Place:Compton Chamberlain, Wiltshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

Compton Chamberlain or Compton Chamberlayne is a small village and civil parish in the south of Wiltshire, England, situated in the Nadder Valley approximately 7 miles (11 km) west of Salisbury. The River Nadder forms the northern border of the parish, and to the south are chalk hills. The parish is bisected by the A30 road. The village contains approximately 25 privately owned houses, a village hall, and a cricket pitch.

The variants of the parish's name are all in use. "Chamberlain" is employed in the Family History Catalog, while "Chamberlayne" is found in Wikipedia and A Vision of Britain through Time.

History

Most of the inhabited part of the village lies within a small wooded valley which lends credence to the origin of the name "Compton" – coombe tun, or 'settlement in a wooded valley'. The 'Chamberlayne' seems to have been attached when a Robert le Chamberlayne, or possibly Geoffrey le Chaumberlang, took possession of the village in the Middle Ages. The village was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, which shows that at that time the local manor had a mill, some pastureland, meadows and two woods. Today there is no evidence of the manor.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Compton Chamberlayne.

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.