Highworth with Sevenhampton, Wiltshire Family History Guide

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Highworth with Sevenhampton is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Wiltshire. Broad Blunsdon is a chapelry of Highworth with Sevenhampton.

Other places in the parish include: Westrop, Sevenhampton, Fresdon, and Eastrop.

Alternative names: Highworth

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

Highworth with Sevenhampton

  • Parish registers: 1539
  • Bishop’s Transcripts: 1583

Sevenhampton

  • Parish registers: 1649
  • Bishop’s Transcripts: None

Nonconformists include: Baptist, Independent/Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Adjacent Parishes

Highworth with Sevenhampton Parish Records

An index of parish records of people from Highworth with Sevenhampton. The index includes information from Cheltenham Settlement Examinations, 1815-1826.

Cheltenham Settlement Examinations, 1815-1826

The following have been extracted from Cheltenham Settlement Examinations, 1815-1826, edited by Irvine Gray.

1 April 1817. John Woolford
Born in Haisey, Wilts. At Highworth Mop on Michaelmas Day in 1802 he was hired by Mr. John Hunder of Staunton, Wilts, for a year. The following Old Michaelmas he was hired for a year, but 7 months afterwards was drawn as a militia man. (signs)

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.

Taylor Hen. Lemon, Highworth, Wilts, saddler & harness maker, July 8, 1836.

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

HIGHWORTH, a small town, a tything, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred, in Wilts. The town stands on high ground, commanding an extensive view, 2 miles W of the river Cole and the boundary with Berks, 4¼ NW of Shrivenham r. station, and 6¼ NNE of Swindon; was known, at Domesday, as Wrde; had once the status of a borough, sending a member to parliament, but lost the franchise by disuse; and possessed considerable importance as a seat of provincial trade, but lost much of this in consequence of the formation of the Great Western railway.

It consists chiefly of stonebuilt houses; is a seat of petty sessions; and has a post-office under Swindon, a banking office, two good inns, a church, three dissenting chapels, national and British schools, a scientific institute, a subscription library, and charities £277.

The church was built in the time of Henry VI.; includes two chapels; was recently restored; has a square tower, with open parapet; and contains tombs of the Warnefords. A weekly market is held on Wednesday; a monthly cattle market is held on the last Wednesday of each month; and fairs are held on 13 Aug. and 11 Oct.

The tything is chiefly identical with the town. Pop. in 1851, 698; in 1861, 631. Houses, 140. The parish contains also the tythings of Westrop, Eastrop, Fresdon, Sevenhampton, South Marston, and Broad Blunsdon. Acres, 10,000. Real property, exclusive of South Marston and Broad Blunsdon, £10,852. Pop. of the whole, 3,629. Houses, 836.

The property of Sevenhampton is all in one estate; that of Broad Blunsdon is divided among a few; and that of other parts is much subdivided. The manor belonged, at the Conquest, to the Crown; and passed to Edmund de Langley and the St. Johns. An ancient camp, supposed to have been Roman, was on Blunsdon castle hill; and a Roman road went past the W base of that hill.

The living is a vicarage, united with the chapelry of Sevenhampton, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value, £555. Patron, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. Sevenhampton has a chapel of ease. The rectory of Broad Blunsdon and the p. curacy of South Marston are separate benefices.

The sub-district contains also the parishes of Inglesham, Castle-Eaton, Hannington, Stanton-Fitzwarren, Blunsdon-St. Andrew, Rodborne-Chaney, and Stratton-St. Margaret. Acres, 23,456. Pop., 7,013. Houses, 1,516.

The district comprehends also the sub-district of Swindon, containing the parishes of Swindon, Bishopstone, Little Hinton, Wanborough, Liddington, Chisledon, Draycot-Foliatt, and Wronghton. Acres, 50,064. Poor rates, in 1863, £8,346. Pop. in 1851, 17,620; in 1861, 19,237. Houses, 3,862.

Marriages in 1862, 166; births, 761, of which 50 were illegitimate; deaths, 363, of which 146 were at ages under 5 years, and 16 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,316; births, 6,802; deaths, 3,844.

The places of worship, in 1851, were 20 of the Church of England, with 4,167 sittings; 3 of Independents, with 682 s.; 7 of Baptists, with 690 s.; 9 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 1,303 s.; 10 of Primitive Methodists, with 1,001 s.; and 1 undefined, with 20 attendants.

The schools were 19 public day schools, with 1,740 scholars; 22 private day schools, with 460 s.; and 31 Sunday schools, with 2,418 s. The workhouse is in Stratton-St. Margaret.

The hundred bears the name of Highworth, Cricklade, and Staple; and contains eighteen parishes and parts of two others. Acres, 50,515. Pop. in 1851, 14,432; in 1861, 14,027. Houses, 3,064.

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

Historical Maps

Vision of Britain historical maps

Administration

  • County: Wiltshire
  • Civil Registration District: Highworth
  • Probate Court: Court of the Peculiar of the Prebendal of Highworth
  • Diocese: Gloucester and Bristol
  • Rural Deanery: Pre-1847 – None, Post-1846 – Cricklade
  • Poor Law Union: Highworth and Swindon
  • Hundred: Highworth, Cricklade and Staple
  • Province: Canterbury