Coombe, Bissett (St. Michael)

COOMBE, BISSETT (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Alderbury, hundred of Cawden and Cadworth, Salisbury and Amesbury, and S. divisions of Wilts, 3 miles (S. W.) from Salisbury; containing 406 inhabitants. The parish derives its name from its situation in one of the narrow bourns, or combes, with which Salisbury Plain is intersected, and its distinguishing adjunct from the family to which it formerly belonged. It is on the road from Salisbury to Blandford and Exeter, and comprises about 2200 acres. The living is a discharged vicarage, with that of Harnham annexed, valued in the king's books at £7; patron, the Prebendary of Coombe and Harnham in the Cathedral of Salisbury; impropriator, the Earl of Radnor. The great tithes have been commuted for £370, and the impropriator's glebe contains 130 acres; the vicarial tithes have been commuted for £210, of which £50 are for Harnham, and there is a glebe-house. The church is in the later English style.