Rodmarton (St. Peter)
RODMARTON (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Cirencester, hundred of Longtree, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 6 miles (W. S. W.) from Cirencester; containing, with the tything of Calkerton, 431 inhabitants. It comprises nearly 4000 acres. The soil is chiefly light, with good pasture for sheep, and a small portion of rich meadow land; the surface is generally flat, with some slight undulations. The substratum abounds with stone of the oolite formation, which is quarried for inferior buildings. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £18. 1. 3.; net income, £476; patron and incumbent, the Rev. Samuel Lysons. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1792; the glebe altogether comprises nearly 600 acres. The church is an ancient structure, with a tower surmounted by a spire. The Akeman-street passed near the south-eastern boundary of the parish; and in a field called Hocbery, a tessellated pavement, with coins of Antoninus and Valentinian was discovered in 1636. A farmhouse at Hasleden, in the parish, is supposed to have been a monastery; and attached to the old manor-house at Tarlton are the remains of a chapel. Samuel Lysons, author of the splendid work on Roman antiquities entitled Reliquiæ Britanniæ Romanæ, was born here in 1763: his brother the Rev. Daniel Lysons, author of the Environs of London, was also a native, and rector of the parish. The Magna Britannia was their joint performance.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.