72-492: The Titfield Thunderbolt is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Charles Crichton and starring Stanley Holloway , Naunton Wayne , George Relph and John Gregson . The screenplay concerns a group of villagers trying to keep their branch line operating after British Railways decided to close it. The film was written by T. E. B. Clarke and was inspired by the restoration of the narrow gauge Talyllyn Railway in Wales ,
144-617: A Non-League football club, Westbury United , who play at the Meadow Lane ground in the Southern League (English football's eighth tier). The non-league Rugby Football Club, Westbury RFC, has both male and female teams who play at the White Horse Country Park, a 247 acre estate that includes a 9 hole Golf Course, Driving Range, Bowels Club and Fishing Lakes. The Park also hosts shows and events throughout
216-723: A camp sensibility lay behind the successful Carry On films , while in America subversive independent film-maker John Waters made camp films for college audiences with his drag queen friends that eventually found a mainstream audience. The success of the American television show Saturday Night Live drove decades of cinema with racier content allowed on television drawing on the program's stars and characters, with bigger successes including Wayne's World , Mean Girls , Ghostbusters and Animal House . Parody and joke-based films continue to find audiences. While comedic films are among
288-412: A junior school and an infants school . The secondary school, Matravers School , has a sixth form offering a range of subjects. It serves Westbury and the surrounding villages including Chapmanslade, Bratton, Dilton Marsh and Edington. Westbury Leigh C of E Primary School was moved from Westbury Leigh to the neighbouring Leigh Park estate. Bitham Brook Primary School mainly serves the western part of
360-576: A distribution centre, owned since 2013 by Tarmac . From 1961 until its demolition in 2016, the plant's 400 feet (120 m) chimney was the tallest unsupported structure in southwestern England. Businesses at the Brook Lane industrial area, north-west of the railway station, include an Arla creamery which makes Anchor butter. The West Wilts trading estate, in Heywood parish just north-west of Westbury, has Welton Bibby & Baron who claim to be
432-568: A new civil parish of Dilton Marsh was created from its western part (all the land west of the Biss ), and likewise Bratton parish from its eastern part. A further reduction in the north created Heywood parish in 1896. Westbury Urban District was formed in 1899, with the same boundaries as the parish. It was abolished in 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972 , its area becoming part of West Wiltshire district. The district
504-556: A result. Meanwhile, Weech is inspired by a picture of the line's first locomotive, the Thunderbolt , which is now housed in the Mallingford Town Hall museum. Upon securing Blakeworth's release, he helps them to acquire the locomotive for the branch line. To complete their new train, the villagers use Taylor's home, an old railway carriage body, hastily strapped to a flat wagon. In the morning, Pearce and Crump drive to
576-419: A separate genre, but rather, provides a better understanding of the film. Westbury, Wiltshire Westbury is a market town and civil parish in west Wiltshire , England. The town lies below the northwestern edge of Salisbury Plain , about 4 miles (6 km) south of Trowbridge and a similar distance north of Warminster . Westbury was known for the annual Hill Fair where many sheep were sold in
648-408: A short time the largest in the country. Chalk came from a quarry around 2 km away, and clay was dug from pits near the plant. From 1977 to 1992 part of the plant's fuel came from domestic refuse, and from 2000 tyres were burned. French company Lafarge took over Blue Circle in 2001, and cement production ended in 2009. Most of the site was demolished in 2016 but the cement silos remain in use as
720-434: A single railway enthusiast to be found in the whole crew. T. E. B. Clarke, writer of the script, loathes trains. Producer Michael Truman can't get out of them fast enough. And director Crichton – well, you wouldn't find him taking engine numbers at Paddington Station." Again, Charles Barr concurred that "there is no grasp of a living community, or of the relevance of the train to people's daily needs." The Titfield Thunderbolt
792-447: A very pleasant sunset for all that." George Perry, in his history of the studios, compared it to Whisky Galore and Passport to Pimlico as sharing "the theme of the small group pitted against and universally triumphing over the superior odds of a more powerful opponent." But, quoting a location report by Hugh Samson of Picturegoer , he suggests there was a lack of sympathy for the subject: "Odd point about this railway location: not
