Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire Family History Guide
Steeple Ashton is an Ancient Parish in the county of Wiltshire. Semington is a chapelry of Steeple Ashton.
Alternative names: Steeple Ashton, Steeple Ashton with Semington, Steple Ashton
Other places in the parish include: the tythings of Great Hinton, West Ashton, and Littleton, and the chapelry of Semington
Parish church: St. Mary
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1538
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1584
Nonconformists include:
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
ASHTON (Steeple), a village and a tything in Westbury district, and a parish in Westbury and Melksham districts, Wilts.
The village stands 2½ miles S of the Kennet and Avon canal, and 3¾ E of the Great Western railway at Trowbridge. It takes its distinctive name from a tall steeple which was destroyed by lightning in 1670. It formerly was a market-town, and still has a fair on 19 Sept.; and it is a seat of petty sessions, and has a post office under Trowbridge.
The tything comprises 2,808 acres. Real property, £5,846. Pop., 776. Houses, 177.
The parish includes also the tythings of Great Hinton, West Ashton, and Littleton, and the chapelry of Semington. Acres, 6,789. Real property, £14,474. Pop., 1,767. Houses, 359. A considerable extent of the land was formerly common and recently enclosed.
Rood-Ashton House, the seat of the Long family, is about a mile SW of the village. Very numerous fossils have been found; and an ancient pavement, thought to have been Roman, but of different character from other Roman pavements, has been dug up.
The living is a vicarage, united with the curacy of Semington, in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £852. Patron, the Master of Magdalene college, Cambridge. The church is large and later English, with a four-spired tower; and was built, toward the end of the 15th century, chiefly by Robert Long, a clothier. The vicarage of West Ashton is a separate charge.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850
Ashton-Steeple, 4 miles N.N.E. Westbury. P. 1941.
Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850.
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 Thomas, Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire, dealer and Chapman, Oct. 6, 1835.
Parish Registers
Marriages Out of Parish
| Details | Place of Marriage |
|---|---|
| Thomas Smith, of Wells, & Agnes Staunton, of Steeple Ashton, lic. 16 May 1553 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| John Waite, of Steeple Ashton, & Katherine Allen 6 June 1642 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| John Long, widr., of Steeple Ashton, & Jemima Neville, sp. 20 Aug. 1765 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| William Strugnall, widr., & Elizabeth Rolf, sp., of Steeple Ashton, lic. 24 Aug. 1773 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| James Chapman, b., & Rebecca Silverthorne, sp., of Steeple Ashton 22 Aug. 1775 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| James Howell, b., of Steeple Ashton, & Alice Line, sp. 31 Jan. 1786 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Joseph Flower, b., of Steeple Ashton, & Bethia Stiles, als. Whitaker, lic. 13 mar. 1788 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Charles Griffen, b., of Steeple Ashton, & Harriet Snelgrove, sp., lic. 16 Oct. 1834 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| William Bourne, b., of Steeple Ashton, & Ruth Long, sp., lic. 7 Apr. 1835 | Bratton Wiltshire |
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Use for:
England, Wiltshire, Ashton (Steeple)
Directories
Steeple Ashton Kelly’s Directory of Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire and the Isle of Wight 1889
Maps
Vision of Britain historical maps
Administration
- County: Wiltshire
- Civil Registration District: Westbury
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Salisbury
- Diocese: Salisbury
- Rural Deanery: Potterne
- Poor Law Union: Westbury and Whorwellsdown
- Hundred: Whorwellsdown
- Province: Canterbury