West Ashton
West Ashton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is about southeast of Trowbridge, near the A350 between Melksham and Yarnbrook which bypasses Trowbridge. The parish includes the hamlets of Dunge, East Town and Rood Ashton.
The Anglican Church of St John the Evangelist was built in 1846 to designs of T.H. Wyatt with funding from Walter Long. Its east window is a 1920 war memorial. In 1988 the church was designated as Grade II listed. It includes the family crypt and monuments to the Long family of Rood Ashton House. Before the building of the church, West Ashton was part of Steeple Ashton parish. Both were within the hundred of Whorwellsdown.
The village has a primary school, West Ashton Church of England Primary School, and a village hall.
Rood Ashton House was a country house that had belonged for two centuries to the Long family. In February 1930, the house and estate were put up for auction by Lord Long's executors, six years after his death. The estates were bought by a syndicate of his tenants, and in the 1960s the house was sold again. The new owner stripped the house of its assets, removing the lead roofing, internal panelling and fireplaces, and leaving it a roofless shell. The north wing is the only surviving part of the house, and is a Grade II listed building.
To the north of the village on the A350 is the folly known as Long's Park Castle, originally a lodge for Rood Ashton House. It is now used for holiday accommodation.
