Market Lavington Museum has recently been given a number of items, which relate to Candown Farm but many people will have no idea where this farm was. In 1911 it became a part of an active artillery range and it vanished from the scene.
To get to Candown Farm you travel up White Street and Lavington Hill and continue (if the warning flags are not flying) past the vedette and over the plain. You’ll pass clumps of trees that mark the locations of New Farm and Philpotts Farm which, like Candown, have vanished.
About three miles after leaving the village centre you’ll find yourself looking into a secluded valley and Candown Farm was set in that. It is still an active range and on no account should walkers leave the track for dangers could lurk, unseen, in the grass.
The view to Candown Farm looked like this in 2008.
Site of Candown Farm, Market Lavington in 2008
But 100 years earlier, in 1908, it looked very different with a substantial farmhouse and associated buildings sheltered in the valley.
Candown Farm, Market Lavington in 1908
The best point of reference is the chalk pit, behind the barn in the 1908 picture, for the outline of it could still be seen in 2008.
In the old photo, members of the Parrott family stand outside one of the buildings of this very isolated spot.
For much of the time, the paths across Salisbury Plain are closed. Do visit the museum to learn more about Candown and other former hill farms.
Tags: Agriculture, farming, Market Lavington, Museum, person, photograph
Market Lavington Museum 
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