Biddeston, Wiltshire
Historical Description
Biddeston or Bidston, a parish (formerly two parishes, St Peter and St Nicholas) in Wilts, 2½ miles N by W of Corsham railway station, and 4 W of Chippenham. The two parishes were amalgamated in 1884. It has a post office under Chippenham; money order and telegraph office, Yatton Keynell. The area is 1951 acres; population of the civil parish, 493; of the ecclesiastical, with Slaughterford, 613. The rectory of St Peter's and vicarage of St Nicholas are united with the vicarage of Slaughterford, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; net value, £130 with residence. Patron, Winchester College. The Church of St Peter was Perpendicular English, but has been taken down. The Church of St Nicholas is partly Norman, and has a picturesque bell-turret. There are Baptist and Primitive Methodist chapels. Edmund Smith, the translator of Longinus, and author of the tragedy of "Phaedra and Hippolytus," died in the parish, and his tomb was in St Nicholas Church.
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 | Biddestone St. Nicholas and St. Peter | |
| Hundred | Chippenham | |
| Poor Law union | Chippenham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Churches
Church of England
St. Nicholas (parish church)
The parish church of St Nicholas is an ancient edifice of stone in the Norman style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and a curious old belfry over the chancel arch containing one bell: the chancel was restored and new-roofed in 1900 by Winchester College: there are sittings for 200 persons.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Biddeston from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Biddestone (St. Nicholas and St. Peter))
Maps
Online maps of Biddeston 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: