Place:Almondsbury, Gloucestershire, England

Watchers
NameAlmondsbury
Alt namesAlmondesberiesource: Domesday Book (1985) p 111
Catbrainsource: hamlet in parish
Gaunt's Earthcottsource: hamlet in parish
Hemptonsource: hamlet in parish
Horthamsource: hamlet in parish
Leasource: hamlet in parish
Lower Tockingtonsource: hamlet in parish
Oversource: hamlet in parish
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish
Coordinates51.567°N 2.567°W
Located inGloucestershire, England     ( - 1974)
Also located inAvon, England     (1974 - 1996)
Gloucestershire, England     (1996 - )
See alsoLangley and Swineshead Hundred, Gloucestershire, Englandhundred in which the parish was part located
Thornbury Hundred, Gloucestershire, Englandhundred in which the parish was part located
Berkeley Hundred, Gloucestershire, Englandhundred in which the parish was part located
Thornbury Rural, Gloucestershire, Englandrural district in which it was located 1894-1974
South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, Englandunitary authority covering the area since 1996
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog
the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Almondsbury is a large village and civil parish, since 1996, located in South Gloucestershire within the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. It is near Bristol and junction 16 of the M5 motorway.

The village is split by a steep hill, part of the escarpment overlooking the Severn floodplain. South Wales, the Forest of Dean, the River Severn and both Severn Bridges are visible from the higher parts of the village.

Contents

Civil parish

The civil parish of Almondsbury is much larger than the village. It includes the villages of Hortham, Over, Easter Compton, Compton Greenfield, Catbrain and Hallen. It also includes Cribbs Causeway and the site of the village of Charlton, now the western end of Filton Airfield.

When it was originally created in 1866 the civil parish also included Patchway, but not Easter Compton, Compton Greenfield, Hallen, Cribbs Causeway or Charlton, all of which were transferred from the parish of Henbury in 1935. The parish of Patchway was separated from Almondsbury in 1953. As may be noted in the "See also" box above, parts of Almondsbury were to be found in 3 different hundreds before 1800.

A 19th century description

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Almondsbury from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"ALMONDSBURY, a village, a parish, and a [registration] subdistrict in the district of Thornbury, Gloucester. The village stands near the rivulet Boyd, at the foot of a ridge of limestone rocks, 1¾ mile from the Bristol and South Wales railway, 8 miles N of Bristol; and has a post office under Bristol. It is said to have derived its name from Alcmond, King Egbert's father, who was buried in the church, and from a fortification in the neighbourhood. The heights above it, and the grounds of Knole House, adjacent on the SW, command a very noble and extensive view, embracing the estuary of the Severn and the hills of Monmouth and Wales. The parish includes the tythings of Almondsbury, Lea, Over, Gaunts-Earthcote, Lower Tockington, and Hempton and Patchway. Acres: 6,927. Real property: £15,078. Population: 1,864. Houses: 394. The property is much subdivided. Some lands belonged anciently to the priory of St. Augustine in Bristol. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value: £915. Patron: the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The church is cruciform and early English, with tower and spire at the intersection. There are a neat little chapel of ease at Cross Keys, two dissenting chapels, a national school, and charities £255."
"The [registration] subdistrict comprises six parishes [and is made up of] Acres: 23,087 Population: 5,233. Houses: 1,084."

Registration Districts

Thornbury (1837-1974)
Thornbury in the County of Avon (1974-1981)
Bristol in the County of Avon (1981-1996)
South Gloucestershire in the County of Gloucestershire (1996- )

Research Tips

  • Bristol Archives is where paper and microfilm copies of all records for Bristol and its environs are stored.

Online sources which may also be helpful:

  • Three maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrate the changes in political boundaries over the period 1830-1945. All have expanding scales and on the second and third this facility is sufficient that individual parishes can be inspected (except in the immediate Bristol area--for Bristol, see English Jurisdictions).
  • Gloucestershire Hundreds as drawn in 1832. This map was prepared before The Great Reform Act of that year. Note the polling places and representation of the various parts of the county.
  • Gloucestershire in 1900, an Ordnance Survey map showing rural districts, the boundaries of the larger towns, the smaller civil parishes of the time, and some hamlets and villages in each parish
  • Gloucestershire in 1943, an Ordnance Survey map showing the rural districts after the changes to their structure in the 1930s
  • A Vision of Britain through Time has a group of pages of statistical facts for almost every parish in the county
  • GENUKI gives pointers to other archive sources as well as providing some details on each parish. The emphasis here is on ecclesiastical parishes (useful before 1837)
  • A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 and tables of the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. The compiler has gone to a lot of work to provide this material. Respect his copyright.
  • The FamilySearch Wiki for Gloucestershire provides a similar but not identical series of webpages to that provided by GENUKI
  • English Jurisdictions, a supplementary website to FamilySearch outlining local parish boundaries in the middle on the 19th century. The information provided is especially useful for establishing the locations of ecclesiastical parishes in large towns and cathedral cities, as well as changes in their dedications (names). Very useful for Bristol.
  • The Church Crawler has a website of photos and histories of English Churches with emphasis on Bristol.
  • Unfortunately, the Victoria County History series provided by the website British History Online only provides information on Gloucestershire Churches in this part of the county. More general information on the Bristol and South Gloucestershire area is sadly omitted.
  • Ancestry UK has recently added Gloucestershire Burials, 1813-1988; Confirmations, 1834-1913; Baptisms, 1813-1913; Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1813; and Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938. (entry dated 1 Aug 2015)
  • Ancestry has also now updated Bristol, England, Select Church of England Parish Registers, 1720-1933 (entry dated 14 Mar 2016)
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Almondsbury. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.