Colesbourne, Gloucestershire Family History Guide

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Colesbourne is an Ancient Parish in the county of Gloucestershire.

Alternative names: Colesborne or Cowlesbourne

Parish church: St. James

Parish registers begin: 1632

Nonconformists include: Baptist

Adjacent Parishes

Colesbourne Parish Registers

Baptism, Marriage and Burial Records

These records include images of Church of England parish registers of baptism, marriage, and burial records.

Colesbourne, Gloucestershire Church of England Baptisms Marriages and Burials, 1578-1812

Colesbourne, Gloucestershire Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1913

Marriage and Banns Records

These records include images of Church of England parish registers of marriages and banns records.

Colesbourne, Gloucestershire Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1880

Death and Burial Records

These records include images of Church of England parish registers of deaths and burial records.

Colesbourne, Gloucestershire Church of England Burials, 1813-1880

Historical Directories

Colesborne or Cowlesbourne Morris Gloucestershire Directory 1876

Colesborne or Cowlesbourne is a parish and village in Cirencester union, containing, by the census of 1861, 261, and in 1871, 267 inhabitants, and 2174 acres; in the deanery of Winchcomb, archdeaconry of Gloucester, diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, hundred of Rapsgate, East Gloucestershire; 7 ½ miles north from Cirencester, and the same distance south-east from Cheltenham, near to the main road between those places. The river Thames passes through this parish.

The living is a discharged rectory, valued at £158 per annum, with 85 acres of glebe land, in the incumbency of the Rev. Charles Wilson, and the patronage of John Henry Elwes, Esq., D.L., J.P. The church is an ancient cruciform edifice, in the Early Perpendicular style, consisting of nave, chancel, two transepts, and porch, with tower containing two bells. There is a National School for children of both sexes, which is supported at the expense of Mr. and Mrs. Elwes. The rateable value is £1761.

Colesborne Park contains a handsome mansion of modern date in the Elizabethan style, which is the residence of John Henry Elwes, Esq., D.L., J.P., who is lord of the manor, and chief owner of the soil.

Clergy and Gentry

Atkinson Rev. Thomas, B.A., curate

Elwes John Henry, Esq., D.L., J.P., Colesborne park

Trades and Professions

Butt James, farmer, Rapsgate farm

Cook Mrs. Mary, farmer, Penhill farm

Coole George, blacksmith

Edmonds Albert, farmer, Southbury farm

Hall James, shopkeeper and carrier

Parker Edwin, mason

Radway John, carpenter

Sly Mrs. Ann, shopkeeper

Snook John, “ Colesbourn” inn

Walcroft George, shoemaker and parish clerk

Walker Samuel, plasterer

Letters from Andoversford arrive at 9.50 a.m.; dispatched at 4 p.m. Andoversford is the nearest money order office.

Free School – Miss Amelia Devenport, mistress

Carrier – James Hall, Monday

Morris & Co.’s Commercial Directory & Gazetteer of Gloucestershire with Bristol and Monmouth. Second Edition. Hounds Gate, Nottingham. 1876.

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

COLESBORNE, or Coldsborne, a parish in Cirencester district, Gloucester; among the Cotswolds, near the highest source of the river Thames, 3 miles E of Ermine-street, and 7 SSE of Cheltenham r. station. It has a post office under Cheltenham. Acres, 2,200. Real property, £1,872. Pop., 261. Houses, 52. The property is divided among a few. Colesborne House is the seat of H. Elwes, Esq. Colesborne Pen hill is one of the highest summits in the county. Vestiges of a Roman villa have been found. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value, £127. Patron, H. Elwes, Esq. The church is early perpendicular English; and was recently restored.

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

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

COLESBORNE (St. James), a parish, in the union of Cirencester, hundred of Rapsgate, E. division of the county of Gloucester, 7 miles (S. by E.) from Cheltenham; containing 256 inhabitants.

The parish comprises by measurement 2200 acres, and is situated on a river that has, by recent observation, been ascertained to be the Thames, whose source is within four miles. There are some hills in the parish, of which that called Pen Hill, supposed to be the highest in the county, commands an extensive prospect; and on the summit of another, of inferior elevation, are the remains of a Norman camp. The plain between these hills was the scene of a sanguinary battle, in an early period of English history.

The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king’s books at £5. 16. 10½.; patron, and impropriator of two-thirds of the tithes, Henry Elwes, Esq. The great tithes have been commuted for £242. 14., and the incumbent’s for £122. 10.; the glebe contains 31 acres, with a glebe-house. Rapsgate, a hamlet in the parish, gives name to the hundred.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Maps

Vision of Britain Historical Maps – includes topographic maps, boundary maps and land use maps

Administration

  • County: Gloucestershire
  • Civil Registration District: Cirencester
  • Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Gloucester (Episcopal Consistory)
  • Diocese: Pre 1836 – Gloucester, Post 1835 – Gloucester and Bristol
  • Rural Deanery: Winchcombe
  • Poor Law Union: Cirencester
  • Hundred: Rapsgate
  • Province: Canterbury