Zeals

Infobox UK place
official_name = Zeals
country = England
latitude = 51.0846
longitude = -2.3147
civil_parish = Zeals Civil Parish
population = 693 cite web
url = http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getcensus.php?item=Zeals
title = Wiltshire Community History: Zeals Census Information
accessdate = 2007-03-17
author = Wiltshire County Council
date = 2005-09-19]
shire_district = Salisbury
shire_county = Wiltshire
region= South West England
constituency_westminster = Westbury
post_town = Warminster
postcode_district = BA12
postcode_area = BA
dial_code = 01747
os_grid_reference = ST780317

Zeals is a village and civil parish in the Salisbury district of Wiltshire, England. The village lies next to the A303 road between Wincanton and Mere, and adjoins the villages of Bourton, Dorset and Penselwood, Somerset. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 693.

Its name comes from the Old English 'sealh' meaning a small willow or sallow.

History

There is archeological evidence of human activity in Zeals as far back as neolithic times.cite web
url = http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getcom2.php?id=261
title = Wiltshire Community History: Zeals
accessdate = 2007-03-17
author = Wiltshire County Council
date = 2005-09-19] The village borders the western edge of Salisbury Plain, and is 23 miles from Stonehenge where construction is believed to have started in 3100 BC.cite web
url = http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.1914
title = Stonehenge: Historical Background
accessdate = 2007-03-17
author = English Heritage] There are bowl barrows on Mappledine Hill in the south east corner of the parish, and early prehistoric activity at Pen Pits to the north which were quarried since Roman times for greensand querns for hand grinding corn.cite web
url = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=18752
title = 'Penselwood', A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 7: Bruton, Horethorne and Norton Ferris Hundreds
pages = 184-192
accessdate = 2007-03-17
author = British History Online
year = 1999]

At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, the area of Zeals was divided between two estates, known as Lower Zeals (later the Manor of Zeals, or Clevedon) and Higher Zeals (later Zeals Aylesbury). Estimates suggest a population of 40 to 50 at Lower Zeals and 85-95 at Higher Zeals at that time.

Zeals airfield

To the north of Zeals village, next to the village of Stourton and the Stourhead estate is the site of the former RAF Zeals, also known as HMS Hummingbird and RNAS Zeals. The site operated between May 1942 and June 1946, and during this short time was occupied by the Royal Air Force, the United States Air Force and the Royal Navy. Until August 1943 the site was used by the RAF as a base for Hurricanes and Spitfires. The site was taken over in August 1943 by the United States Army Air Force whose initial plan was to use the airfield for maintenance of C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft. However, the damp conditions prevented heavy loads so P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft were flown from Zeals instead. From March 1944 the airfield returned to the RAF who used it as a base to launch Mosquito fighter planes against incoming German bombers. Following D-Day, the RAF used the airfield for glider training in preparation for action against Japan, and in April 1945 the airfield was taken over by the Royal Navy base at HMS Heron who used the airfield for aircraft carrier training. The site was closed down from January 1946 and in June it was returned to farmland. As of 2006, the control tower, now a private house, remains on Bells Lane in Zeals.

A memorial stands at nearby Beech Knoll in Stourton to mark the site where a Dakota transport plane crashed in February 1945, killing more than twenty people. The plane had taken off from Zeals airfield to return to Lincolnshire after two weeks of glider training and flew into some cloud-covered beech trees on the knoll.

References

* [http://www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/warandpeace/southwilts.asp Visit Wiltshire - Zeals Airfield history]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/66/a4098666.shtml BBC - biography of a Royal Navy officer based at Zeals]

External links

* [http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getcom.php?id=160 Wiltshire Community History]
* [http://www.communigate.co.uk/wilts/wiltshistoricalmilitarysociety/page3.phtml Site about Beech Knoll]
* [http://www.controltowers.co.uk/W-Z/Zeals.htm Zeals Airfield at controltowers.co.uk]