Stourton, Wiltshire

Historical Description

Stourton, a parish in Wiltshire, 2½ miles WNW of Mere, and 7 from Gillingham station on the L. & S.W.R. It has a post office under Bath; money order and telegraph office, Bourton. Acreage, 3496; population, 410. There is a parish council consisting of seven members. Stourhead, separately noticed, is the chief feature. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £380 with residence. The church is ancient, contains monuments of the Stourtons and Hoares, and was restored in 1878. The churchyard is ornate, and contains a lofty stone cross, the mausoleum of the Hoare family, and a monumental tower over the remains of Sir R. C. Hoare, the author of " Ancient Wiltshire."

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

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 Stourton:

Churches

Church of England

St. Peter (parish church)

The parish church of St. Peter is an edifice of stone in mixed styles, consisting of chancel, nave of three bays, aisles, north porch and a western tower containing 6 bells, the sixth having been added in 1881: in 1878 the chancel was new roofed, fitted with oak stalls and re-floored, a new east window and reredos being erected at the same time: the Hoare monuments were also removed to the south aisle and an organ chamber and vestry built: there are many memorials of the Stourton family and several stained windows: the church affords about 250 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 Stourton from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Stourton (St. Peter))

Maps

Online maps of Stourton 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:

• Salisbury and Winchester Journal
• Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette
• Wiltshire Independent
• Swindon Advertiser and North Wilts Chronicle

Places of Interest

Stourhead House and Gardens, the ancestral family home of the Hoare banking family.