Broughton Gifford, Wiltshire
Historical Description
Broughton-Gifford, a parish in Wilts, on the river Avon, near the Kennet and Avon Canal, 1½ mile SW of Melksham station on the G.W.R., and 4 miles ENE of Bradford. It has a post office under Melksham; money order and telegraph office, Holt. Acreage, 1629; population, 667. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £350 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is of the time of Henry VII., was restored in 1878, and has a brass of 1620. There are Wesleyan and Baptist chapels. Roman coins have been found in the neighbourhood. In this parish Monkton farm was once a small monastery, Little Broughton, which was given by Henry VIII. to the Duke of Somerset, who was subsequently beheaded.
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 | Broughton-Gifford St. Mary | |
Hundred | Bradford | |
Poor Law union | Bradford |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1665.
Findmypast, in association with the Wiltshire Record Office, have the following parish records online for Broughton Gifford:
Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
---|---|---|---|
1622-1917 | 1754-1809 | 1622-1933 | 1622-1942 |
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is an ancient building of stone in the Perpendicular style, with traces of earlier work, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch, and an embattled western tower, with turret and containing 2 bells: there is a curious old brass to Robert Long: the church was thoroughly repaired and restored by subscription in 1878 at a cost of £2,000 and has 250 sittings.
Baptist
Particular Baptist Chapel
Methodist
Wesleyan Chapel
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 Broughton Gifford from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Broughton-Gifford (St. Mary))
Maps
Online maps of Broughton Gifford 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: