The Bothy at Burderop. Or the Bothy at Burderop estate to be more precise. The bothy and the walled garden once comprised part of the Burderop Manor estate – but were sold as a separate entity some years ago.

Now, if you’ve been paying any attention at all to my literary output of the last few years, you’ll know that the publisher’s brief with Swindon in 50 Buildings didn’t allow me to write any words about anything in the wider borough. So I’ve used this Swindon in 50 More Buildings series to make some small redress to that position. Thus, on the Oxford side of Swindon, in Highworth, I’ve done St Michael’s and All the Angels (greedy!!). And the Old Post Office. And on the Wroughton/Wilts side of town we’ve got Pavey’s Mill in Wroughton and now this bothy. Having never come across a bothy and with the work that Jules and Mark are doing in the walled garden being so fantastic, I felt it deserved a place in this series.

In the walled garden that once belonged to Burderop Manor, the bothy is going to make an unusual and terrific home. A simply delightful couple, Jules Gilleland and Mark Wheeler, are converting it into a dwelling for themselves and their family. Within this wonderful walled garden it will from part of a wonderful enterprise. See more about the bothy gardens and the couple’s plans for it here: https://swindonian.me/2024/08/30/introducing-bothy-gardens/

What is a bothy?

You may well ask. It’s a good question to which there’s more than one answer – but both relate to a place of shelter.

So, in the first instance a bothy comprises a basic shelter often found in remote mountainous areas. They’re there to provide shelter to anyone out roaming caught short by the unpredictable and dangerous weather of such areas. Then in the second, and this relates to our building, a bothy describes basic accommodation often used for gardeners or other workers without the status of the head gardener. He’d have a home of his own elsewhere on the estate.

The Burderop bothy

Grade II listed, and derelict for well over two decades, this stone bothy dates back to the 1730s. It’s now undergoing sympathetic restoration by Jules and Mark.

Follow the progress of Jules and Mark on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bothy_gardens/

­A wander around a walled garden

The main focus of this post is of course the bothy. But the walled garden is so incredible I can’t leave without showing a few photos of it. Bear in mind that it’s all a work in progress.

Thomas Calley

For a time, the Burderop estate bore the name, Okebourne Chace. Here the Calley family lived for over two centuries. In 1649, William Calley served as High Sheriff of Wiltshire. Then, in 1807, Thomas Calley held the title.

Thomas marred Elizabeth Keck, daughter of Anthony James Keck of Stoughton Grange. The pair had a son, James Calley. He sold the estate to John Parkinson, who held it as trustee for the Duke of Wellington.

Also owned by Thomas Calley and his wife, were the estates of Broad Hinton and Salthrop House. 1860, saw the second Duke of Wellington sell them to Anthony MS Maskelyne of Bassett Down.

For much, much more of Bothy Gardens history go here.

NB: The north of the estate is Burderop Wood. It was designated a ‘Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest’ in 1971 for its wet ash-maple and acid pedunculate oak-hazel-ash woodland.

A bit about Burderop Manor

Given the official title Burderop Manor in the 1300s, the house came to Hyde Abbey as a religious building. But it returned to the king in the 1500s who then gave it to Sir John Bridges.

It’s believed that Elizabeth I visited the manor house in 1592. Now, she visited Lydiard House so this may well be true. Anyway, in 1619 a wealthy silk and cloth merchant by the name of William Calley bought it.

The manor house then stayed within the family until 1977 when engineering company Halcrow bought it. They left the site in 2018 when developers City and Country obtained planning permission to erect 57 executive homes.

It’s now owned by the young, Swindonian property developer Arthur Dallimer.