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Sodbury, Chipping (St. John the Baptist)

SODBURY, CHIPPING (St. John the Baptist), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the Lower division of the hundred of Grumbald's-Ash, W. division of the county of Gloucester, 28 miles (S. S. W.) from Gloucester, and 113 (W. by S.) from London; containing 1273 inhabitants. This town, which existed in the twelfth century, and was endowed by King Stephen with the same privileges as Bristol, is situated on the road from Bristol to Cirencester, at the foot of a hill near the source of the Little Avon. The Yate station of the Gloucester and Bristol railway is only a short distance from the town on the west. The market is on Thursday; and fairs are held on May 23rd and June 24th, for cattle, cheese, and pedlery; and on the Friday before Lady-day and Michaelmas-day, both statute-fairs. The town was governed by a bailiff until 1681, when the inhabitants were incorporated by charter of Charles II., which ordained that the municipal body should consist of a mayor, six aldermen, and twelve burgesses; but this grant was annulled by proclamation of James II., in 1688, at the request of the inhabitants: constables are now elected annually at the court leet of the lord of the manor. The powers of the county debt-court of Chipping-Sodbury, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Chipping-Sodbury. The parish comprises 100 acres of land, chiefly pasture and common; the surface here is flat, but the adjacent scenery of bold and mountainous character. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £126; patron, the Vicar of Old Sodbury. The church is an ancient structure in the early English style. There are meeting-houses for Baptists and the Society of Friends; and a free grammar school endowed with £20 per annum. The poor-law union of Chipping-Sodbury comprises 23 parishes or places, and contains a population of 19,230.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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