Devizes and Roundway Orchard

Devizes and Roundway Orchard

Devizes and Roundway Orchard, Wiltshire. Credit: Debbie Chambers

Devizes and Roundway Orchard

A small orchard with old cricket field in Devizes.

Location

Devizes
Wiltshire
SN10 5FQ

OS Map Reference

SU008597

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A static map of Devizes and Roundway Orchard

Know before you go

Size
3 hectares
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Entry fee

Free
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Parking information

Roads next to the site are private and no access or parking is permitted. Please park on Green Lane and walk along Bryon Way onto Thomas Wyatt Road to access the site.

Bicycle parking

None. Thomas Wyatt Road is private. Access via Green Lane and Bryon Way.

Grazing animals

None

Access

Level easy walking.

Dogs

On a lead

See our FAQ's for more information

When to visit

Opening times

Open at all times.

Best time to visit

Spring and summer. Nearby attractions include Wiltshire Museum (2 miles), Caen Hill Locks (3 miles), Roundway Down Iron Age Hill Fort (2 miles), Devizes Wharf Canalside (2 miles).

About the reserve

Roundway Hospital in Devizes was originally called the Wiltshire County Lunatic Asylum. It opened in September 1851 to provide a home and therapy for mental health patients - more than 1,500 at its peak (1943). Architect Thomas Henry Wyatt designed the Italianate-style main building, which now contains apartments. The hospital offered many social activities and sports. We know that by 1880 patients were playing cricket. We will keep the cricket field as an open space for local people to enjoy and Devizes Town Council will keep the grass cut. The hospital also had a Bramley apple orchard –the Annual Report for 1942-43 said “for the first time, a good crop of apples was obtained from the new orchard adjoining the cricket field”.

Volunteers, working with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, have been replacing diseased trees with Wiltshire varieties such as Roundway Magnum Bonum. Orchards are important for wildlife. Pollinating insects explore the flower-rich grass between the trees.

Butterflies like the brimstone, orange-tip, red admiral and tortoiseshell feast on nectar in the fruit blossom. Old trees and areas of dead wood provide homes for lichens and beetles. Apple windfalls provide life-saving meals for redwing, fieldfare and fox in cold weather. See if you can spot long-tailed tit, greater spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker, jay, buzzard, robin, blackbird, nuthatch, and tree creeper.

Contact us

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust
Contact number: 01380 725670

Environmental designation

County Wildlife Site
Local Nature Reserve (LNR)

Map of Devizes & Roundway Orchard

Map of Roundway