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National Gazetteer (1868) - Claverton

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"CLAVERTON, a parish in the hundred of Hampton, in the county of Somerset, 2 miles S.E. of Bath. It is delightfully situated in a valley through which the river Avon and the Rennet canal run, the river Avon being to the E. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Bath and Wells, value £215, in the patronage of G. Vivian, Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient stone edifice in the later English style, and was restored in 1858. It possesses some beautiful stained-glass windows. There is a mausoleum in the churchyard of Ralph Allen, who was the friend of Pope. There are National and Sunday schools for both sexes. The charities amount to about £8 per annum. Graves, who wrote the "Spiritual Quixote," some time held the living of this parish."

"PRIOR PARK HOUSE, formerly a Roman Catholic college, in the parish of Claverton, on Combe Down, county Somerset, 1 mile S.E. of Bath. It is a Grecian structure, originally built by Ralph Allen, the friend of Pope, for his private seat, at an elevation of 400 feet above the city of Bath, over which it commands a prospect; but was purchased in 1829 for the college, which was lately broken up."

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