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THORNBURY, Gloucestershire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]
"THORNBURY, a parish, post and market town, in the lower division of the hundred of the same name, county Gloucester, 11 miles N.E. of Bristol, and 22 S.W. of Gloucester. It is situated in the vale of Berkeley, on the banks of a small rivulet, about 2 miles E. of the river Severn, and near the Gloucester railway. It is a polling-place for the W. division of the county, and a petty sessions town. The parish contains the chapelries of Falfield, Oldbury-on-Severn, Rangeworthy, and the tything of Kington Moorton, where the Union poorhouse is situated.

The town, which consists of three principal streets, contains a county courthouse, police station, reading-rooms, and a savings-bank. In the vicinity are the ruined gateway, tower, chimneys, and walls of an old castle begun by Edward, Duke of Buckingham, in 1511, but left in an unfinished state owing to his execution in 1522. These ruins command a view of the valley of the Severn, which flows on the western side of the parish, with the hills of South Wales in the distance.

Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn were entertained here for ten days in 1539. The corporation is now merely nominal. Courts leet and baron are held annually, and a court of record for the honour of Gloucester takes place every three weeks on Tuesday. The Poor-law Union comprises 21 parishes or places.

The living is a vicarage* with the curacies of Falfield and Oldbury annexed, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £500, in the patronage of Christ Church, Oxford. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, contains a brass of Mrs. Tyndall, bearing date 1571. There are also the district church of Rangeworthy, the living of which is a perpetual curacy, value £80, and chapels-of-ease at Falfield and Oldbury-upon-Severn. The parochial charities produce about £240 per annum.

There are besides six almshouses for fifteen poor people, founded by Sir J. Stafford and others; also National schools for both sexes, a grammar school, founded in 1648 by William Edwards, a free school, instituted by John Atwells in 1729, and an infant school. The Independents, Wesleyans, and Baptists have chapels. Thornbury Castle and Park are the principal residences. Market day is on Saturday. Fairs are held on Easter Monday, 15th August, and the Monday before 21st December."

"KINGTON, a tything in the parish of Thornbury, lower division of the hundred of Thornbury, county Gloucester, 1 mile W. of Thornbury, situated near the Bristol and Gloucester railway."

"MOORTON, a hamlet in the parish of Thornbury, E. division of Castle ward, county Gloucester, 1 mile N.E. of Thornbury."

"MORETON, a tything in the parish and hundred of Thornbury, county Gloucester, 2 miles N.E. of Thornbury."

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