Kempsford (St. Mary)

KEMPSFORD (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Cirencester, hundred of Brightwells-Barrow, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 3 miles (S.) from Fairford; containing, with the hamlets of Dunfield, Horcutt and Whelford, 998 inhabitants. The parish comprises by measurement 4000 acres; the soil of more than half the land is gravel, and of the remainder a strong clay. The surface is generally level, though gently undulated in some parts; and the lower grounds are watered by the rivers Colne and Thames, which latter forms a boundary between the counties of Gloucester and Wilts. The Thames and Severn canal passes through the parish. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £19; net income, £604; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol: the tithes were commuted for land and corn-rents in 1801. The church, which was built by Henry, Duke of Lancaster, about 1350, is in the early English style, with Norman details, and a rich and handsome square tower. A school was built in 1750, upon a site given by Thomas, Viscount Weymouth, who endowed it with £10 per annum.