Aldbourne

"ALDBOURN, a parish in the hundred of Selkey, in the county of Wilts, 7 miles to the N. W. of Hungerford. It contains the tythings of Upham and Preston, and is situated in a pleasant valley near the Great Western railway. It was at one time a market town, but has ceased to be such for nearly 150 years. Seymour, Duke of Somerset, had a royal chase here, which was granted him by Henry VIII., and which, after being long a rabbit warren, is now enclosed and brought under cultivation. A skirmish took place in this parish during the civil war in the reign of Charles I. John of Gaunt had a hunting seat here, of which a part is thought still to remain in one portion of the present vicarage house. An ancient British camp has left some traces near Pierces Lodge, a farm-horse here. The land in the district is fertile. The population has been decreasing, and the fustian manufacture, once important, has greatly declined. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Salisbury, value £367, in the patronage of the bishop. The church, ancient and partly Norman, is dedicated to St. Michael. It contains a monumental brass of 1508. The Wesleyans have a chapel here."

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