Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for KINGTON-ST. MICHAEL

KINGTON-ST. MICHAEL, -formerly Kington-Monachorum, -a village, a tything, and a parish in Chippenham district, Wilts. The village stands near the Chippenham and Stroud railway, 3 miles NW by N of Chippenham; was once a market town; and has still a fair on 6 Oct. The tything includes the village, and extends into the country. Real property, £3, 745; of which £17 are in quarries. Pop., 530. Houses, 121. The parish contains also the tythings of Kington-Langley and Easton-Piercy; the former of which has a postoffice under Chippenham. Acres, 4, 136. Real property, £8, 705. Pop. in 1851, 1, 219; in 1861, 1, 089. Houses, 245. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged to the Saxon kings; was given to Glastonbury abbey; and passed to the Snells and the Longs. A Benedictine nunnery, a cell to the abbey, was founded here before the time of Henry II.; and has left some remains at a farm. Aubrey, the antiquary, a native of Easton-Piercy, says that "forty or fifty nuns might be seen in a morning spinning with their wheels and bobbins." Britton, the antiquary, was a native of the village. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristols Value, £450.* Patron, Ear. Cowley. The church is chiefly early English, with Norman chancel arch, and with a tower of 1726; was restored in 1857; and contains a memorial window to Aubrey and Britton, erected in 1857, two brasses, and some monuments to the Colemans, the Aubreys, and others. The p. curacy of Kington-Langley is a separate benefice. A school has £5 from endowment, all houses £20, and other charities £8 10s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a tything, and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Kington St Michael CP/AP       Chippenham RegD/PLU       Wiltshire AncC
Place: Kington St Michael

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.