Place:Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Iron Acton is a village located since 1996 in South Gloucestershire, England within the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. It was located in Gloucestershire until 1974 and, in the interim period, in the short-lived county of Avon. The village is about 2 miles (3 km) west of Yate and about 9 miles (14 km) northeast of the centre of Bristol. The B4058 road used to pass through the village but now by-passes it just to the north.

The "iron" part of the placename originates from the iron that used to be mined near the village. "Acton" is derived from the Old English for "farm (or village) with oak trees". Still today there is an oak wood in the village beside the River Frome.

The civil parish also includes the smaller villages of Latteridge and Engine Common. (both redirected here).

Registration Districts

Chipping Sodbury (1837 - 1937)
Sodbury in Gloucestershire (1937 - 1974)
Sodbury in Avon (1974 - 1996)
South 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)
• An Ordnance Survey Map of the 1890s for the parish of Iron Acton from British History Online. Two clicks on the '+' mark brings up a highly readable map.