Charlton (Malmesbury), Wiltshire
Historical Description
Charlton, a parish in Wiltshire, 2½ miles NE of Malmesbury, and 4 WSW of Minety railway station. It has a post office under Malmesbury. Acreage, 4766; population of the civil parish, 527; of the ecclesiastical, 928. The manor belonged to Malmesbury Abbey, passed to the Knevits, anil belongs now to the Earl of Suffolk. The mansion on it, Charlton House, is a stately edifice of Jacobean architecture with west front by Inigo Jones, contains a large collection of valuable paintings, and was frequently visited by the poet Dryden. A convalescent home for 10 children was erected in 1870. The living is a vicarage annexed to the vicarage of Brokenborough in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; net value, £384 with residence. The church is Early English, and contains the burial-vault of the Earls of Suffolk. It was thoroughly restored in 1875.
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 | Charlton St. John the Baptist | |
| Hundred | Malmesbury | |
| Poor Law union | Malmesbury |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1661.
Churches
Church of England
St. John the Baptist (parish church)
The church of St. John the Baptist, situated inside the gates of Charlton Park, is a building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south chapel, south porch and a central tower containing 5 bells: in the chancel is a table tomb with two recumbent figures, surmounted by a canopy, and in the south chapel is the family vault of the Earls of Suffolk: the stained east window, erected in 1874, is a memorial to Thomas, Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, d. 1851, and Elizabeth, his wife, d. 1836; the stained west window was erected in 1878 to Charles John, Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, d. 1876; there is another memorial window, erected in 1893, to Isabella, his wife, d. 1891, and a memorial brass tablet to Henry, Earl of Suffolk & Berkshire, d. 1898: the church was restored in 1875, and affords 280 sittings.
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 Charlton (Malmesbury) from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Charlton (St. John the Baptist))
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Wiltshire papers online: