The village of Wingfield is hardly visible from the main roads, the A366 from Trowbridge to Farleigh Hungerford and the B3109 from Bradford on Avon to Rode. A few hints of a thriving community - the war memorial, a pub and a few houses - are the only advertisement to the hurrying traffic. For Wingfield is sensible and stands back from the modern world, hiding itself down small lanes and in green fields. At first these lanes seem most prosaic, Church Lane, Chapel Lane and Shop Lane; surely named long ago by men whose long agricultural labours left little time for flights of imagination. But look a little further and the poet takes over from the ploughman with Pomeroy Lane, Magdalen Lane and, finally, Love's Lane. What matter that the latter was probably named after a Mr Love who farmed at the end of the lane, today we can believe that it was down this lane that young couples dallied as night closed around them.

In this fair-sized parish, 120 homes lie scattered, from cottages and modern bungalows to farmhouses and manors. One of these may be known by people in every country which has an English-speaking community; it is The Poplars, a hostelry which managed to retain everything that made the village pub such an important institution. It is a whitewashed stone building, parts of which were a farmhouse in the early 18th century; a barn still stands in the car park. Inside there is an open fire and a dartboard but no piped music, no fruit machines and no computer or video games. Instead beer, served from hand pumps, which has been allowed to stand for 24 hours after being tapped, and the art of good conversation and community spirit are much in evidence.

The landlord, until April 1986, who must have stood in direct line of descent from Chaucer's Harry Bailly, host at The Tabard Inn, was Fred Haywood who, with his wife Marge, ran The Poplars from 1961. One of Fred's early deeds was to make a cricket ground, attached to the pub, where one of the best village teams in south-west England play their home matches.

Because of the nearness of the main road there is one interesting variation of the MCC code. Anyone who hits a six is credited with the score but is then out; a rule that brings a swift end to an innings. Apart from its cricket, such is the reputation of The Poplars that people from all the local towns drink there and visitors from throughout the country and from abroad find their way to its hospitable doors, now opened by Mike and Sue Marshall.

There is another residence in this village which is internationally known: Midway Manor, on the Bradford Road, was the home of the late Chairman of the World Wildlife Fund. The Manor was also once the home of General Shrapnel, the inventor in 1785 of the bomb which bears his name. He is commemorated by stone replicas of the bombs on the gateposts at the entrance to the drive.

Within the parish, on the Farleigh Hungerford road, lies Stowford. This small settlement has buildings which date from the early 16th century, one a clothier's house and now a farmhouse and another that was a mill. A late 18th century fulling mill on the site was in use until the 1840s. Nowadays the farm is host to the Annual Village Pump Trowbridge Folk Festival; an event each July that attracts an international cast of singers, dancers and entertainers who provide something suitable for every member of the family. At other times of the year excellent cream teas are provided and craftsmen have workshops on the site.

NB
The village information above is taken from The Wiltshire Village Book, written by Michael Marshman and published by Countryside Books. Click on the link Countryside Books to view Countryside's range of other local titles.