Site-Search
Coming Soon
|
Site-Search |
|
Page and site |
|
Woodchester in Gloucester County England History and GeographyWOODCHESTER, a parish in the hundred of LONGTREE, county of GLOUCESTER, 2½ miles (S.W.) from Stroud, containing 929 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Gloucester, rated in the king's books at £10, endowed with £600 royal bounty, and in the patronage of Lord Ducie. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, contains a fine monument to the memory of Sir Robert Huntley. There is a place of worship for Baptists. The village occupies an elevated site, forming part of a range of hills bounding a beautiful and fruitful valley, and has an extensive manufacture of woollen cloth, in which there are eight mills constantly engaged in the neighbourhood. Woodchester, as its name implies, was a Roman station, apparently of considerable importance. Among the numerous interesting relics that have been discovered is a noble tesselated pavement, superior to any thing of the kind yet found in the kingdom, the design of which seemed to be a circular area, in diameter twenty-five feet, enclosed within a frame, or square, of forty-eight feet and ten inches, divided into twenty-four compartments, and enriched with a variety of architectural ornaments, figures of beasts, &c. Ruins of buildings, fragments of statues, glass and pottery, pieces of stags' horns, &c., and many other relics, with numerous coins of the Lower Empire, one of Adrian, and another of Lucilla, have been also found on the spot, and have led to the conclusion that the Roman propr?tor, or perhaps the Emperor Adrian himself, made this his residence. In 1795, Samuel Lysons, Esq., F.A.S., having traced the form and extent of the pavement, and procured an engraving to be made of the ground plan of the building to which it belonged, exhibited the plate to the Society of Antiquaries in London; and, in 1797, he published an elaborate account of this and the other relics discovered here. Robert Bridges, in 1722, bequeathed £500, now producing an annual income of £50, for teaching, clothing, and apprenticing poor boys; but St. Loe's school, founded by Nathaniel Cambridge, at Minchinhampton, being open to boys of Woodchester, this charity is only appropriated to clothing and apprenticing them, with premiums of £15 each. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
Readers of this page were also interested in: Beer Regis in Dorset County England History and Geography BEER REGIS, a parish in the hundred of BEERREGIS, Blandford (southern) division of the county of DORSET, comprising the town of Beer Regis, and the hamlets of Shitterton and Beer-Heath, and containing 1080 inhabitants, of which number, 953 are in the market town of Beer Regis, 7 miles (N.W.) from Wareham, and 113 (S.W.) from London. This place, which is supposed by Dr Dovor in Kent County England History and Geography DOVOR, or DOVER, one of the cinque ports, a borough and market town, having separate jurisdiction, locally in the lathe of St. Augustine, eastern division of the county of KENT, 16 miles (S.E. by S.) from Canterbury, and 72 (E.S.E.) from London, containing 10,327 inhabitants. The ancient British name of the town was Dwyr, derived from Dwfyrrha, a steep place Flamstead in Hertford County England History and Geography FLAMSTEAD, a parish in the hundred of DACORUM, county of HERTFORD, 2¾ miles (N.W.) from Redbourn, containing 1392 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Huntingdon, and diocese of LincoIn, endowed with £800 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Master and Fellows of University College, Oxford, to whom the rectory, rated in the king's books at £41. 6. 8 Rottingdean in Sussex County England History and Geography ROTTINGDEAN, a parish in the hundred of YOUNSMERE, rape of LEWES, county of SUSSEX, 4 miles (E.S.E.) from Brighton, containing 772 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Lewes, and diocese of Chichester, rated in the king's books at £9. 10., and in the patronage of the Earl of Thanet. The church, dedicated to St Sombourn (king's) in Southampton County England History and Geography SOMBOURN (KING'S), a parish in the hundred of KING'S SOMBOURN, Andover division of the county of SOUTHAMPTON, 3 miles (S.) from Stockbridge, containing 991 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, with the perpetual curacies of Little Sombourn and Stockbridge annexed, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Winchester, rated in the king's books at £21. 1. 10½ Somerton in Oxford County England History and Geography SOMERTON, a parish in the hundred of PLOUGHLEY, county of OXFORD, 3½ miles (S.E.) from Deddington, containing 400 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Oxford, rated in the king's books at £15. 1. 10½., and in the patronage of the Rev. H. Wintle. The church is dedicated to St. James |
