Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for RAMSBURY

RAMSBURY, a village, a parish, and a hundred in Wilts. The village stands on the river Kennet, 4 miles N by W of Bedwyn r. station, and 5 W N W of Hungerford; was the seat of a diocese from 920 till 1058; was also a market town; consists now of one long street; contains some malting, brewing, and tanning establishments; and has a post-office‡ under Hungerford, and fairs on 14 May and 11 Oct. The parish contains also the tythings of Axford, Eastridge, and Whittonditch, and the places called Park-Town, Madridge-Hill, Newtown, Elmdown, and Lamplands; and is in Hungerford district. Acres, 9, 742. Real property, £14, 304 Pop. in 1851, 2, 696; in 1861, 2, 533. The property is divided among a few. R. House belonged to the Joneses; was designed by Webb, the son-in-law of Inigo Jones; passed to the Burdetts; and belongs now to Sir R. Burdett, Bart. Littlecot Park, Crowood, and the Cedars also are chief residences. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £400.* Patron, Miss Burdett Coutts. The church is large and good; was the mother church to Sarum, and the cathedral of the quondam diocese; has a massive tower; and contains a mausoleum of Littlecoat, and monuments of the Reads and the Joneses. There are chapels for Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, and a national school. The hundred contains also two other parishes. Acres, 17, 254. Pop., 3, 629. Houses, 780.


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

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

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