SECTION 10
#1732780219281864-410: Is 18 miles to the northwest. All Saints' Church , now a Grade I listed building, has 14th-century origins but was altered and extended around 1437, then restored in 1847. Although it has a central position near the market-place, surrounding buildings hide it from view except for the central tower. St Mary's Church, Old Dilton was begun in the 14th century but went out of regular use in 1900 after
936-562: Is a film genre that emphasizes humor . These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending , with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film, and it is derived from classical comedy in theatre . Some of the earliest silent films were slapstick comedies , which often relied on visual depictions, such as sight gags and pratfalls, so they could be enjoyed without requiring sound. To provide drama and excitement to silent movies, live music
1008-563: Is a civil parish with an elected town council of fifteen members: five for each of three wards with the same boundaries as the electoral divisions. The council has significant consultative roles, in addition to responsibility for certain local services. The chairman has the title of Mayor of Westbury which is a wholly ceremonial role. Around 2020, the council took over the running of the town's play areas, toilets and flower planting from Wiltshire Council, and supplemented reduced services from Wiltshire Council with its own staff. The council also runs
1080-623: Is an early 18th century house in red brick with stone dressings; its five-bay front, with a carved stone shell hood over the central door, is passed by traffic on the A350. Leigh House at Westbury Leigh, perhaps of slightly earlier date, is a similar structure. In a central position on the Market Place, the early 19th century former town hall is in Bath stone ashlar and has a colonnaded front at street level, behind which shops were inserted in
1152-462: Is available on Blu-ray disc with numerous disc extras from Film Movement 's reissue label Film Movement Classics. Performances of Philip Goulding's adaptation of the story for theatre began in 1997 and have continued regularly since, largely in a series of local productions. A first national tour took place in 2005, and the script was published in 2008 as The Titfield Thunderbolt: A Play ( Samuel French Ltd ). Comedy film The comedy film
1224-542: Is served by a fortnightly free newspaper, the White Horse News , named after the defining feature on the edge of the town. The newspaper is delivered to all homes in the town and the nearby villages of Bratton , Dilton Marsh and Edington , amongst others. Westbury is also served by the weekly Warminster Journal and Wiltshire Times . Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West and ITV West Country . Television signals are received from
1296-531: The Cam Brook valley between Camerton and Limpley Stoke . The branch had closed to all traffic on 15 February 1951, but was reopened for filming. Titfield railway station was in reality Monkton Combe railway station , whilst Titfield village was nearby Freshford , with other scenes being shot at the disused Dunkerton Colliery. Mallingford railway station in the closing scene was Bristol Temple Meads railway station . The opening scene shows Midford Viaduct on
1368-515: The Liverpool and Manchester Railway locomotive Lion , built in 1838 and so at the time 114 years old. It was repainted in a colourful red and green livery to suit the Technicolor process and ran under its own power in the film. In the scene in which the Thunderbolt is "rear-ended" by the uncoupled train, the locomotive's tender sustained some actual damage, which remains visible beneath
1440-549: The Oxfordshire market town of Woodstock and in Richmond Park , London, but the lead-in scene with the turntable was filmed at Oxford locomotive depot with a real engine. The earlier scene of GWR 1400 Class No. 1401 crashing and getting wrecked as it heads down an embankment used realistic scale models filmed on a set at Ealing Studios. The Thunderbolt itself was represented by an actual antique museum resident,
1512-494: The River Biss as it flows north towards Trowbridge, forms most of the western boundary of the parish. Suburbs of Westbury include Frogmore, Bitham Park, and The Ham (north and east), Chalford, Leigh Park, and Westbury Leigh (southwest). Westbury Leigh is sometimes considered a separate village, with its own church and chapel, although it is now a contiguous part of the town. Leigh Park is a large housing estate developed from
