HISTORY OF RAF LYNEHAM

Before RAF Lyneham was built, the area was an agricultural one, with several farms, some of them owned by the Methuen family from Corsham Court, some 10 miles to the south west. In earlier times the land had belonged to the priory at Bradenstoke-Cum-Clack, on the north edge of the area, and was a centre for the growing of flax. The name of the village of Lyneham comes from this crop; it means Linen Ham, the place where flax is grown.

In the first part of the 20th century most of the village population worked in local pursuits such as agriculture or the sawmills, some went to work for the Great Western Railway in Swindon, and others went down to Calne to work for the bacon factory there. The first World War had an impact on the villages of Lyneham and Bradenstoke only in the fact that many of its menfolk either volunteered, or were later conscripted, for service in the forces, and some never came back. There was no camp nearby to change the pace of life, or make its presence felt on the community as was to happen in the late 1930's.

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