East Garston, Berkshire
Historical Description
Garston, East, a parish in Berks, on the river Lambourn, 21 miles ESE of Lambourn, and 6 N by E of Hungerford station on the G.W.R. It has a post office under Lambourn (E.S.O.); money order office, Great Shefford; telegraph office, Lambourn. Acreage, 4409; population, 436. The manor belonged to John of Gaunt in right of his wife, and was held on the tenure of furnibhing a plate-clad knight to serve the king for forty days, whenever he should he in Kidwelly. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net yearly value, £500. Patrons, Christ Church, Oxford. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is a good and handsome edifice of flint and stone in the Early Norman style, with a square tower. The windows are— all filled with beautiful stained glass. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Berkshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | East Garston All Saints | |
| Hundred | Lambourn | |
| Poor Law union | Hungerford |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1554.
Churches
Church of England
All Saints (parish church)
The church of All Saints is a handsome and spacious edifice of flint and stone, mainly in the Norman and Early English styles, consisting of chancel, with a chapel in the north-east, nave of three bays, transepts, south aisle, south porch and an embattled central tower containing a clock, presented in 1889 by Mrs A King Smith, and 6 bells, one of which is said to have been removed here from Fawley, and a sanctus bell; in 1889 the bells were re-hung by public subscription: the chancel was rebuilt in 1875 by the lay rectors, the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church and their lessee, Sir Robert Burdett bart. and the chapel (called the Seymour chapel) by the vicar and his friends; the chancel is handsomely painted, and has a piscina and sedile formed out of the sill of the south window: the Seymour chapel also has an ancient piscina and a reredos of oak, arcaded and adorned with paintings: all the windows of the church are stained: the church contains memorials of the Seymour, Gastrell and Elsyng families; the church was restored during the period 1876-82, at a cost of £2,300; during the restoration in 1882 many interesting specimens of Norman work were discovered, and a massive font of Norman design introduced: there are 200 sittings.
Methodist
Primitive Methodist Chapel
There is a Primitive Methodist chapel, built in 1860.
Wesleyan Chapel
There is a Wesleyan chapel, built in 1830.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
East Garston was in Hungerford Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for East Garston from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Garston, East, or Argastone (All Saints))
- Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, 1915
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of East Garston 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 Berkshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Berkshire 1532, 1566, and 1665-6 is available online.