Bilton (St. Mark)

BILTON (St. Mark), a parish, in the union of Rugby, Rugby division of the hundred of Knightlow, N. division of the county of Warwick, 1½ mile (W. S. W.) from Rugby; containing 623 inhabitants. It comprises 2225 acres, of which 42 are common or waste; of the whole, two-thirds are arable, and the remainder pasture. The soil is clay, loam, and gravel; and the surface gently undulated. Bilton Hall, with the estate belonging to it, was purchased of Mr. Boughton, in the early part of the last century, by Addison the poet, who spent a considerable portion of the latter part of his life here, where he wrote his Evidences of the Christian Religion; and Miss Addison, his only child, retired towards the close of her life to this place, where she died in 1797. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £16. 10. 7½.; patron and incumbent, the Rev. J. T. Parker: the tithes have been commuted for £517, and the glebe consists of 105 acres, with a house. The church is principally Norman, of which style it exhibits some good specimens; the tower and spire are of latter date. A school is endowed with £400, producing £16 interest per annum, the bequest of the Rev. Langton Freeman, a former rector, in 1783.