There is archaeological evidence of human activity in Zeals as far back as neolithic times. The village borders the western edge of Salisbury Plain, and is from Stonehenge. There are bowl barrows on Mappledine Hill in the south east corner of the parish, and early prehistoric activity at Pen Pits to the north which were quarried since Roman times for greensand querns for hand grinding corn. In 1086 the Domesday Book recorded that the area of Zeals consisted of two estates: Lower Zeals (later the Manor of Zeals, or Clevedon) and Higher Zeals (later Zeals Aylesbury).
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RAF Zeals was a wartime Royal Air Force station in Wiltshire, sited to the north of the village of Zeals, next to the village of Stourton and the Stourhead estate.
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Estimates suggest a population of around 40–50 at Lower Zeals and 85–95 at Higher Zeals at that time. Zeals House is a Grade I listed country house dating from the 14th century, with many later additions. It was owned by the Chafyn family, later the Chafyn-Groves, from the 15th century until the mid 20th century; in 1897 the family were benefactors of Chafyn Grove School near Salisbury. Zeals has a set of Tudor revival-style almshouses that were built in 1865 for William Chafyn-Grove.
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The control tower, now a private house, remains on Bells Lane in Zeals.
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Whitesheet Church of England Primary Academy, near the church in Zeals village, serves the parish and surrounding area. Since 2003 it has operated on two sites, with younger children attending the school at Kilmington and older children at Zeals. The village has a pub, the Bell and Crown.
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From 1942 to 1946, farmland in the south of the parish was the site of RAF Zeals, a grass runway airfield partly in Zeals parish. The population of the parish slowly declined in the 20th century, reaching 201 at the time of the 2001 census. Services for visitors to the National Trust property provide some employment.
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North of Zeals village, next to the village of Stourton and the Stourhead estate, is the site of the former RAF Zeals, also known as HMS Hummingbird and RNAS Zeals. The airfield operated between May 1942 and June 1946, and during this short time was used by the Royal Air Force, the United States Army Air Forces and the Royal Navy. Until August 1943 RAF Fighter Command used it as a fighter airfield for Hurricanes and Spitfires. The station was transferred in August 1943 to the USAAF whose initial plan was to use the airfield to maintain C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft.
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Zeals is a village and civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England. The village is about west of Mere, next to the A303 road towards Wincanton, and adjoins the villages of Bourton, Dorset and Penselwood, Somerset. Its name comes from the Old English sealh meaning a small willow or sallow. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Long Cross, White Cross, Lower Zeals and Wolverton.
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From here it continues north-east to Penselwood. After crossing the Stour Valley Way and River Stour, the path enters Wiltshire at Zeals. From here it crosses the A303 dual carriageway and passes Zeals House before reaching Mere, passing West Knoyle and climbing Cleeve Hill. Crossing the A350, the path continues east to Hindon, Berwick St. Leonard, Fonthill Bishop and through part of Grovely Wood to reach Great Wishford.
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As of 2006, the control tower, now a private house, remains on Bells Lane in Zeals. A memorial stands at nearby Beech Knoll in Stourton to mark the site where an American military plane crashed on 19 Feb 1945, killing all of its crew. The plane had taken off from Zeals airfield to return to Lincolnshire after two weeks of glider training and flew into some cloud- covered beech trees on the knoll.
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In the churchyard, the chest tomb of Sir Richard Hoare, 2nd Baronet and other members of the Hoare family lies under a pinnacled 1819 Gothic canopy designed by John Pinch the Elder. The benefice was united with that of Zeals in 1963, and the Upper Stour benefice was created in 1973 by uniting Bourton (in Dorset) with Zeals and Stourton. Kilmington joined in 1980 and Upper Stour continues today as a united parish covering the four churches.
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Suzanne Farrington died in Lower Zeals, Wiltshire, on 1 March 2015, aged 81, from undisclosed causes. Her husband, Robin Farrington, died on 13 June 2002.Robin Farrington obituary, telegraph.co.uk; accessed 9 March 2015.
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The school at Kilmington caters for the younger pupils of Whitesheet Church of England Primary Academy, while older children attend the school at Zeals. The first school at Kilmington was built circa 1830 and replaced by a new building in 1874, attended by children of all ages until 1930 when it became a junior school. The building was enlarged in 1967 and pupil numbers increased in 1968 after the closure of the school at Maiden Bradley. In 2003 Kilmington school amalgamated with Zeals, forming a two-site school.
