The Charity was first established in 1554 when Queen Mary granted a Royal Charter to Chippenham.  She gave Crown Land to the Borough and the income was to be used to pay for two Members of Parliament and for the upkeep of the bridge over the River Avon.

The Charity was administered by the Bailiff and Burgesses, who were elected by the occupiers of premises in the High Street and St Mary Street.  These houses are known as Burgage Houses.

In

In 1835 Chippenham was made a Borough by the Local Government Review.  The Bailiff and Burgesses were replaced by the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses.  The new Borough Council assumed all the properties, debts and assets from the Bailiff and Burgesses, including the Borough Lands.

In 1974 the Local Government Act created North Wiltshire District Council, who in turn assumed all the properties, debts and assets from the Borough Council.

Shortly after this, a proposed road scheme led to the careful study of the charters and deeds relating to the Borough Lands.

After advice, it was confirmed that the Borough Lands was a Charitable Trust and not part of the property of NWDC.  Further investigation found that the NWDC had unlawfully used the lands and so financial reparation had to be made to compensate for the loss.  These funds were increased with the sale of land at Bumpers Farm and Littlefields.

On 18th April 1990 the Charity Commission granted a Scheme known as The Charities (Borough Lands Charity) Chippenham Order 1990 and the new Trustees took office.  The deeds, documents and assets were formally handed over on 23rd October 1990.

This meant the Charity had a large amount of money, some of which was Capital (which could not be spent and had to be invested) and some was Income (which was available to spend.)

The Charity Commission required a large part of this to be spent quickly and so the Trustees decided they would give the money back to the Community by funding Community Centres at Pewsham and Kingsley Road.  They also funded the building of 3 hospice rooms at the local hospital.

Originally the Charity had to keep 50 acres of land for grazing, but this has since been amended to approximately 8 acres.