Лакингтон: История и природа английской деревни в Котсуолдсе.

Luckington is a village and civil parish in the southern Cotswolds, in north west Wiltshire, England, about west of Malmesbury. The village is on the B4040 road linking Malmesbury and Chipping Sodbury. The parish is on the county border with Gloucestershire and includes the village of Alderton and the hamlet of Brook End.

The Cotswolds are designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) which means it is recognised as containing some of Britain's finest countryside. As such it is protected as a special landscape of national importance. The area covers 790 square miles, of which some 80% is farmland. The region is delineated by the belt of rich limestone – the source of building materials for cottages, fine buildings and churches. The limestone Cotswold stone in the northern Cotswolds is a rich honey coloured brown which gradually grades creamier towards the south at Luckington. Badminton House is just across the county border, about southwest of Luckington village. Parkland of the Badminton estate extends a short distance into Luckington parish. In a valley to the south of the village, seasonal springs are the source of the Bristol Avon. The Avon, from Luckington, passes through Malmesbury and Chippenham towards Bath and Bristol. The 17th century writer John Aubrey was probably referring to one of these springs when he wrote: "In this village is a fine spring called Hancock's well It cures the itch and Scabbe; it hath done much good to the eies," and again the editor Jackson adds: "Hancock's well is still resorted to for the cure of sick dogs, bad legs and the like". J H P Pafford et al. tell us that at the time of writing the well still had the reputation of being good for the eyes. Hancock's well still flows strongly in its stone culvert down to the river close by.

Evidence of Neolithic settlement includes Giant's Cave, a chambered long barrow in the west of the parish. The Fosse Way Roman road forms part of the parish boundary in the southeast. Five roads meet at Luckington, principally the former Oxford Bristol road via Malmesbury and Sherston. The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded two manors with 21 households at Lochintone and two manors with 15 households at Aldritone. From 1141 until the 14th century, the manor of Luckington was held by the Earls of Hereford;

Alderton was acquired by the Montagu family of Lackham, then bought in 1827 by Joseph Neeld. When the estate was sold in 1966, most was bought by the Duke of Beaufort. A National School was built in Luckington in 1874, with two classrooms. This school continues as Luckington Community School. A Primitive Methodist chapel was built in Luckington in 1903 in "tin tabernacle" style, and today is part of the North Wiltshire circuit. The Badminton railway line was opened across the parish in 1903, running just south of Alderton where it passes through the Alderton Tunnel. The track continues in use as part of the South Wales Main Line, although the local stations – Hullavington was closed in 1965, and Badminton closed in 1968.

The parish church of St Mary and St Ethelbert dates from c. 1200; the surviving parts from that date include a three bay arcade and a two bay arcade to the southeast chapel, both much restored. The lower stages of the tower are from the same century. The tower was completed in the 15th century, and the windows and roof of the nave and aisle are from the same period. Restoration in 1872 by A. W. Blomfield included the rebuilding of the chancel and southeast chapel. The tower has four bells: one dated c. 1520 and the others from the 17th century. The church was designated as Grade I listed in 1959.

Luckington Court, close to the parish church, dates from the 16th century. The house has been Grade II* listed building since December 1952. The listing states that it was built ca. 1700 "for H. Fitzherbert, on C16 or earlier core"; the family owned it until the early 1800s. Both the interiors and exterior were used to represent Longbourn, the Bennet family home, in the BBC's 1995 TV series Pride and Prejudice. In addition to the seven bedroom house with six reception rooms, the property also includes a stable and outbuildings, five cottages and farm buildings.

Nearly half the buildings in the parish are Grade II listed. These include the Forge House (c.1700), Manor Farmhouse in Alderton (1676), Witches Cottage (17th century), North End House (1655 and c.1800), Luckington Manor (late 17th), and the Post Office Stores (17th and 18th century). There is also a small village lock up from the 18th century, in ashlar with a stepped ashlar roof.

Luckington has a community school with fewer than fifty pupils taught by three full time teachers and two teaching assistants. There is a children's playground located on Church Road near the Green, run as a charitable organisation. There are good playing fields (one soccer pitch) and a village hall, each run by committees. The farms which surround Luckington are both dairy and arable; some are owned by the Badminton Estate. The Duke of Beaufort's Hunt and the proximity of Badminton have a bearing on village culture. Luckington holds its own fête each year, usually early in July. The Old Royal Ship Inn is a popular village pub with walkers and cyclists, and the Beaufort Hunt meets there occasionally.