East Lavington, Wiltshire
Historical Description
Lavington, East, a small town and a parish in Wilts. The town stands in a fertile valley, near the Ridge Way, and on the N border of Salisbury Plain, 5½ miles S of Devizes station on the G.W.R.; is irregularly built, consists chiefly of two streets, and is commonly called Market Lavington. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Devizes. A workmen's hall was erected in 1864. A weekly market was formerly held, but has been discontinued, and malting is carried on. Acreage of the civil parish, 3804; population, 1043; of the ecclesiastical, 897. The manor belonged once to the Plantagenets, passed first to the Beau-champs, and next to the Montagues, and now belongs to the Bouveries. A mansion, on a picturesque site, about half a mile W of the town, was built in 1866 by the Right Hon. E. P. Bouverie. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £290 with residence. Patrons, Christ Church, Oxford. The church stands on an eminence W of the town and is Later English; the tower was restored in 1862, and the bells were recast in 1872. There are Congregational and Baptist chapels. Bishop Tanner, author of " Notitia Monastica," was a native.
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 | East Lavington St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Swanborough | |
| Poor Law union | Devizes |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1673.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is an ancient structure of Bath stone in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, standing on an eminence west of the town and consists of chancel, clerestoried nave of two bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles, containing a clock and 6 bells, recast in 1876 at a cost of £220: the east end of the north aisle was formerly a chantry chapel, founded in 1349 by Robert de la Mere, and dedicated to SS. Mary, Katherine and Margaret, and its piscina still remains. Sir Walter Beauchamp kt. in his will, dated 1429, desires that his body shall be buried here: his son William Beauchamp, Lord St. Adland, ob. 1457, also in his will, makes a like request; the spiral stone stair, entered by a doorway from this chapel, anciently led to the rood-loft: in the vestry is a curious holy water stoup, now under a piscina niche: a quantity of Norman carving (now built into a string course in the south porch) was discovered in the east wall of the nave and the chancel arch in 1862; the chancel retains a credence and hagioscope; in 1878 a reredos of Caen stone, marble and alabaster was presented by Mrs. Pearson, widow of the Rev. T. Pearson, formerly vicar of this parish; the east window and three others are stained, and there are mural tablets to the Sainsbury family, including one to Thomas Sainsbury esq. Lord Mayor of London, 1786: the church was restored in 1862: in 1910 an organ chamber and choir vestry were erected and the chancel restored, the cost being borne by Christ Church, Oxford, and affords 380 sittings.
Baptist
Baptist Chapel
Congregational
Congregational Chapel
The Congregational chapel was built in 1805, to seat 160.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for East Lavington from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Lavington, East, or Market-Lavington (St. Mary))
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Wiltshire papers online: