Britford or Burford, Wiltshire
Historical Description
Britford or Burford, a village and a parish in Wilts. The village stands adjacent to the Salisbury and Southampton Canal, 1½ mile SE of Salisbury station on the G.W. and L. & S.W.R., and has a fair on 12 Aug. It has a post office under Salisbury, which is the telegraph office; money order office, East Harnham. The parish includes also the tithing of East Harnham, and the hamlet of Longford, and its post town is Salisbury. Acreage, 3107 of land and 74 of water; population of the civil parish, 918; of the ecclesiastical, 382. The manor belonged anciently to King Harold, and belongs now to the Earl of Radnor. Longford Castle, the seat of the Earl, was built about 1591 by Sir Thomas Gorges, is a curiously constructed edifice, of triangular form, with inner court, and possesses a very fine picture gallery. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £238 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury. The church is cruciform, and contains a mausoleum of the Bouveries, and a curious sculptured altar-tomb, usually, but erroneously, said to be that of the Duke of Buckingham who was beheaded by Richard III. The church was restored in 1873. East and West Harnham are united vicarage benefices, with a net value of £256 with residence. The parish contains Alderbury workhouse.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Wiltshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Britford St. Peter | |
Hundred | Cawden and Cadworth | |
Poor Law union | Alderbury |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The Phillimore transcript of Marriages at Britford 1573-1812, Wiltshire is available to browse online.
The register dates from the year 1573.
Churches
Church of England
St. Peter (parish church)
The church of St. Peter is a cruciform building of rubble and stone in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, transepts, south porch, and a large central embattled tower containing 6 bells: there is a tomb of the Bouverie family and a monument to Henry (Stafford), 2nd Duke of Buckingham, beheaded at Salisbury, 2 Nov. 1483: in the nave are three very curious semicircular arches which are said by competent authorities to be Roman work in situ: many of the windows are stained: the church was restored and reseated in 1873, and affords 240 sittings. Four Roman coins of the era of Constantine and Constans, struck at Treves and Carthage, were found among the debris of the church during the restoration in 1873.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Britford or Burford from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Britford, or Burford (St. Peter))
Maps
Online maps of Britford or Burford are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Wiltshire papers online: