Coombe, Enford, Wiltshire

Coombe is a hamlet of the civil parish of Enford, Wiltshire, England, about 13mi north of the cathedral city of Salisbury. It lies on the River Avon between the larger villages of Enford and Netheravon, with nearly half of its houses on the road connecting the two and the remainder in Coombe Lane.HistoryThe history of Coombe is poorly documented, but an early reference to it dates back to the year 934, when Coombe, along with the manors of Enford, Fifield, Littlecott and Longstreet was granted by Athelstan to Winchester Cathedral as a single estate of thirty hides. Coombe was part of the Bishop of Winchester's hundred of 'Elstub', together with the larger settlements of Enford, Netheravon and Fittleton. It is thought that since the name of the neighbouring hamlet of 'Fifield' translates as 'five hides', Coombe, of similar size, may also have been valued at five hides at the time of the Domesday Book.Since its foundation, Coombe has probably never grown much beyond the small hamlet that it is today, although no buildings survive from the earliest times. Notably however, the foundations of a small chapel-of-ease dating from the Middle Ages are still said to be visible, although the chapel is thought to have fallen out of use in the 15th century.