Having brought up a family, volunteered on all sorts of child-related committees, worked and now retired, I found that I had time to volunteer again. This time I was determined that it should be something that I was interested in. Wiltshire Buildings Records seemed perfect. My elder daughter saw a study day advertised in Devizes in October 2024 and messaged me saying “this is right up your street!” It certainly is! Looking at the website I noticed that volunteers were needed especially for a photographic farmstead project, outside, brilliant. Having walked dogs round the Wiltshire fields for 25yrs plus, this is perfect. Now without a dog I needed a reason to get back to the muddy fields and farmyards and out in the sun.

The project involves updating photographs taken previously, some from 1980s and some as far back as the 1930s. The change in farming  from then until now is of course reflected in the state of the farmhouse and its outbuildings. So many farms have been totally abandoned with overgrown buildings and generally left to let nature take over. In some cases the farmhouse is tenanted with the old farm buildings unused and covered in brambles. Barns on some farms have been converted to holiday lets, additional housing or offices. Having now updated the photographic evidence on twelve farms around Corsham, it’s sad to see that only two are still working farms.

It’s fascinating to see how these buildings have evolved into other uses, collapsed, or in the case of several old privies, hidden in the undergrowth waiting to be rediscovered by an enthusiastic volunteer from the Wiltshire Buildings Records.

Claire More, volunteer

Wiltshire Buildings Records