Westbury, Wiltshire Family History Guide
Westbury is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Wiltshire.
Other places in the parish include: Westbury Leigh, West End, Leigh, and Dilton.
Alternative names:
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1556
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1600
Nonconformists include: Baptist, Independent/Congregational, Particular Baptist, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
WESTBURY, a town, a parish, a hundred, a sub-district, and a district, in Wilts. The town stands adjacent to a point of the Wilts and Somerset railway whence a branch line goes to Frome, and at the foot of a range of chalk hills on the NW border of Salisbury plain, 4½ miles S by E of Trowbridge.
It probably took its name from standing under the W declivity of Salisbury plain; dates from ancient times; numbers among its natives Brian Edwards, who wrote a “History of the West Indies,” and Withers, the author of “Aristarchus;” is governed, under a charter of Edward I., by a mayor, 12 aldermen, and other officers; sent two members to parliament from the time of Henry VI. till 1832, and now sends one.
It is conterminate, as a p. borough, with W. parish; is a seat of increasing woollen cloth manufacture: carries on a moderate trade in malting and other departments; has recently opened iron mines with furnaces for smelting; consists chiefly of three streets, irregularly built; and has a head post-office, a r. station with telegraph, a banking office, three chief inns, a town hall, a later English church restored in 1868, six dissenting chapels, an endowed school with £49 a year, a girls’ school, a workhouse, charities £139, a weekly market on Tuesday, and four annual fairs.
The parish contains three townships and a chapelry, and comprises 11,901 acres. Rated property, £31,876. Electors in 1833, 185: in 1868, 1,046. Pop. in 1851, 7,029; in 1861, 6,495. Houses, 1,526. The property is much subdivided.
The manor belonged to the Manduits; passed to the Seymours, the Mountjoys, and the Berties; and belongs now to Sir M. Lopes, Bart. A residence of the Saxon kings is said to have been on a spot, called the Palace-garden, at Leigh village. An ancient seat of the Pavelys was at Brook.
Many Roman coins and pieces of pottery have been found at Ham. An ancient camp, of irregular outline, with a double rampart in some parts 36 feet high, and enclosing an area of 23 acres, crowns Bratton hill. Traces of the ancient Britons are in various parts. Westbury Down, a chief one of the eminences in the neighbourhood of the town, rises to an altitude of 775 feet above sea-level.
The living is a vicarage, with Dilton chapelry, in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £385. Patron, the Bishop of S.
The p. curacies of Bratton, Dilton-Marsh, and Heywood are separate benefices.
The hundred is conterminate with the parish or p. borough.
The sub-district includes all the parish except Bratton chapelry.
The district comprehends Westbury, Edington, and Bradley sub-districts; and comprises 30,944 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £7,993. Pop. in 1851, 12,530; in 1861, 11,751. Houses, 2,744. Marriages in 1863, 89; births, 387, of which 27 were illegitimate; deaths, 261, of which 79 were at ages under 5 years, and 12 at ages above 85. Marriages, in the ten years 1851-60, 838; births, 3,868; deaths, 2,679.
The places of worship, in 1851, were 11 of the Church of England, with 3,787 sittings; 4 of Independents, with 1,851 s.; 10 of Baptists, with 2,856 s.; 8 of Wesleyans, with 1,190 s.; 4 of Primitive Methodists, with 155 s.; 1 of Calvinistic Methodists, with 140 s.; and 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 60 s.
