East Ilsley, Berkshire Family History Guide
East Ilsley is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Berkshire.
Alternative names: East Ilsley, Market Ilsley
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1653
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1608
Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
ILSLEY (EAST), or Market-Ilsley, a small town and a parish in Wantage district, Berks. The town stands on the side of a hill, near Ickleton street, surrounded by a ridge of downs, 6¾ miles SSW of Didcot r. station, and 9 N by E of Newbury; occupies the site of the Saxon town Nachededorne; was formerly called Hildesley or Huldesley; is thought, by some antiquaries, to be the Æscendune, where Alfred fought the Danes; is now noted for sheep markets and fairs; has a post office under Newbury, and good inns; and is a seat of petty sessions and a polling place.
Its sheep markets existed as early as the time of Henry II.; they are the largest throughout a great extent of England; and they commence on the Wednesday fortnight before Easter, sometimes earlier, and continue every alternate Wednesday till July. Sheep and lamb fairs also are held from Easter till November; fairs for sheep, on Easter Wednesday, Whit Wednesday, the Wednesday after 17 Oct., and the Wednesday after 12 Nov.; a fair for lambs on 1 Aug.; fairs for sheep and lambs, on 26 Aug. and the Wednesday after 19 Sept.; a fair for wool on the first Wednesday of July; and a hiring and pleasure fair on 13 Oct. So many as 50,000 sheep and lambs have been for sale at the fair of 26 Aug. Coursing meetings are held on the neighbouring downs.
The parish comprises 2,979 acres. Real property, £ 4,490. Pop., 746. Houses, 130. The property is divided among a few. The manor belongs to Capt. Woodley, and great part of the land to Col. L. Lindsay. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £722. Patron, Magdalen College, Oxford. The church is partly Norman; has an early English chancel, and an embattled tower; was enlarged and repaired in 1845; and contains an old monument of one of the Hildesleys, ancient lords of the manor. There is a national school.
John Hilsey, bishop of Rochester in the 16th century, was a native; and R. Wightwick, the cofounder of Pembroke college, Oxford, was rector.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Bankrupts
Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.
Pickman Wm., East Ilsley, Berkshire, grocer & tallow chandler, June 8, 1822.
Tyrrell William, East Ilsley, Berks, draper and tailor, Feb. 7, 1826.
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Census
Census returns for East Ilsley, 1841-1891
Church Records
Parish chest materials, 1702-1893
Author: East Ilsley (Berkshire)
Cemeteries
Monumental inscriptions of East Ilsley
Author: Saxton, Eric
Poorhouses & Poor Law
Parish chest materials, 1702-1893
Author: East Ilsley (Berkshire)
Buildings and Dwellings
Business Records and Commerce
“Far famed for sheep and wool” : – a history of East Ilsley’s markets and fairs
Author: Wardel, Nigel
Court Records
Military Records
Names familiar to all : the stories of the East Ilsley War Memorial
Author: Sanderson, Kay
Occupations
Probate Records
Voting Registers
East Ilsey district poll book 1840
Maps
Vision of Britain historical maps
Administration
- County: Berkshire
- Civil Registration District: Wantage
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Berkshire
- Diocese: Pre-1836 – Salisbury, Post-1835 – Oxford
- Rural Deanery: Newbury
- Poor Law Union: Wantage
- Hundred: Compton
- Province: Canterbury