19 Facts About Corsham

Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England.

Historically, Corsham was a centre for agriculture and later, the wool industry, and remains a focus for quarrying Bath Stone.

Corsham appears to derive its name from Cosa's ham, "ham" being Old English for homestead, or village.

Corsham is recorded as Coseham in 1001, as Cosseha in 1086, and as Cosham as late as 1611.

The Corsham area belonged to the King in Saxon times, the area at the time had a large forest which was cleared to make way for further expansion.

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Corsham was the inspiration for Charles Dickens' novel The Pickwick Papers; it is thought that he borrowed the name from Moses Pickwick, a coachman who was born in Pickwick, lived in the "Hare and Hounds" inn, and ran coaches between Bath and London.

Corsham has four primary schools, an independent preparatory school and a large secondary school.

Corsham School, The Tynings, is Corsham's only secondary school; it was opened in 1972 as a comprehensive school and is a large academy with a sixth form.

Corsham Priory was referred to in 1336 as having been given to Marmoutier Abbey during the time of Henry I as an alien priory.

Town of Corsham and surrounding villages are within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Bristol.

Corsham is connected to Bradford on Avon by the B3109 road, to Melksham by the B3353, and to Chippenham and Bath by the A4 Bath Road, a former turnpike from London to Bristol.

Corsham Railway Cutting carries the main line westward through Corsham to Box Tunnel; in 1971 6.

Corsham has had a twinning relationship with the town of Jargeau, France since 1981, and has an active twinning association.

Corsham holds an annual twinning event in which musical and charity events occur, accompanied by French food and wines.

Several defence sites in the Corsham area are located underground and were formed from historic Bath Stone quarries.

Corsham Computer Centre is a Royal Navy data processing facility.

Corsham Court has been used as a period location in productions such as Barry Lyndon, The Remains of the Day, A Respectable Trade and Wives and Daughters.

In 2014, scenes for the new adaptation of Poldark were filmed in the town's High Street, meaning Corsham then featured in every series until the drama ended in 2019.

Corsham has a non-League football club Corsham Town FC, founded in 1884, who play at Southbank.