SECTION 20
#17327802192811584-584: The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway , where the branch line passed underneath. The scene of the Squire attempting to overtake Harry Hawkins' steam roller was filmed in Carlingcott . The scene where a replacement locomotive is 'stolen' used a wooden mock-up 'locomotive' mounted on a lorry chassis: the rubber tyres can (just) be spotted between the locomotive's driving wheels. The scene was jointly filmed in
1656-465: The Wessex Main Line , linking Bristol and Bath Spa to Salisbury , Southampton , Portsmouth and London Waterloo . Westbury railway station is northwest of the town centre. A smaller station, Dilton Marsh , is to the southwest of the town centre between the suburbs of Dilton Marsh and Westbury Leigh; this is a request stop . Westbury has one secondary school , two primary schools ,
1728-612: The Westbury depot, located on the former- Great Western Railway main line from London to Bristol . Originally they were provided only to operate the locomotives employed in the film on location but, when Charles Crichton talked to them and realised they "looked and sounded the part", they were given speaking roles and duly credited. When interviewed for an article in Railway World , T. E. B. Clarke revealed that he based Mr. Valentine on an elderly gentleman that he remembered in
1800-494: The Westbury White Horse . The majority of local government functions (including schools, roads, social services, waste disposal, emergency planning, leisure services, development control, refuse collection and street cleaning) are carried out by Wiltshire Council , a unitary authority . The area of Westbury parish is divided into three electoral divisions, each electing one member of Wiltshire Council. Westbury
1872-689: The buffer beam to this day. The scene where Thunderbolt is removed at night from its museum was filmed in the (now demolished) Imperial Institute building near the Royal Albert Hall in London, but shots were created using a studio-built model for this. The film had its gala premiere at Leicester Square Theatre in London on 5 March 1953, as part of the British Film Academy 's award ceremony, before going on general release from
1944-578: The 1870s. The manor of Westbury, and the hundred with the same boundaries, was held by the king at the time of the Domesday survey in 1086. The Wiltshire Victoria County History recounts the fragmentation into manors, and traces their ownership. The ancient parish included Bratton , Dilton, Dilton Marsh , Heywood and part of Chapmanslade . Churches at Bratton and Dilton were dependent chapels of Westbury church. Westbury centres on its historic marketplace – although markets ceased to be held in
2016-458: The 18th and 19th centuries; later growth came from the town's position at the intersection of two railway lines. The busy A350 , which connects the M4 motorway with the south coast, passes through the town. The urban area has expanded to include the village of Westbury Leigh and the hamlets of Chalford and Frogmore . A Romano-British settlement was found at The Ham, in the north of the parish, in
2088-464: The 18th century, its present form dates from 1778 when it was restored. In the 1950s it was decided that the horse would be more easily maintained if it were set in concrete and painted white. The A350 road passes through the town and provides a fast route to the M4 motorway (junction 17) 21 miles to the north. A controversial Westbury Bypass was once proposed which would have reduced traffic in parts of
2160-560: The 1970s. The first floor windows have balustraded aprons below, and above them the triangular pediment has the Lopes arms in the tympanum . Edgar House, off Edward Street south of the town centre, is a four-bay early 18th century remodelling of an older house, faced in stucco . The Grade II* monument is the Phipps mausoleum in the cemetery, on the Bratton road on the eastern edge of
2232-626: The 6th. The poster was commissioned by Ealing Studios from the artist Edward Bawden and features the final episode in which the Bishop of Wilchester acts as fireman on the purloined Victorian locomotive. Ealing Studios head Sir Michael Balcon expressed dissatisfaction with the result of the film, believing that it didn't quite match up to what had been written in the script. Others too at the time thought that it fell short in comparison to other Ealing comedies . The British Film Institute 's Monthly Film Bulletin for April 1953, for example, considered
The Titfield Thunderbolt - Misplaced Pages Continue
