Taynton, Gloucestershire
Historical Description
Taynton, a parish in Gloucestershire, 2½ miles W of Barbers Bridge station on the G.W.R., and 3 SSE of Newent. Post town, Gloucester; money order office, Newent; telegraph office, Huntley. Acreage, 2521; population, 487. There is a parish council consisting of five members. Cider and perry are made, and there is a manufactory of bricks and drain pipes. Taynton House, Longcroft, and Ryelands are the chief residences. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; net value, £294 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester. The old. church was destroyed during the Civil War, and the present one erected during the Commonwealth. It was restored in 1865, and reseated and a handsome chancel and organ chamber added in 1893-94. There is a Wesleyan chapel.
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 | Taynton St. Lawrence | |
| Hundred | Botloe | |
| Poor Law union | Newent |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1538.
The Gloucestershire Parish Registers are available online at Ancestry, in association with Gloucestershire Archives.
Churches
Church of England
Mission Room, May Hill
The Mission room was built on May Hill in 1879, and has 80 sittings.
St. Lawrence (parish church)
The ancient church of St. Lawrence, distant about 1½ miles from the village, together with the minister's house and outbuildings, were burned to the ground by a force of Royalists under Capt. Wiffin, a few days after the raising of the siege of Gloucester, at the beginning of Sept, 1643; subsequently by an Order of Parliament, entered in the journal of the House of Lords, under date, Monday, 17 Jan. 1647-8, the church was rebuilt upon part of the glebe, and a churchyard formed, but the parsonage was not rebuilt until 1850: the church, which seems to incorporate a portion of the materials of the old fabric, was rebuilt at the cost of Col. Thomas Pury, lord of the manor of Taynton and Minsterworth, and is a rectangular building of stone standing north and south, and consisting of chancel, nave, porch, organ chamber, and a low square turret on the northern gable containing one bell: the pulpit of beautifully carved oak, believed to have been brought from the church of Holy Trinity, Gloucester, on its demolition, retains an old hour-glass frame: there is a flat stone, inscribed to Mr. Robert Pury, son of Col. Thomas Pury, "qui hanc ecclesiam aedificari curavit:" a new organ was provided in 1909 at a cost of £300: the communion plate is assumed to date from about 1610-15. The porch was added in 1825; various works of restoration were carried out in 1865 and 1869-70; in 1893 the nave was re-opened, after further restoration and reseating; a large gallery being also removed, and in 1894 the chancel and organ chamber were built: the church now affords 240 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 Taynton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Taynton (St. Lawrence))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Gloucestershire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Taynton 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.