Place:Bishops Cannings, Wiltshire, England

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NameBishops Cannings
Alt namesBourtonsource: settlement in parish
Coate (Bishops Canning)source: settlement in parish
Eastonsource: settlement in parish
Hortonsource: settlement in parish
Bishops-Canningssource: Family History Library Catalog
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish
Coordinates51.367°N 1.95°W
Located inWiltshire, England
See alsoPotterne and Cannings Hundred, Wiltshire, Englandhundred in which it was located
Devizes Rural, Wiltshire, Englandrural district, 1894 - 1974
Kennet District, Wiltshire, Englanddistrict municipality 1974-2009
Wiltshire District, Wiltshire, Englandunitary authority since 2009
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Bishops Cannings is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the settlements of Coate, Horton, Bourton and Easton, as well as the village of Bishops Cannings itself.

NOTE: There are at least three hamlets named Coate in Wiltshire, another three named Easton. Horton and Bourton can also be popular.

History

The manor of Cannings was recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as held by the Bishop of Salisbury.

Horton is first attested in 1158. The place-name is a common one in England and derives from Old English horu "dirt" and tūn "settlement, farm, estate", presumably meaning 'farm on muddy soil'.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Bourton manor was an estate of the Ernle family. The manor included the hamlet of Easton; today the name survives only at Easton Farm and Easton Down.

The Wansdyke medieval earthwork crosses the north of parish. The Kennet and Avon Canal (opened in 1810) was built through the parish, passing between Bishops Cannings and Horton.

The parish is now the third largest in Wiltshire, but was formerly larger. It lost a large area to the nearby town of Devizes when there was a change of boundaries in 1835. Bishops Cannings had previously reached as far into Devizes as the Crammer, a large pond on the edge of the town centre. This may explain how Bishops Cannings comes to lay claim to being the place of origin of the legend of the Moonrakers. Next to the pond is the 15th-century church of Devizes St James, which was a chapelry of Bishops Cannings.

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