Lydiard Millicent

The first part of the name of the village may be derived from the Old English for 'gate by the ford'. Millicent comes from Millicent de Clinton, who owned the manor in the 12th century and was the wife of William de Clinton; the suffix distinguishes the manor from its neighbour to the south, Lydiard Tregoze. Lydiard Manor is mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, owned by Geoffrey de Clinton, with 25 households. There was an extensive Romano-British ceramic manufacturing industry on and around Shaw Ridge, on land formerly within the two Lydiard parishes, mainly in the 2nd century. Manor Farm has an 18th-century dovecote; the present Manor House was built in 1965–6 on the site of an…