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It returned to Lulsgate only briefly before leaving for RAF Zeals on 26 May.James 1989, pp. 21–22. The squadron served at various locations and detachments around the west country before finally moving to RAF Weston Zoyland, where it was disbanded on 16 May 1945.
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The first name of "Winterborne" comes from the River Winterborne, which flows from west to east through the village. Zelstone is probably from the name of the Zeals family. The river only flows overground during the winter, hence the name. To the west is Winterborne Tomson and to the north-east is Almer.
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The civil parish elects a town 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. The ward starts in the east at West Knoyle, stretches through Mere, continues to Zeals and finishes in the northwest at Kilmington.
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He entered Middle Temple in 1750 and was called to the bar in 1756. Zeals House from the West Grove was returned as Member of Parliament for Shaftesbury in the 1768 general election after a contest. In Parliament he voted consistently with the Opposition. He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant for Dorset and Poole in 1769.
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With the full support of her mother's long time caretaker and partner Jack Merivale, she received the private papers of Vivien Leigh. The papers included letters, photographs, contracts and diaries from 1932 onwards.Capua 2003, p. 157. When her father died on 8 February 1982, Suzanne was bequeathed, from the estate of Leigh Holman, the Manor Farm in Zeals.
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Penselwood is a village and civil parish in the English county of Somerset. It is located north east of Wincanton, south east of Bruton, west of Mere, and north west of Gillingham. The south-east of the parish borders Zeals and Stourhead in Wiltshire, and Bourton in Dorset. In 1991 the parish occupied 523 hectares (1,292 acres).
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William Chaffin (Chafin or Chafyn) Grove (c. 1731–1793) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1768 to 1781. Grove was the son of Chafin Grove of Zeals, Wiltshire and his wife Ann Amor. He was educated at Sutton and was admitted at St John’s College, Cambridge on 30 April 1750, aged 18.
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On 18 June 1944, the squadron was placed at RAF Zeals in Wiltshire, only to be moved again to RAF Colerne in Wiltshire. On 9 September 1944, No. 410 Squadron RCAF was again moved to RAF Hunsdon. Thirteen days later, the squadron was relocated back to their sixth base, RAF Coleby Grange. On 3 November 1944 the Squadron moved to RAF Amiens-Glisy in northern France.
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Chafyn Grove School was built in 1879 by Mr W.C Bird, and was originally called Salisbury School. In 1889 The Reverend J.C. Alcock bought the school, which at this time catered for 11- to 18-year- old boys. In 1897, Julia Chafyn Grove of Zeals House near Mere in Wiltshire died. She was greatly involved with her community and endowed a ward at the Salisbury Hospital and gave an organ to Salisbury Cathedral.
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The Church of England parish church of St Mary has a 15th-century tower but the body of the church was rebuilt in 1864 and 1869; the tower was restored in 1903 by C.E. Ponting. In 1980 Kilmington was added to the Upper Stour benefice, alongside the churches at Bourton (Dorset), Stourton and Zeals. A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1847. After closure in 1972 it was sold for residential use.
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From March 1944, it returned to the RAF who used it as a fighter airfield for de Havilland Mosquito fighters against German bombers. Following D-Day, the RAF used the airfield for military glider training in preparation for action against Japan. In April 1945 the station was taken over by the Royal Navy (as HMS Hummingbird or RNAS Zeals) who used the airfield for aircraft carrier training. The airfield was closed down from January 1946 and in June it was returned to farmland.
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Trains were provided for the S&YR; by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), which bought out the smaller company in 1878. In the twentieth century the LSWR operated motor bus services from Gillingham station to Mere, Zeals and Shaftesbury. In 1923 the LSWR became part of the Southern Railway, which in turn was nationalised in 1948 to become the Southern Region of British Railways. A new signal box was opened on 28 April 1957, but on 5 April 1965 public goods services were withdrawn.
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The Miles Masters, Airspeed Oxfords and Hawker Hurricanes of No. 286 (AA Cooperation) Squadron became resident, with the role of providing realistic exercises for ground anti- aircraft defences. However, as the site lacked some basic facilities, No. 286 moved to RAF Zeals in May. From 1 June 1942, the airfield was under No. 23 Group of Flying Training Command, and initially became a satellite airfield for No. 3 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (3 (P)AFU), based at RAF South Cerney, flying Oxfords.James (1989), pp. 22–23.
