Wiltshire County Council Homes
Children's establishments run at some time in their history by Wiltshire County Council.
- Cotswold School / The Cotswold Community, Spine Road West, Ashton Keynes
- Kingsmoor, The Ley, Box
- Merewether, Warren Crescent, Bryon's Close Estate, Calne
- Greenacres, Curzon Street, Calne
- Derriads Nursery, Derriads Lane, Chippenham
- Canon's House, Bellevue Road, Devizes
- Family Group Home, Summerdale, 44 Broadleas Road, Devizes
- Porcombe House, Downton
- Starfield Reception Centre, Station Road, Holt
- Lea Court, Malmesbury
- 28ASt Margaret's Mead, Marlborough
- Vaisey's Children's Home, Axford, Marlborough
- Sampford Place (Boys), 27 Shurnhold, Melksham
- Trowbridge & Melksham Union / Wiltshire Council Home (Girls), Honeywell House, 39 King Street, Melksham*
- Cricklade & Wootton Bassett Union / Wiltshire Council Home, Red Gables, 7 Restrop Road, Purton*
- Cleeve House, Rodbourne
- Home for Girls, 24 St Edmund's Church Street, Salisbury
- Springfield, 25-27 Bishopdown Road, Salisbury
- Home for Boys, Bedwin Street, Salisbury
- Paccombe House, Downton, Salisbury
- The Laburnums (Boys), Springfield, Great Bedwyn Street, Salisbury
- Orchard House (Boys), Stratford Sub Castle, Salisbury
- Stantone, Malmesbury Road, Lower Stanton, St Quinton
- Swindon & Highworth Union / Wiltshire Council Scattered Home, 2 The Villas, Swindon Road, Stratton*
- Swindon & Highworth Union / Wiltshire Council Scattered Home (Boys), The Limes, 21 Green Road, Stratton*
- Rehabilitation Hostel, The Close, StrattonSt Margaret
- Home for Older Boys, The Limes, StrattonSt Margaret
- Swindon & Highworth Union / Wiltshire Council Scattered Home (Girls), Olive House, 11 Prospect Place, Swindon*
- Ashlea, 53 Rutland Crescent, Trowbridge
- Ethandune, Hilperton Road, Trowbridge
- Trowbridge & Melksham Union / Wiltshire Council Home, Fern Cottage, 98 Ashton Street, Trowbridge*
- Bradley Road, Warminster
- Hillside, 117 Boreham Road, Warminster
* indicates link to pages on www.workhouses.org.uk.
Records
The involvement of local authorities in the running of children's homes dates from 1930, when they took over the running of the poor relief system previously administered by Boards of Guardians. Surviving records for council-run children's homes may be held in each council's own internal archives. Prior to 1991, however, when a legal requirement was introduced for councils to retain records of children leaving their care, the survival of such records is very variable. Contact details for local authorities in the UK can be found on the website of the Care Leavers Association (CLA). The CLA also provides guidance on accessing childhood care files, which are normally only open to the individuals they relate to.
Locating local authority records has been complicated by the various local government reorganizations that have taken place in recent times, such as the abolition of the London County Council in 1965, and the major nationwide restructuring in 1974 in which many administrative areas were created, amended or eliminated.
Older records may sometimes be placed with the relevant county or borough record office. Many of these repositories have online catalogues of their holdings and also contribute to the National Archives' Discovery database. Note that records containing personal data usually have access closed for a period of fifty years or more.
Older material relating to Wiltshire Council homes may exist at:
- Wiltshire and Swindon Archives, Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, Cocklebury Road, Chippenham SN15 3QN.
Some records relating to council-run homes, for example inspection reports (though not resident lists etc.), are held by The National Archives (TNA). A closure period may apply to these records.
Bibliography
- Higginbotham, Peter Children's Homes: A History of Institutional Care for Britain's Young (2017, Pen & Sword)
- Urquhart, Gloria (2020) Nobody's Child: The True Story of Growing up in a Yorkshire Children's Home
- Cooke, Allan Institutionalized in a Children's Home: Skellow Hall 1950-1963 — a true story of a child and children in a home (2012, Authorhouse)
- Cummings, Les Forgotten: The Heartrending Story of Life in a Children's Home
- Limbrick, Gudrun The Children of the Homes: a century of Erdington Cottage Homes
Except where indicated, this page () © Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.