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Kennett, East and West

KENNETT, EAST and WEST, a tything, in the parish of Avebury, union of Marlborough, hundred of Selkley, Marlborough and Ramsbury, and N. divisions of Wilts, 5 miles (W.) from Marlborough; containing 108 inhabitants. This place, in Domesday book called Chenete, was anciently a distinct parish, and was held by the church of St. Mary at Winchester. The village is pleasantly situated on the road to Bath, and is noted for the celebrated Kennett ale, which is brewed only here, not from the water of the river Kennet, as is generally supposed, but from a fine limpid spring on the premises, which is soft to the taste, and slightly impregnated with magnesia. The ale first came into repute in 1789, and many thousand barrels of it are sent annually to different parts of the country. At a short distance to the west of the village is Silbury Hill, the largest barrow in the kingdom; near which the Kennet has its source.

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

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