Place:Fovant, Wiltshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

Fovant is a village and civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England, lying about 9 miles (14 km) west of Salisbury on the A30 Salisbury-Shaftesbury road, on the south side of the Nadder valley. In the UK census of 2011 it had a population of 669.

The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded a settlement called Febefonte with 22 households, held by Wilton Abbey. The abbey was surrendered to the Crown in 1539, and Fovant was among the villages granted to William Herbert (1501-1570), later Earl of Pembroke. (Herbert was also granted the site of the abbey, where he built Wilton House). The Pembrokes continued as landowners at Fovant until the estate was broken up in 1919.(Source: Wikipedia)

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

"FOVANT, or Foffont, a parish in Wilton [registration] district, Wilts; on the river Avon, adjacent to the Salisbury and Exeter railway, 2 miles SW by W of Dinton [railway] station, and 7 WSW of Wilton. It has a post office, of the name of Fovant, under Salisbury. Acres: 2,160. Real property, with Sutton-Mandeville: £5,351. Rated property of [Fovant] alone: £2,701. Population: 600. Houses: 129. The property is divided among a few. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury. Value: 465. Patron: the Earl of Pembroke. The church is ancient; has a fine tower, and a curious brass of 1492, and was recently in disrepair.

Research Tips

• 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.