Place:Winterbourne, Wiltshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

Winterbourne is a civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England, about 3.5 miles (6 km) northeast of Salisbury. The parish encompasses the contiguous villages of Winterbourne Earls, Winterbourne Dantsey and Winterbourne Gunner, together with the hamlet of Hurdcott south of Winterbourne Earls (not to be confused with Hurdcott Manor near Baverstock).

The Port Way Roman road passes the villages on higher ground, on its route towards Old Sarum. The settlements are in the Bourne valley which also carries the A338 road and the West of England Main Line railway. Winterbourne was an earlier name for the river, which becomes dry in summer. The parish had a population of 1,238 in the UK census of 2011.

The parish was created in 1934 by amalgamating the three ancient parishes of Winterbourne Earls, Winterbourne Dantsey and Winterbourne Gunner.

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

"WINTERBOURNE, a [registration] sub-district in Amesbury district, Wilts; containing [Winterbourne] Dantsey, [Winterbourne] Earls, and [Winterbourne] Gunner parishes, and five other parishes. Acres: 16,561. Population: 1,917. Houses: 411."

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.