2304-667: The Bishop of Wilchester, in running the Thunderbolt for the inspection run. The train departs Titfield late because the police demand transport to Mallingford for them and the arrested men. Despite a mishap with the coupling, the villagers help the train complete its run to Mallingford. Upon arriving, Weech learns that the line passed every requirement for the Light Railway Order, but barely. In fact, had they been any faster, their application would have been rejected. Driver Ted Burbidge, fireman Frank Green and guard Harold Alford were not actors but British Railways employees from
2376-511: The Dorset coast and comes close to the surface around Westbury. Many marine fossils have been found in the pits dug for the cement works north-east of the town, notably the almost complete skull and 2-metre (6 ft) lower jaw of a new species which was named Pliosaurus carpenteri after its 1994 discoverer, Simon Carpenter. This evidence of a large reptile-like ocean predator has been conserved by Bristol Museum . A smaller fossil found in 1980
2448-536: The Grade I listed All Saints' Church , the town has five Grade II* listed houses and one monument. Oldest among them is Ferndale House, now the Conservative Club, just east of the Market Place, which although altered dates from the early 18th century. In rendered brick, its front has two Palladian windows on each of the ground and first floor, all with small side lights. North of the Market Place, Bank House
2520-541: The Grade II listed Laverton Institute which serves as the town hall and as a venue for events and meetings. The parliamentary constituency of Westbury dated back to the 15th century but the name was abandoned in 2010, when the town and most of the former constituency became part of the new South West Wiltshire constituency. The seat has been held by Andrew Murrison for the Conservatives since 2001. Before
2592-692: The Penknap building continues in use as Providence Baptist Church. Later, there was a Baptist congregation in Westbury itself, and in 1868 they rebuilt their West End chapel to seat 350, on the site of a smaller 1820s chapel. A Methodist church and schoolroom was built in 1926 at the town end of Station Road, replacing a smaller chapel elsewhere dating from around 1809. It is used as a meeting place and events venue by local organisations. The Catholic Church of St Bernadette of Lourdes in West End, Westbury
2664-461: The UK's largest manufacturer of paper bags and similar goods. Pevsner states that the best houses in Westbury are near the church. His perambulation takes in the Market Place and the streets leading off it, then proceeds south and west. He notes the 1960s central shopping parade – two yellow brick ranges facing each other – and the former Barclays Bank, 1970, purple brick in brutalist style. Besides
2736-399: The attempt, and the villagers become disheartened that their line will now close without any rolling stock and working steam locomotive. Valentine visits Taylor, who suggests that they borrow a locomotive from Mallingford's rail yards. Despite being both drunk, they manage to acquire one, but accidentally crash it after they're spotted taking it. Both men are promptly arrested by the police as
2808-580: The bounds of which have been much the same since the Anglo-Saxon period . The -bury part of the name is a form of borough , which has cognates in many languages, such as the German -burg and the Greek -pyrgos . It carries the idea of a hill or fortified town. In Wiltshire, -bury often indicates an Iron Age or Bronze Age fortified hill fort , and such a site is to be found immediately above
2880-515: The film industry due to their popularity. In The Screenwriters Taxonomy (2017), Eric R. Williams contends that film genres are fundamentally based upon a film's atmosphere, character, and story, and therefore, the labels "drama" and "comedy" are too broad to be considered a genre. Instead, his taxonomy argues that comedy is a type of film that contains at least a dozen different sub-types. A number of hybrid genres have emerged, such as action comedy and romantic comedy . The first comedy film
2952-457: The hotel bar while on a holiday. As related in an article focused on the production published in the March 1953 edition of The Railway Magazine , the script requirements called for several weeks' filming (in 1952) on a suitable single-track railway line passing through attractive scenery, complete with a main line junction, a level crossing, and a pleasant branch line terminus station. Assistance
The Titfield Thunderbolt - Misplaced Pages Continue
3024-558: The industry declined, until only the Angel and Bitham mills continued to make fine woollen cloth, having been acquired in the 1850s by Abraham Laverton; both mills closed in 1969. There were also tanning and glove-making businesses, some of them taking over the disused cloth mills for a time in the 20th century. Malting was another important industry from at least the 17th century. In the 1830s there were six firms active in Westbury and Westbury Leigh, but by 1960 only one remained. Iron ore
3096-581: The late 1990s immediately to the north of Westbury Leigh, with a large medical centre, a community hall, and a district centre with a Tesco Express . Until the 1940s, the Westbury Hill Fair was an important annual event, mostly for the sale of sheep. The company which became known as Blue Circle built in 1962 a rail-served cement production plant a short distance north-east of the town, partly in Heywood parish; its two rotary kilns were for
3168-417: The line's water tower but are thwarted by Weech and the line's supportive passengers. After Chesterford refuses to accept a merger offer from them, Crump and Pearce hire Hawkins to help them derail the steam locomotive and passenger coach lent to the villagers by British Railways , the night before the line's inspection. Blakeworth, the town clerk of Mallingford, is mistakenly arrested despite trying to stop
3240-550: The locomotive by buckets from an adjacent stream and passengers being asked to assist in pushing the carriages, were taken from incidents on the Talyllyn Railway recounted in Railway Adventure . The residents of the village of Titfield are shocked to learn that their railway branch line to the town of Mallingford is to be closed. Sam Weech, the local vicar and a railway enthusiast, and Gordon Chesterford,
3312-516: The middle of the 19th century – and the All Saints' Church . This was built between c. 1340 and 1380 in a transitional style between the Decorated and Perpendicular Gothic and parts survive, but the church was rebuilt in the 1430s, when a clerestory , three chapels, and most of the central tower were added; the north chapel was given by William de Westbury and his father. The west window
3384-754: The most popular with audiences at the box office, there is an 'historical bias against a close and serious consideration of comedy' when it comes to critical reception and conferring of awards, such as at the Academy Awards . Film writer Cailian Savage observes "Comedies have won Oscars, although they’ve usually been comedy-dramas, involved very depressing scenes, or appealed to stone-hearted drama lovers in some other way, such as Shakespeare in Love ." According to Williams' taxonomy , all film descriptions should contain their type (comedy or drama) combined with one (or more) sub-genres. This combination does not create
3456-490: The nave was screened off and converted for use as a community hall. Nonconformists met in the town from 1662, and built a chapel on Warminster Road soon after 1711, which was rebuilt to suit a congregation of 500 in 1821. It became a United Reformed Church on the foundation of that organisation in 1972. There has been a strong Baptist movement at Westbury Leigh, encouraged by the congregations at Southwick , some 4 miles (6 km) away towards Trowbridge. An early chapel
3528-641: The northwestern edge of Salisbury Plain ; in the past, the name Westbury-under-the-Plain was sometimes used to distinguish it from other towns of the same name . The town is 18 miles (29 km) southeast of the city of Bath , approximately 4 miles (6 km) south of the county town of Trowbridge and the same distance north of the garrison town of Warminster . Nearby villages are Bratton , Chapmanslade , Dilton Marsh , Edington , Heywood and Hawkeridge , Coulston , and Upton Scudamore ; and in Somerset, Rudge and Standerwick . The Biss Brook, which becomes
3600-479: The parliamentary reforms of the mid-19th century, Westbury was considered a pocket borough , at one point having as few as twenty-four electors. This status led to gifts to the town from the owners of the parliamentary borough, including the Old Town Hall in the Market Place, donated by Sir Manasseh Masseh Lopes . Westbury is in the far west of Wiltshire, close to the border with Somerset . It lies under
3672-639: The population dwindled in that area, southwest of Westbury. The Grade I listed building, which remains consecrated, has been in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust since 1974. The Church of the Holy Saviour at Westbury Leigh was built as a chapel of ease in 1877, the south aisle added in 1889 and the tower in 1890; all in honey coloured limestone, to designs of the Gothic Revival architect William White . In 2000
SECTION 50