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Earlier schools were, firstly, the British School, founded c. 1830 and from 1852 housed in the schoolroom under the new Congregational chapel, later taking over the whole building when the larger adjacent chapel was built in 1868. Secondly, the National School, opened near St Michael's in 1840, extended 1864, and augmented in 1899 by the adjacent Grove Building which was funded by Miss Julia Chafyn Grove of Zeals House. The schools amalgamated in 1922 and continued on the same sites as Mere First School (until 1992) and Mere Senior School, later Junior School (until 1972).
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Supermarine Spitfire IX wearing the Red Indian markings and AU code of No. 421 Squadron on display at the Canadian Aviation Museum at Rockcliffe Airport near Ottawa. During 1942 the squadron was under 10 Group and flew its mission from RAF Warmwell, RAF Bolt Head, RAF Ibsley, RAF Zeals and RAF Charmy Down. In January 1943 the squadron joined the 127 (Canadian) Wing and moved to Redhill Aerodrome airfield. Late in spring of 1943 the squadron received Spitfire Mk IX and flew under the command of Wing Commander Johnnie Johnson.
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Elliott Martin Browne was born in Zeals, Wiltshire, on 29 January 1900, the third son of Colonel Percival John Browne. He was educated at Eton College, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied modern history and theology. Between 1923 and 1930 he worked at a variety of jobs related to drama, in Kent, Doncaster, London and in the United States as assistant professor of drama at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh. In 1924 he married the actress Henzie Raeburn, who subsequently appeared in many of his productions.
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The station was in operation from 1942 to 1946, and was successively occupied by the Royal Air Force, the United States Army Air Force and the Royal Navy. From opening until August 1943 the site was used by the RAF as an airfield for Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire fighters. In August 1943 it was transferred to the United States Army Air Force with the intention of using the airfield for maintenance of C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft. However, the damp conditions prevented the operation of heavy aircraft, so P-47 Thunderbolt fighters were flown from Zeals instead.
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However, the damp conditions prevented heavy loads so P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft were flown from Zeals instead. From March 1944 the airfield reverted to the RAF who posted Mosquito there to intercept incoming German bombers. Following D-Day the RAF used the airfield for glider training in preparation for action against Japan, and in April 1945 the airfield was transferred to the Royal Navy, and was commissioned HMS Heron using the airfield for aircraft carrier training. The airfield closed on 1 January 1946, although the RN stayed until June 1946 when it was returned to farmland.
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In May 1944 RAF Northleach was re-classified in status as a full satellite airfield but the planned upgrade to add additional hangars and services was not carried out. The winter of 1944 saw Northleach and Stoke Orchard yet again suffer from water-logging which resulted in the cessation of flying at Northleach and relocation to RAF Zeals, Wiltshire on 21 October 1944. This would be the last time the airfield was used for flying. On 11 January 1945 No. 3 Glider Training School left RAF Stoke Orchard and RAF Northleach for good, relocating to RAF Exeter, Devon and its satellite of RAF Culmhead, Somerset.
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By October 1942 the squadron was based at RAF Zeals in Wiltshire. It moved to RAF Sumburgh in the Shetland Isles in April 1943 to provide fighter cover for the British fleet based at Scapa Flow before returning to the West Country, firstly at RAF Church Stanton in Somerset and then back to Perranporth in Cornwall in October 1943. In November 1943 the squadron moved to RAF Hornchurch and converted to the Spitfire IX and then moved to North Weald airfield in Essex at the end of February 1944. The squadron became part of the Second Tactical Air Force and provided air cover for the invasion forces in Normandy, being based in France from 22 June.
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Type of P-51 which Nido flew for the USAAF On 24 December 1942, Nido was sent to London, England, and participated on the European Theater of the war as a bomber pilot. He was transferred to 610 Squadron of the British Royal Air Force and participated in various combat missions as a Supermarine Spitfire pilot. In November 1943, Nido, then a Captain, was among 10 pilots of the 67th Reconnaissance Squadron who were sent to weather school at RAF Zeals under the command of Colonel T. S. Moorman. His unit participated in 275 missions."9th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron (Prov)- (4 January 1944 – 30 May 1945)"; Microfilmed records on roll B-0017 frames 0078-0336; OpReps (Form 34A) located on frames 0127-0336 6/44 to 7/45 Later, in 1943, Nido and 59 other American pilots were transferred to the U.S. Army Air Forces.
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