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Chedhams Yard Home Page

Welcome to Chedhams Yard!

"Significant as an exceptional and well preserved example of a site that represents a vanishing way of life."

The Chedham’s family wheelwright and blacksmith business started in the 19th century and only stopped when young Bill Chedham locked the door in the 1970’s. Untouched until a few years ago, it remains one of only a few complete examples of the wheelwright’s

craft and a testament to our working lives from not so long ago.

This site is maintained by the Friends of Chedhams Yard. Please check the latest news to find out what has been happening since the Final. If you would like to support the work of the Friends, please visit the Friends page. Thank you for your continued interest.

Restoration Village 2006 Winner!

A big 'Thank You' to all those who supported Chedham's Yard and voted for us in the final in 2006. Since the Final, the Parish Council have been working with the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Restoration Trustees to secure the funding necessary to complete the restoration of the Yard. Consultants PLB have been appointed to prepare final plans which will be available in early 2008 to allow work to commence on site later this year.

2009 - Artefacts in Store

Artefacts have been removed from site into store and are being cleaned by Friends volunteers after Yard was flooded in July 2007

Chedham's Yard is situated within the village of Wellesbourne, Warwickshire. Since c1850 the character of the yard has changed little and the site has retained its characteristic long and narrow shape, which previously connected the plot to the River Dene, prior to the diversion of the river as part of a flood defence scheme. Surviving buildings comprise the wheelwright's workshop, the blacksmith's workshop and a roofed area in between the two buildings, formerly used as a drying shed. The wealth of associated collections within all three structures reflects their former use as a busy rural working place throughout the last 150 years. There are a number of associated items of machinery positioned in the Yard which help to demonstrate the interrelationship of the workshops and the uncovered areas of the site.