National Gazetteer (1868) - Shalbourne

"SHALBOURNE, a parish chiefly in the hundred of Kinwardstone, county Wilts, and partly in the hundred of Kintbury-Eagle, county Berks, 4 miles S.W. of Hungerford, its post town, and 10 S.E. of Marlborough. The parish comprises the tythings of Bagshot, Newtown, and Westcourt. The village is situated in a valley near Wansdyke, and is chiefly agricultural. It is watered by a stream which turns several mills in its course. The substratum abounds in green, white, and red sandstone, and is supposed to contain coal. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Oxford, value £428, in the patronage of the Dean and Canons of Windsor. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is an ancient structure with a square tower. The parochial charities produce about £13 per annum. There is a National school for both sexes, built entirely at the expense of T. Kingston, Esq. On the edge of the down, a continuance of Salisbury Plain, is a tumulus."

"NEWTOWN, a tything in the parish of Shalbourne, county Wilts, 4 miles S.W. of Hungerford."

"BAGSHOT, a hamlet in the parish of Shalbourne, and hundred of Knitbury Eagle, in the county of Berks, 2 miles to the S. of Hungerford. (Transferred from Berks to Wilts in 1844 and back again in 1895.)

"OXEN WOOD, a tything in the parish of Shalbourne, county Berks, 6 miles S.W. of Hungerford."

"RAPLEYS, a district in the parish of Shalbourne, county Berks, 3 miles S.W. of Hungerford."

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