COLERNE, a parish in the hundred of CHIPPENHAM,
county of WILTS, 7 miles (W. by S.) from Chippenham,
containing 888 inhabitants. The living is a
discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Wilts, and
diocese of Salisbury, rated in the king's books at £ 9.16.:
there is also a sinecure rectory, rated at £16. 11.10.,
and annexed to the Wardenship of New College, Oxford,
the Warden being patron of the vicarage. The church
is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. There is a meeting-
house for Independents. Colerne, or, as it was
formerly called, Coldhorn, derives its name from its
bleak situation upon the summit of one of the highest
hills in the vicinity of Bath: the tower of the church
and a large brewery are conspicuous objects for miles
round the country, which is singularly intersected by
deep combes in all directions. About sixty years ago
the village was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt with stone,
without much regard to uniformity. The neighbourhood
was the scene of many sanguinary conflicts between
the Saxons and the Danes: the Wansdyke touches the
parish in two places, constituting the boundary of the
county. On Colerne down is an ancient double intrenchment,
called North wood Camp; and in the park
is another ancient fortification. There is a spring holding
a quantity of lime in solution, the water of which
incrusts,. and gives the appearance of a petrifaction to
any thing upon which it falls.