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Ilsley, West (All Saints)

ILSLEY, WEST (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Wantage, hundred of Compton, county of Berks, 10 miles (N.) from Newbury; containing 404 inhabitants. It comprises 3011a. 2r. 29p., of which 2580 acres are arable, and about 400 down and pasture. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £22. 7. 1.; net income, £537; patrons, the Dean and Canons of Windsor: the tithes were commuted for land in 1825. In the church is a handsome monument to the ancient family of Head, of Hodcott. The learned Mark Antony de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalatro, who abjured the errors of the Romish church in 1622, was, in the reign of James I., Dean of Windsor and rector of this parish; he was considered by Sir Isaac Newton to be the first person who philosophically explained the colours of the rainbow. In the reigns of Charles I. and II., Calybute Downing, a celebrated divine, was rector.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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