#17327802192813744-495: The script "disconcertingly short on wit, and some of its invention seems forced." The acting, however, was praised by Variety . Decades later it is remembered that though the film was "One of the less popular Ealing Comedies at the time, it is now regarded as more of a classic". Similarly, Ivan Butler in his Cinema in Britain called it "A minor Ealing, perhaps even a little tired towards the evening of their long comedy day, but
3816-455: The town but would have had a negative effect on the landscape on the east of the town. The eastern bypass scheme was eventually rejected after an Independent Planning Inquiry recommended against it in 2009. The town is an important junction point on the railway network, as it lies at the point where the Reading to Taunton line , forming a link from London Paddington to Penzance , intersects
3888-418: The town. Dating from around 1871 (for the burial of John Lewis Phipps ), the stone monument has a basement, an octagonal chamber with four windows, and a short spire with lantern . A well-known feature of the area is the Westbury White Horse , which overlooks the town from a slope up to Salisbury Plain, in Bratton parish about 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (2.4 km) east of the town. Probably first made in
3960-514: The town. Westbury C of E Junior School serves the central part of the town and takes children from Year 3 to Year 6. It is fed by Westbury Infant School, which takes children from Reception to Year 2. The closest further education establishment is Wiltshire College 's Trowbridge campus, 4½ miles to the north. The college offers daytime adult education lessons at the Westbury Community Project building. The University of Bath
4032-435: The train and volunteers from the village to operate the station. Bus operators Alec Pearce and Vernon Crump, who bitterly oppose the idea and wish to set up a bus line between Titfield and Mallingford, attempt to sabotage the plans. Aided by Harry Hawkins, a steam roller operator who hates the railway, Crump and Pearce attempt to block the line on its first run, but the train forces its way through. The next day, they sabotage
4104-512: The use of comedy film to make social statements by building their narratives around sensitive cultural, political or social issues. Such films include Dr Strangelove, or How I Learned to Love the Bomb , Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and The Graduate . In America, the sexual revolution drove an appetite for comedies that celebrated and parodied changing social morals, including Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and Fanny Hill . In Britain,
4176-544: The village squire, decide to take over the line by setting up a company through a Light Railway Order . On securing financial backing from Walter Valentine, a wealthy man with a fondness for daily drinking, the men learn that the Ministry of Transport will allow them a month's trial period, after which they must pass an inspection to make the Order permanent. Weech is helped by Chesterford and retired track layer Dan Taylor to run
4248-402: The village to prepare to take passengers, but are shocked to see the train waiting at the station. Distracted from his driving, Pearce crashes the bus into the police van transporting Valentine and Taylor, and when Crump lets slip that they have been involved in sabotaging the line they are promptly arrested. With Taylor arrested, Weech takes help from Ollie Matthews, a fellow railway devotee and
4320-484: The volunteer enthusiasts running the Talyllyn Railway for the two years 1951–52. According to British rail enthusiast and film historian John Huntley 's book Railways in the Cinema (published by Ian Allan in 1969), T. E. B. Clarke actually visited the Talyllyn Railway in 1951 and spent two days learning about the tribulations faced by its volunteers. A number of scenes in the film, such as the emergency resupply of water to
4392-609: The world's first heritage railway run by volunteers. "Titfield" is an amalgamation of the names Titsey and Limpsfield , two villages in Surrey near Clarke's home at Oxted . Michael Truman was the producer. The film was produced by Ealing Studios and was the first of its comedies shot in Technicolor . There was considerable inspiration from the book Railway Adventure by established railway book author L. T. C. Rolt , published in 1953. Rolt had acted as honorary manager for
SECTION 60
#17327802192814464-846: The year including the Donkey Derby, Vintage & Classic Car Shows and Christmas Concert. A cricket field at Wellhead Lane was laid out by the mill-owning Lavertons and came to be known as W. H. Laverton's Ground . In 1890 W. G. Grace played in W. H. Laverton's XI against a team called the Australians. Today the ground is home to Westbury & District Cricket Club, and to one side is the Leighton Recreation Centre, run by Places Leisure (part of Places for People ) on behalf of Wiltshire Council . providing access to Health and Fitness Suites, Grass Pitches, Squash Courts, Tennis Courts and Grass Cricket Pitches. Westbury
