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Bromham, Wiltshire

Historical Description

Bromham, a village and a parish in Wilts. The village stands 1½ mile N of the Kennet and Avon Canal, 1½ S of the Roman road to Bath, 3 miles N by E of Seend station on the G.W.R., and 3½ NW of Devizes, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Chippenham. The parish comprises 3519 acres; population of the civil parish, 1137; of the ecclesiastical, 932. The manor was held in the time of Edward the Confessor by Earl Harold, and belonged in the time of Henry VI. to Lord St Amand. Sloperton Cottage, in the north, near Bowood Park, was long the residence and eventually the death-place of the poet Moore. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £764 with residence. The church is Decorated English, richly sculptured, has a handsome spire, was restored in 1869, and contains tombs of the Bayntons, an alabaster tomb of Sir William Tecotes, and a monumental tablet to Dr Season, who wrote " Season on the Seasons." The churchyard contains the grave of the poet Moore. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels, and almshouses. Bishop Webbe, the Somerset county historian Collinson, and Dr Season were natives.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyWiltshire 
Ecclesiastical parishBromham St. Nicholas 
HundredPotterne and Cannings 
Poor Law unionDevizes 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

The parish register dates from the year 1566.

Findmypast, in association with the Wiltshire Record Office, have the following parish records online for Bromham:

BaptismsBannsMarriagesBurials
1566-19011754-18721560-19111560-1880

Churches

Church of England

St. Nicholas (parish church)

The church of St. Nicholas is a building of stone in the Lancet and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, south aisle, south transept, south-eastern chapel, south porch and an embattled central tower with octagonal spire, 110 feet in height, containing a clock and 6 bells, hung at a cost of £600: the chancel was entirely rebuilt in 1865 in the Lancet style, at the cost of the rector: it retains a credence with trefoil-headed arch, and a hagioscope: the reredos is arcaded, and has marble shafts: the rest of the church is Perpendicular: the chapel, which is the most interesting portion, was built by Richard Beauchamp, 2nd Baron St. Amand (d. 1508), who founded therein a chantry dedicated to St. Mary and St. Nicholas: it has an embattled parapet, with crocketed pinnacles, panelling and shields of arms: in the centre of the east, wall, above the roof, is a richly designed canopied niche, the flat ceiling is divided into thirty-two compartments, painted and gilt, and profusely decorated, and against the east wall is a canopied niche, and there are sedilia, formed in the sill of a window on the south side: the chapel opens to the chancel by two lofty Perpendicular arches, a similar one communicating with the transept: in the centre of the chapel stands a large tomb, with a full length recumbent effigy of a knight in armour, in excellent preservation, representing Sir Roger Tocotes, or Touchet, who married the widow of William Beauchamp, 1st baron St. Amand (d. 1457): there is also a canopied tomb to his wife Elizabeth, and on an upright slab within the canopy is a brass kneeling effigy of a female in the costume of the period (circa 1490), and a representation of the Holy Trinity, formerly in a matrix above: immediately opposite, against the south wall, is a canopied tomb to Sir Edward Baynton kt. ob. 1578, with brass effigies of himself, his two wives, and two out of three children, all kneeling; and on the floor is a brass effigy of John Baynton, ob. 1516, cousin and heir of Richard Beauchamp, and Lord St. Amand: beneath the east window of this chapel are five recesses, three of which contain tablets to Sir Edward Baynton kt. ob. 1670; Henry Baynton, ob. 1691; and John Baynton, ob. 1716; and there is another to Lady Anne Wilmot, ob, 1703, besides many memorials to various members of the Baynton family: the chapel has a stained east window, erected in memory of John Bayntun Starky, who died in Australia, by his widow: the transept has a stone-groined roof, with a long pendant in the centre: the porch is embattled, and on the west is a stair leading to a parvise above: three windows on the north side of the chancel are stained: on the tower is a curious figure of a skeleton, cut into the north wall, and near it, surrounded by a scroll, a skull and cross-bones, with the inscription, "Death is swallowed up in victori": in the churchyard rest the remains of Thomas Moore, the poet, who died at Sloperton Cottage, Chittoe, 25th Feb. 1852, and above the grave rises a fine Celtic cross, erected in Nov. 1906, through the efforts of the Rev. A. S. Hartigan M.A. then curate here: it is of Ballinasloe limestone, 18 feet in height, on a base 7 ft. 6 in. by 4 feet, and cost £232: at the base are incriptions, one being a verse from Moore's poems and the other a quotation from Byron: the west window, by Constable, of Cambridge, was erected by subscription to his memory, and there is a plain slab over the grave of his two children: Mrs. Moore, relict of the poet, was also buried here in the year 1865, and is commemorated by the stained east window: in 1908 a stained glass window was erected in the nave to the memory of the Rev. E. Edgell, rector 1905-7: a new stone reredos was placed in the chancel in 1910, and also two stained windows: the interior was restored and renewed, and a stone pulpit and reading desk erected about 1843: there are 400 sittings.

Baptist

Baptist Chapel

Methodist

Primitive Methodist Chapel
Wesleyan Chapel

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 Bromham from the following:


Maps

Online maps of Bromham are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Wiltshire papers online:

CountyWiltshire
RegionSouth West
CountryEngland
Postal districtSN15
Post TownChippenham

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