Awre, Gloucestershire
Historical Description
Awre, a tithing and a parish in Gloucestershire. The tithing lies on the river Severn, 3½ miles SE of Newnham, and has a post office under Newnham, and a station on the G.W.R., about a mile from the village. Blakeney, about 2 miles SW, is the money order and telegraph office. There is a branch line of the G.W.R. for goods and minerals from Awre into the Forest of Dean. The tithings of Blakeney, Bledisloe, Hagloe, and Etioe, which are included in this parish for civil purposes, were formed into a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1877. Area of Awre, 4313 acres of land and 1859 of water; population of the civil parish, 1148; of the ecclesiastical, 239. Part of the land has been washed away by the Severn. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; net value, £230. Patron, the Haberdashers' Company. The church is ancient, in the Early English and Decorated styles, and was restored in 1875. It has an embattled tower, and some stained glass windows. In the churchyard is a yew tree said to be over 1000 years old. Oaklands Park is the chief residence. Stemhold, one of the authors of the English metrical version of the Psalms, was a native. Stemhold and Hopkins both lived in this parish about 1550, the former at the Hawfield, the latter at the Woodend, by the river Severn, in a house which has now been washed away by the encroachments of the river. The Psalms were first sung in English in Awre church.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Gloucestershire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Awre St. Andrew | |
Hundred | Blidesloe | |
Poor Law union | Westbury |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register, including Blakeney, dates from the year 1538.
The Gloucestershire Parish Registers are available online at Ancestry, in association with Gloucestershire Archives.
Churches
Church of England
St. Andrew (parish church)
The church of St. Andrew is an ancient building of stone in the Early English and Decorated styles, consisting of chancel, nave of five bays, north aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 6 bells: the east and west windows are stained: the church was restored in 1875, at a cost of £2,500, under the direction of Mr. Waller, architect, of Gloucester, principally through the munificence of the late Henry Crawshay esq. who gave £2,200: in 1908 the interior of the church was repaired and redecorated: there are 350 sittings: in the churchyard is a venerable yew tree.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Awre from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Awre (St. Andrew))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Gloucestershire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Awre 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 newspapers covering Gloucestershire online:
- Gloucester Citizen
- Gloucester Journal
- Gloucestershire Chronicle
- Gloucestershire Echo
- Cheltenham Chronicle
- Cheltenham Looker-On
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of the county of Gloucester, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.