Kempsford

"KEMPSFORD, a parish in the hundred of Brightwells-Barrow, county Gloucester, 3 miles S. of Fairford, its post town. It is situated on the rivers Colne and Isis, and contains the hamlets of Dunfield, Horcutt, and Welford. It was formerly a Roman settlement, and before the Norman Conquest was held by Earl Harold. At the time of the Domesday Survey it belonged to Ernulf de Hesding. The Thames and Severn canal passes through the parish. The soil of about half the land is gravel, and of the remainder a strong clay. The tithes were commuted for land and corn-rents under an Enclosure Act in 1801.

The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Gloucester, value £700, in the patronage of the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The church, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, is an ancient structure with a tower containing a clock and six bells. It was built in the reign of Henry III. by Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Lancaster, whose arms may be seen, also his horse's shoe nailed on the door. There is a day school, with an endowment of £10 per annum. Sir Gilbert East, Bart., is lord of the manor."

"DUNFIELD, a hamlet in the parish of Kempsford, in the county of Gloucester, 2 miles S. of Fairford."

"HORCUTT, a hamlet in the parish of Kempsford, county Gloucester, 2 miles S. of Fairford."

"WHELFORD, a hamlet in the parish of Kempsford, county Gloucester, 2 miles S.E. of Fairford, in the vale of the Colne."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]