4536-414: Was L'Arroseur Arrosé (1895), directed and produced by film pioneer Louis Lumière . Less than a minute long, it shows a boy playing a prank on a gardener. The most notable comedy actors of the silent film era (1895–1927) were Charlie Chaplin , Harold Lloyd , and Buster Keaton , though they were able to make the transition into “ talkies ” after the 1920s. Film-makers in the 1960s skillfully employed
4608-487: Was built in 1938. It is now served from St John the Baptist, Trowbridge . Westbury Swimming Pool is one of the oldest Victorian swimming pools still in use in the country. Work started in 1887 by William Laverton, with his wife laying the foundation stone. The pool was built as a gift to the town of Westbury and opened on Thursday 24th May 1888 in celebration and commemoration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee. Westbury has
4680-472: Was discovered just north of the town in the 1840s during construction of the railway; opencast mines were developed and furnaces built. Production declined toward the end of the century and had ceased by 1925. A chain of lakes and ponds near The Ham is evidence of the abandoned workings. The most likely origin of the West- in Westbury is simply that the town is near the western edge of the county of Wiltshire,
4752-546: Was donated in the 19th century by Abraham Laverton . The Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway was completed from near Chippenham, via Melksham and Trowbridge, as far as Westbury in 1848. That company was bought by the Great Western Railway in 1850, who over the next few years built lines onwards to Frome (to access the Somerset coalfield ), then south to Yeovil and Weymouth, as well as southeast from Westbury to Warminster and then Salisbury. Westbury station
4824-760: Was in turn abolished in 2009 on the establishment of Wiltshire Council as a unitary authority. Leighton House in the south of the town has been home to the Army Officer Selection Board and the Cadet Force Commissioning Board since 1949. Its planned disposal was announced in March 2016, and later that year the MoD estimated that the Selection Board would move to Sandhurst by 2024. A band of Late Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay runs under England from an outcrop on
4896-489: Was made from a barn in 1714, and replaced on the same site in 1797 by a chapel with accommodation for 500, built in red brick with stone trimmings. Improved and enlarged in the next century, it is described by Historic England as an "impressive building". In 1810 another chapel was built nearby, at Penknap in Dilton Marsh parish, after a split in the congregation. The earlier chapel fell into disuse sometime before 2019;
4968-518: Was named Pliosaurus westburyensis in 1993. In common with nearby towns in the Avon valley, Westbury was a centre of the cloth industry from the later 15th century. By the start of the 19th century, Dilton Marsh was a centre of hand-loom weaving. The Phipps family were prominent among the clothiers, becoming the largest landowners by the end of the 19th century and occupying Leighton House (Westbury) and Chalcot House (Dilton Marsh). During that century
5040-417: Was played in sync with the action on the screen, on pianos, organs, and other instruments. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1920s, comedy films grew in popularity, as laughter could result from both burlesque situations but also from humorous dialogue . Comedy, compared with other film genres , places more focus on individual star actors, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to
5112-858: Was provided by the Railway Executive in charge of British Railways, and a number of branch lines were examined in pre-production, including the Kelvedon and Tollesbury Light Railway , the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway , the Kent & East Sussex Railway and the Lambourn Valley Railway . Shooting was largely carried out near Bath, Somerset , on the Camerton branch of the Bristol and North Somerset Railway, along
5184-454: Was rebuilt in 1899 since it would become more important as a junction the next year, on the opening of the Stert and Westbury line . This was a faster route from London to Weymouth, which at Westbury crossed the route between the south coast and Bristol or South Wales. From 1906 the route from London was also used by trains to Taunton and Exeter. In 1894, Westbury parish was reduced in size when
#280719