The name Blunsdon derives from the
Old English Bluntsdūn meaning 'Blunt's hill'. Blunsdon St Andrew is recorded in the
Domesday Book of 1086 as one of three settlements in the
manor of
Bluntesdone, in the
hundred of Scipa. These settlements lay across Blunsdon Hill on either side of
Ermin Way, a
Roman road that linked the historic Roman towns of
Glevum (
Gloucester) and
Calleva Atrebatum (
Silchester), via
Corinium (
Cirencester). They were held by three different
lords, though the record does not differentiate them further.
Bluntesdone had altogether ten households, and a total value of £5 17s in 1086. Blunsdon St Andrew is mentioned as
Bluntesdon Seynt Andreu in 1281 in the county
Assize Rolls, and again in 1299 in the
Sarum Register. In 1870 Blunsdon St Andrew was recorded as having a population of 84, in 16 households, and covering 1,422 acres. Its value, together with
Broad Blunsdon and Bury Blunsdon was £5,858. Blunsdon Abbey was a
Gothic mansion built near Blunsdon St Andrew church in 1858–1860 for wealthy sportsman Joseph Clayton de Windt, on the site of an earlier house. It was destroyed by fire in 1904 and remains as a ruin, with parts of the stable block – including a square tower – standing. St Andrews parish contains two other Domesday manors, Widhill and Groundwell.
Widhill Widhill, land lying north of Blunsdon St Andrew as far as the Roman road and bounded to the west by the
River Ray, appears in Domesday Book as two estates at
Wildehill with altogether 14 households. The area became a
tithing of the parish of
St Sampson, Cricklade, and for a time a small chapel served the two small settlements at Lower Widhill and Upper Widhill (sometimes North Widhill and West Widhill respectively).
Robert Jenner, who prospered as a silver merchant in London, bought Widhill manor in 1624; the Jenner family remained at Widhill until the manor was sold in 1826. In the late 19th century Widhill became part of
Cricklade civil parish, then was transferred to Blunsdon in 1934; its population at the 1931 census had been 21. Today, Lower Widhill Farm, Chapel Farm and Upper Widhill Farm survive in the strip of farmland between the north edge of Blunsdon St Andrew and the A419.
Groundwell Groundwell, lying south of Blunsdon St Andrew and bounded to the east by Ermin Street and to the west and south by Moredon and Rodbourne, is recorded in the Domesday book as a manor of four households and/with a value of £3 10s. It remained as farmland until the northern expansion of Swindon in the mid 20th century. Groundwell Ridge is the site of a Roman rural
sanctuary and
villa complex, and is a
scheduled monument. The site contains traces of domestic buildings from the second to fourth centuries, and earthworks thought to be a formal garden with
religious water features. == Parish Church ==