Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for ALDBOURNE

ALDBOURNE, a village and a parish in the district of Hungerford and county of Wilts. The village stands 7 miles NW of Hungerford r. station, and 9 SE of Swindon, and has a post office under Hungerford. It was formerly a market town; but it suffered great devastation by fire in 1760; and it has never recovered its old prosperity. Aldbourne Chase, adjacent to it on the N, was a favourite hunting-ground of King John; given by Henry VIII. to the Duke of Somerset; and the scene of the defeat of the Parliamentarians under the Earl of Essex, by the Royal forces under Prince Rupert; but is now enclosed and cultivated. The parish includes the tythings of Preston, Lower Upham, and Upper Upham. Acres, 8,495. Real property, £10,301. Pop., 1,539. Houses, 343. The property is subdivided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £367.* Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church is ancient; has Norman features and a brass; and is good. Part of the parsonage is supposed to be a remnant of the ancient royal hunting-seat. Remains of an ancient British encampment occur near a farmhouse called Pierce's Lodge. There are a Wesleyan chapel, and charities £43.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Aldbourne AP/CP       Wiltshire AncC
Place: Aldbourne

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