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RATLEY - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"RATLEY, a parish in the Burton-Dassett division of Kington hundred, county Warwick, 4 miles S.E. of Kineton, and the same distance S.W. of Fenny Compton railway station. Banbury is its post town. The village, which is of small extent, is situated under Edgehill, once the scene of a sanguinary battle between the royalists and parliamentarians in the reign of Charles I. The hills in the neighbourhood afford excellent pasturage for large quantities of cattle. A large portion of the inhabitants are engaged in the stone quarries, which are very extensive.

On the brow of Edgehill is a large triangular fortification called Nadbury camp, supposed to be Roman, which commands a prospect over a fertile country, including the Vale of Red Horse, which skirts its base. The tithes were commuted for land, under an Enclosure Act in 1795, and there are 40 acres of glebe. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Worcester, value £120. The church, dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, has a lofty square tower containing three bells. There is an endowed free school. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. The Earl of Jersey is lord of the manor and principal landowner."

"UPTON, a hamlet in the parish of Ratley, county Warwick, 4 miles S.E. of Kington. It is a meet for the Warwickshire hounds."

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