Beeching or Beauchamp Stoke (St. Stephen)
BEECHING or BEAUCHAMP STOKE (St. Stephen), a parish, in the union of Devizes, hundred of Swanborough, Devizes and N. divisions of Wilts, 5¼ miles (E. by S.) from Devizes; containing 187 inhabitants. It is situated between the Marlborough downs and Salisbury Plain, and comprises about 800 acres of well-cultivated land, the soil of which consists of clay, sandy loam, and a dark rich mould. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 2. 11., and in the gift of George Wylde Heneage, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £285, and there are 30 acres of glebe. On recently opening a tumulus, a quantity of stags' horns and human bones was discovered.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.