Old Police House

Most villages in the 1800s and early 1900s had their own village policeman. The first one recorded in Sutton Benger was Constable Richard Ellery, in 1820. He was a part-time policeman, who combined the job with his normal profession as a baker. The role became more professional from around the 1840s, and the Censuses show that there were policemen in the village throughout the 1800s, but at a number of different locations. Wherever the policeman lived, with his family, was effectively 'the police station'. From about 1915 the situation became more formal, and there was a more permanent police station established; it was on the south side of the road at the house now known as The Old Police House. Different police constables lived there with their families for over 50 years until 1975, when the last village policeman moved to Chippenham and the house was sold.