Aldbourne, Wiltshire
Historical Description
Aldbourne, a large village and a parish in Wiltshire. The village stands 5 miles from Ogbourn St George station on the L. & S.W.R., and 7 from Hungerford on the G.W.R. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office (Aldbourne, R.S.O.), and was formerly a market-town; but it suffered great devastation by fire in 1760, and has never recovered its old prosperity. Aldbourne Chase, adjacent to it on the W, was a favourite hunting-ground of King John, given by Henry VIII. to the Duke of Somerset, and the scene of the defeat of the Parliamentarians under the Earl of Essex, by the Royal forces under Prince Rupert, but it is now inclosed and cultivated. The parish comprises 8490 acres; population, 1319. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £309. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church is ancient, has Norman features and brasses, and has been restored. The church was built chiefly by John of Gaunt, has a noble tower, and a full ring of bells. Part of the parsonage is supposed to be a remnant of the ancient royal hunting-seat. Remains of an ancient British encampment occur near a farmhouse called Pierce's Lodge. There are chapels for Baptists, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, and some good schools.
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 | Aldbourn St. Michael | |
Hundred | Selkley | |
Poor Law union | Hungerford |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Findmypast, in association with the Wiltshire Record Office, have the following parish records online for Aldbourne:
Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
---|---|---|---|
1582-1881 | 1754-1827 | 1605-1837 | 1605-1899 |
Churches
Church of England
St. Michael (parish church)
The parish church of St. Michael is an ancient edifice of stone, in the Norman style, supposed to have been altered in the reign of Edward V. and has a chancel with chancel aisles, nave of four bays, aisles, south porch and square embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing a clock and 8 bells: the church was restored in 1867 and an organ presented in 1869 by the widow of Henry Charles esq. in memoriam: in the south aisle is a handsome altar-tomb with several figures, erected to the Goddard family, of Upham, date 1597; there is also one to the Waldron family, bearing an inscription in three languages, date 1617; another, of alabaster, to the memory of John Stone, prebendary of Sarum, formerly vicar of Aldbourne, date 1501: several ancient brasses remain perfect: there are 500 sittings.
The register dates from the year 1637.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Aldbourne from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Aldbourn (St. Michael))
Maps
Online maps of Aldbourne 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 Wiltshire papers online: