury in the 17th century, for a time holding the post of high steward of the borough. Notable members included Sir Thomas Estcourt (died 1683), and his son Sir Thomas Estcourt (died 1702). The latter's son, also Thomas, died in 1704 and the estate passed to his sister Elizabeth, who in 1709 married Richard Creswell (1688–1743), from a family of Shropshire landowners: she brought to the marriage the manors of Sherston, Malmesbury and Norton. Their son Thomas Estcourt Cresswell (1712–1788), seated at Pinkney Park, was returned to parliament for Wootton Bassett; there is a monument to him in the parish church.

The civil parish elects a parish council. It is in the area of Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which performs most significant local government functions. An electoral ward with the same name exists, consisting of the parishes of Luckington, Sherston, Sopworth, Easton Grey, Norton, St Paul Malmesbury Without, and Brokenborough. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 4,822.

The Church of England parish church, the Grade I listed Church of the Holy Cross, dates from the 12th century and has a high tower which was rebuilt in 1733. A Congregational church was licensed at Cliff Road in 1825. It remained in use until c. 2013 and was sold for residential use. A Primitive Methodist chapel was opened at Grove Lane in 1851, and became Sherston Methodist Church in 1932 after the union of the Primitive Methodists with the Wesleyan Methodists. The church is still in use.

Members of the Congregational chapel built a British School Room at Cliff Road in 1844. Its pupils were transferred to the National School in 1895 and the building has served various community purposes; in 2015 it was a meeting room and club room. A National School was opened near the Rattlebone Inn in 1846. It became a Church of England school and was extended in 1895. Children of all ages were educated until 1954 when it became a junior school. Growth in pupil numbers led to the building of a new school on the outskirts of the village, which was opened in 2005. The old school was bought by the parish council in 2011 and is home to shops and businesses, including the Post Office Stores.

Every year, on the Saturday closest to 14 July, a carnival is held. The main attraction is a boules tournament and a music evening with local bands. Sherston has a football team, a cricket team and a Scout troop. The village has a shop and post office, a hotel/cafe (the Angel Cafe), another cafe (Lucy Toms), one pub: the Rattlebone Inn and an Indian Restaurant called The Bridge on the site of the old Carpenters Arms. Another pub, the Holford Arms, is in the extreme northwest of the parish at Knockdown, Gloucestershire.