Beckford (St. John the Baptist)
BECKFORD (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Winchcomb, partly in the hundred of Tibaldstone, and partly in the Upper division of the hundred of Tewkesbury, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 6 miles (E. N. E.) from Tewkesbury; containing, with the hamlets of Grafton, Bangrove, and Didcote, 461 inhabitants. This parish, which comprises about 1800 acres, is situated on the road from Tewkesbury to Evesham; and abounds with freestone of good quality. The living is a vicarage, with the living of Ashton-under-Hill annexed, valued in the king's books at £16. 16. 10½.; net income, £317; patron, the Rev. John Timbrill, D. D.; impropriator, W. Wakeman, Esq.: the tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1773. The church is a very ancient structure. Here is a Roman Catholic chapel. An alien priory of Augustine canons, a cell to the abbey of St. Martin and St. Barbara, in Normandy, formerly existed here: upon its suppression, the revenues amounted to £53. 6. 8. per annum.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.