The schools were 18 public day-schools, with 1,435 scholars; 22 private day-schools, with 391 s.; 26 Sunday schools, with 2,538 s.: and 3 evening schools for adults, with 37 s.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Parish Registers
Marriages Out of Parish
| Details | Place of Marriage |
|---|---|
| Robert Shabdon, of Westbury, & Dorithie Appleyard. 8 July 1563 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| John Adlame & Joan House, of Westbury Leigh, lic. 22 Oct. 1598 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Ambrose Webb, of Westbury, & Agnes Gardiner, wid. 3 Nov. 1600 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| John Southery & Sibelle Hope, of Westbury, lic. 4 May 1640 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Andrew Rundell, of Wells, Somerset, & Grace Wizard, of Westbury, lic. 21 June 1641 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Giddion Hodges & Rebecca Wotteridge, both of Westbury 7 June 1683 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Thomas Stantiall, of Westbury, & Mary Hiscok, of Market Lavington 5 April 1684 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| William Whearat, of Westbury, & Mary Ann Jones, of North Bradley 26 Feb. 1684/5 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| James Prior, of Westbury, & Mary Harnis, of Imber 14 May 1685 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| John Tilly & Susanna Kinge, of Westbury 4 Oct. 1685 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Roger Hodges & Elizabeth Weeb, both of Westbury 22 Apr. 1686 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Nicholas Coward & Katherine Warrand, of Westbury 16 Sep. 1686 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| William Croock & Mary Whearal, both of Westbury 24 Oct. 1687 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| William Adulum & Anne Black, both of Westbury 8 Dec. 1687 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| David Thomas & Elizabeth Prior, both of Westbury 8 Oct. 1694 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Robert Mattick, of Dilton, & Elizabeth Kingman, of Westbury 1 July 1695 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Thomas Hewut & Jeane Reans, both of Westbury Leigh 27 July 1696 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| John Harden & Marget Oldridge, both of Westbury 30 May 1697 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Henry Black & Elizabeth Hill, both of Westbury 6 June 1699 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| William Wallin & Jane Walter, both of Westbury 25 June 1699 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| John Banks & Sarah Smith, both of Westbury 17 Sept. 1699 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Roger Line & Elizabeth Adlume, of Westbury 12 Nov. 1699 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Richard Naish & Elizabeth Turner, both of Westbury 6 May 1700 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| William Fordon, of Wilton, & Elizabeth Barber, of Westbury 20 Sept. 1700 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Thomas Biggs & Amy Biggs, both of Westbury Leigh 7 Nov. 1700 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Samuel Bigwood & Margaret Beachum, both of Westbury 9 Feb. 1701 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Thomas Fly & Elizabeth Friare, both of Westbury 28 June 1702 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Walter Howard & Jeane Bayly, of Westbury 17 May 1703 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| John Seise & Anne Trimly, both of Westbury 28 May 1704 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Thomas Abraham & Sarah Halls, both of Westbury 11 June 1704 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Robert Whatly & Mary Saber, both of Westbury 15 Aug. 1704 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| George Tayler & Elizabeth Smith, both of Westbury 18 Feb. 1705 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Thomas Phips, of Westbury Leigh, & Christian Warrant, of Warminster 21 June 1705 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Whatley Paviour, b., & Hannah Beare, both of Westbury 11 Aug. 1757 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Francis Long, b., of Westbury, & Mabel Nevil, sp., lic. 15 Apr. 1766 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| James Smith, b., & Elizabeth Loyde, sp., of Westbury 29 July 1766 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Thomas Maslin, b., & Mary Pepler, sp., of Westbury 7 Feb. 1774 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| John Calloway, widr., & Ann Church, wid., of Westbury 28 Nov. 1774 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| William Bayley, b., of Westbury, & Mary Weston, sp. 2 Apr. 1778 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| William Aldridge Ballard, & Mary Band Woodyear, of Westbury, lic. 3 Aug. 1780 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| James Pepler & Elizabeth Line, of Westbury 20 Nov. 1780 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Thomas Williams, b., of Westbury, & Mary Morgan, wid., lic. 4 Dec. 1786 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| William Pavior, b., of Westbury, & Jane Chapman, sp., lic. 9 July 1789 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Thomas Napier, b., of Westbury, & Ann Sweetland, lic. 11 Mar. 1793 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Simon Hiscocks, widr., of Westbury, & Martha Nash, sp., lic. 13 June 1805 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Edward Melsom, b., of Westbury, & Mary Price, sp. lic. 11 Nov. 1805 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Robert Clifford, b., of Westbury, & Mary Wade, minor, with consent, lic. 15 June 1812 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Philip Churcher, b., & Ann Luce, sp., of Westbury 12 Dec. 1814 | Bratton Wiltshire |
Parish Records
FamilySearch
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.
Brunker James, Westbury, Wiltshire, clothier, Dec. 2, 1828.
Gilpin James John, Westbury, Wiltshire, surgeon and chemist, April 20, 1824.
Hayward John Baynes, Chapmanslade, Wilts, money scrivener, April 2, 1841.
Hooper John, sen.; & Edw. Franklin; Westbury, Wilts, bankers, July 8, 1831.
Humphries James, Westbury, Wiltshire, woolstapler, Oct. 16, 1824.
James William, Westbury, Wiltshire, clothier, Sept. 15, 1829.
Morton Richard, Westbury, Wiltshire, corn factor, Dec. 21, 1824.
Perry Thomas, Chalford, Wiltshire, clothier, Dec. 4, 1829.
Reynolds Thomas, Westbury, Wiltshire, clothier, July 5, 1823.
Taylor William, Westbury, Wiltshire, carpenter, Feb. 19, 1841.
Maps
Vision of Britain historical maps
Administration
- County: Wiltshire
- Civil Registration District: Westbury
- Probate Court: Court of the Peculiar of the Precentor of Salisbury
- Diocese: Salisbury
- Rural Deanery: Pre-1847 – None, Post-1846 – Wylye
- Poor Law Union: Westbury and Whorwellsdown
- Hundred: Westbury (Wiltshire)
- Province: Canterbury