For the most of the last 700 years the history of Hale has been the history of the estate. The original village clustered around the church, but as the estate developed the village was moved a mile to the east. In 1328 Adam de la Forde was granted a licence by the Priory of Breamore to hold divine service in his manor at Hale Ownership of the manor seems to have changed hands regularly up until 1537 when it was purchased by the first of the families known to use it as their permanent residence. The estate included the lands of several adjoining farms in Wiltshire. Most residents would have been tenants; Hale was effectively a 'closed' village to outsiders, with no pub and no shops. It remained as one large estate until 1920. The Penruddockes purchased Hale in 1538 from the West family, and remained here until 1715. As committed Royalists, they were lucky to remain in ownership after the Civil War. During their time the original mediaeval church was substantially rebuilt. Hale was next bought by Thomas Archer, then Groom Porter to Queen Anne and a well-known London architect. Archer demolished the Penruddockes' Elizabethan Manor House and built the Palladian style Georgian Mansion which is there today. He also altered and enlarged the church, landscaped the grounds and planted the oldest part of the Lime Avenue. On his death, without an heir, the estate passed to his nephew, Henry Archer. The May family came 1789, after having to wait some years for the last Archer, Lady Elizabeth, to die. The Mays had interests in the Portuguese wine trade and spent much time travelling to and from Portugal. They commissioned a large Estate Map by the surveyor, Thomas Richardson, which still remains at Hale Park. Many family members are interred in the vault below the south transept of the church. Finally, the Goff family bought Hale in 1836. Gerald Goff wrote a detailed history of Hale that gives an insight into life as it was in the village 100 years ago After the First World War and the untimely deaths of several members of the Goff family, Hale was put up for sale in lots in 1920. Hale House and its surrounding parklands were sold together and remain as the nucleus of the old estate, but 2,370 acres with12 farms, numerous cottages, woodland, water meadows and Hale Purlieu, passed for the first time, into many separate hands. The old order of estate life came to an end.
This cache forms part of our first series which consists of 9 traditional caches of various sizes near Hale and Woodgreen. You can do them all as a circular walk of about 4km through a variety of different environments. There are short stretches on minor roads, so take care, but it is mostly on footpaths.
We suggest you park near the Church Micro on the circuit (St Mary’s Hale GC45Y2W), or near the Avon Valley Path on Woodgreen Common, if you want to do them all.
The caches on the route are (in order) St Mary’s Hale, Lime Avenue, Mistletoe Path, Picket Well, Holly Bridge, Higherend, Shady Corner, Under the Oak Tree, Moot Lane.
We hope you enjoy the walk.