Kington St Michael Wiltshire Family History Guide

Kington St Michael is an Ancient Parish in the county of Wiltshire. Langley Fitzurse is a chapelry of Kington St Michael.

Alternative names: St Michael Kington, Kington-Monachorum, Kington Monachorum

Other places in the parish include: Easton Piercy and Easton Percy.

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1563
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1604

Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

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.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].