Place:Malmesbury St. Paul Without, Wiltshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

St. Paul Malmesbury Without is a civil parish surrounding Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England. Its main settlements are the village of Corston and the hamlets of Milbourne and Rodbourne (not to be confused with Rodborne Cheney which is now part of Swindon).

The parish is rural with small settlements. It surrounds Malmesbury to the north, east and south (but not to the west where the parish is Brokenborough). To the south, the parish extends some 4 miles (6.4 km) from Malmesbury, almost to Stanton St. Quintin. The Bristol Avon forms part of the north and east boundaries of the parish. Its tributary the Gauze Brook crosses the parish. In 2011, according to the UK census, the population was 2,059.

Between the 7th and 11th centuries, the land which forms the modern parish was acquired by Malmesbury Abbey. By 1191 the parish church of the town was [Malmesbury] St. Paul's, close to the abbey. After the creation of Malmesbury Municipal Borough in 1886, the remainder of the parish was renamed St. Paul Malmesbury Without. Land from Westport St. Mary, southwest of the town, was added in 1896.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History - Wiltshire - Vol 14, pp14:127-168 - Parish: Malmesbury. British History Online. University of London. Rodborne and Corston are covered toward the end of the chapter.
• From this Ancestry page you can browse the Wiltshire parishes which have parish register transcripts online, quite often from very early dates. However, reading the early ones requires skill and patience. Transcriptions should also be in FamilySearch.
• A further collection of online source references will be found on the county page for Wiltshire.