Marshfield is a town in the local government area of South Gloucestershire, England, on the borders of the counties of Wiltshire and Somerset. Toponymy derives from the Old English language word "March" meaning a border, hence Border Field would be the literal translation. It is not to do with "marsh" in the sense of bog.
The history of the town is reflected in the buildings and architecture, including the church and market place. It was used by troops during the English Civil War.
A range of customs and cultural events are held in the town.
Location
Marshfield is at the southern end of the Cotswold Hills, north of Bath, east of Bristol and south of Gloucester. The A420 road bypasses the town on its northern side. To the north of Marshfield is a long stretch of flat-looking fields bordered by dry-stone walls. To the south, the view and the country is quite different, for one is quickly into the wooded valleys and hedge-lined fields of Bath and North East Somerset.
High Street is the single main thoroughfare of Marshfield and is approximately 350 m in length and straight. The eastern part of the town contains the parish church, Manor House and Home Farm, a group of historic buildings noted for their architectural features.
Historic buildings
Almost every house along the high street is more than 100 years old, from the Georgian architecture Gothic toll house at the western end to the groups of medieval barn, dovecote, and early Georgian stable range which go with the manor house, which dates from the 17th century, and Home Farm. Near the toll house stand the fine almshouses of 1612, built for the use of eight elderly villagers by two sons of Marshfield, Nicholas and Ellis Crispe, who had gone to London and made their fortunes largely through the West Indies trade. They endowed the houses with funds to provide a free residence, garden, and £11 yearly. Many houses date from Tudor era and Stuart times (a few were originally timber-framed) and have gables and mullioned windows. Several have bow fronts and there are five examples of shell-pattern door arches typical of Queen Anne work. The finest front in the high street is perhaps the Catherine Wheel some of whose buildings at the rear are much older than 1700.
The Malting house is a typical example of the village's former prosperity in that trade. Other notable high street buildings include the former Old Meeting, a Presbyterian / Independent, later Unitarian chapel of 1752, the gabled range of the Hospice, the Red House, the former police station (now number 123), numbers 44, 83, 115, and 126.
The former vicarage, now known as "Marshfield House", whose front was rebuilt in the 1730s by Mrs Dionysia Long, is particularly handsome with its barn, stable block, and large walled garden fringing the market place. It has four storeys, including a basement and extensive attics. The vicarage did not have electricity until the 1950s, in fact only two of the floors had electricity in the early 1980s. The last vicar to inhabit the old vicarage was Rev John Miskin Prior. Following his departure from the village in 1982, a new vicarage was built on land in Church Lane, and the old vicarage was sold as a private residence.
Public houses
The Crown, now converted into flats, the Lord Nelson, the Old Inn, and several farms still in the heart of the village are also noteworthy: Weir farm in Weir lane, with its gables, was once a malting house, and Pitt farm, at Little end, is 17th century.
Vernacular buildings
The Tolzey or Town House was built in 1690 for the people of Marshfield by John and Mary Goslett. As well as being the old town's administrative headquarters it also housed a Marshfield fire engine and served as a lock-up. The parish council still meets at the Tolzoy. It is a Grade II listed building.
Castle farm is about half a mile to the north of Marshfield. In its farmyard is an ancient longhouse with the original fireplace and the dividing screen between the human and animal dwellings. On the neighbouring land where lynchets show in some fields, many Bronze Age and Stone Age implements have been picked up and a skeleton in a stone coffin discovered.