Place:Hannington, Wiltshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Hannington is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, two miles northwest of Highworth, and now part of the Borough of Swindon. The parish includes the hamlets of Hannington Wick (north of Hannington village) and Swanborough (south, on the border with Highworth parish). The nearest town is Swindon 5.5 miles (9.2 kilometres); the county town of Wilshire, Trowbridge, is 29.5 miles (47.6 kilometres) to the southwest. The River Thames forms both the northern boundary of the parish and the county boundary with Gloucestershire.

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

"HANNINGTON, a village and a parish in Highworth [registration] district, Wilts. The village stands 2 miles W by N of Highworth, 2 S of the river Thames at the boundary with Gloucester, and 7 NE of Swindon Junction [railway] station; is a pretty place, built in the form of the letter Y; and has a post office under Swindon. :"The parish comprises 2,412 acres. Real property, with Inglesham and Lynt: £6,469. Population: 378. Houses: 81. Hannington bridge leads over the Thames into Gloucestershire; and Hannington-Wick has a fine view. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value: £131. Patrons: the Trustees of the late Col. Freke. The church is good, has a square tower, and contains monuments of the Frekes. There are a chapel of ease at Hannington-Wick, a free school, and charities £50."

According to the UK census of 2011, Hannington had a population of 240. At the height of the village's population in 1881 433 people lived in Hannington. However, since the industrial revolution that boomed in cities, such as near by Swindon the population has steadily declined. Since 1940's the villages population has plateaued at 250 mark; in last 130 years the population has all but halved.

Occupations at the time of the 1881 census were dominated by agriculture with 46 people; with the vast majority being male. Census data in 1881 was recorded by the local priest or tax collector, many at the time were unemployed or carried out illegal activities. Hannington is within commutable distance of Swindon which has a car assembly plant and the headquarters of a large building society (which deals in banking and mortgages).

Hannington Hall is a Grade II* listed country house built in 1653. Hannington Hall has been a centre piece of the village since Sir Thomas Freke commissioned and paid for the construction. The land and surrounding parsonages had been in the family name since 1603.

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.