Semley

The OPC is Jan Oliver

St. Leonard's Church	The Altar

The Village pond in late summer

Do you have photographs of your ancestors from Semley or old photographs of the parish? Do you have records, research (no matter how small) or a family tree with a connection to Semley? You can share your Semley connections with researchers throughout the world via this site. Please contact me using the link at the top of the page

Brief Description:

A small straggling parish with a common next to St Leonards Church. Semley is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. There are no "Big houses" in the village but Old Wardour castle where "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves" was filmed, and Pythouse which was the scene of rioting in the Captain Swing rebellions of the 1830's are just outside the parish borders.

History:

Semley railway station became in 1871 the first wholesale depot in Wiltshire to supply Milk for the London Market. Many farmers in this part of Wiltshire switched from Butter and Cheese manufacture to Milk, as a result. Arable and Meat farming was in decline at this time due to the influx of cheap imports - Wheat from the American and Canadian Prairies, Danish Bacon etc, and so some of these farmers also switched to milk production.

Semley was part of Tisbury union workhouse, Workhouse link2 : from 1868 the poor of Semley would have been sent here.

Notable For:

Actor Robert Morley was born here in 1908. Policewoman Yvonne Fletcher who died in the Libyan  embassy siege in 1984 came from Semley and is commemorated in a specially commissioned stained glass window in the church.