Place:Slaughterford, Wiltshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Slaughterford is a small village and former civil parish in Wiltshire, England about 5 miles (8 km) west of Chippenham. The village is at a crossing point of the Bybrook River, in a wooded valley between Castle Combe and Box.

Ecclesiastically, Slaughterford was a separate parish, with its own church, until it was amalgamated with Biddestone in 1844. It continued to be a civil parish until 1934 when it was merged into Biddestone.

The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) said of it:

"SLAUGHTERFORD, a parish in the hundred of Chippenham, county of Wilts, 5 miles N. W. of Chippenham, its post town, and 9 E. of Bath. The village, which is considerable, is situated on Box brook, a branch of the river Avon. In the vicinity is Bury-Wood camp, on the Fosse Way. The living is a perpetual curacy annexed to the rectory of Biddestone, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. The church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is an ancient structure with a tower containing one bell."

The church of St. Nicholas is Grade II* listed. Built in the 15th century, it was partly destroyed circa 1649 by Cromwell's troops on their way to Ireland during the English civil war. It lay in ruins until it was rebuilt in 1823. A Quaker meeting house was in use from the 17th century; it became disused and collapsed in the 1960s.

The Manor Farmhouse is from 1753.

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.