Place:Didmarton, Gloucestershire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Didmarton is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It lies in the Cotswold District.

A military survey of Didmarton in 1522 shows that it was then a very small village, overshadowed by the neighbouring Oldbury on the Hill.

In the 16th century, the manor of Didmarton was owned by the Seacole family. In 1571, Simon Codrington married Agnes, daughter and co-heiress of Richard Seacole, and the estate thus passed to their son Robert Codrington. It was sold to Charles Somerset, 4th Duke of Beaufort, in about 1750, but has had a succession of other owners since then.

Together with Oldbury, the parish was subject to enclosure in 1829. In 1883, the civil parish of Oldbury on the Hill was abolished and the area merged with Didmarton.

Didmarton in the 19th century

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

"DIDMARTON, a village, a parish, and a sub-district in Tetbury [registration] district, Gloucester. The village stands on the verge of the county, under the Cotswolds, 5½ miles SW of Tetbury, and 8 E by S of Wickwar [railway] station; and has a post office under Chippenham. Its site is supposed to have been occupied by a Roman station; and has yielded a number of Roman coins. The parish comprises 719 acres. Real property: £1,194. Population: 92. Houses: 16. The property is divided among a few. The living is a rectory, annexed to the rectory of Oldbury-on-the-Hill, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. The church is early English, and has a wooden steeple. Charities, £11.

"The sub-district contains six parishes. Acres: 9,382. Population: 1,470. Houses, 313."

Oldbury on the Hill

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

Oldbury on the Hill is a small village and former civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles west of London and less than one mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Didmarton. It was absorbed into the parish of Didmarton in 1883.

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

"OLDBURY-ON-THE-HILL, a parish, with a village, in Tetbury [registration] district, Gloucester; among the Cotswolds, adjacent to Wilts, 5¾ miles S W of Tetbury, and 6¼ E of Wickwar [railway] station. Post-town, Chippenham. Acres: 1,342. Real property: £2,584. Population in 1851: 485; in 1861: 440. Houses: 105. The decrease of population was caused by the closing of a large boarding-school. The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of Didmarton, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Joint value: £387. Patron: the Duke of Beaufort. The church is early English; and consists of nave and chancel, with a tower. There is a village school."

Local names

Parish registers from 1674 to 1991 are held at the Gloucestershire Record Office.

Surnames in the marriages register for 1675 to 1751 are: Acton, Allen, Biggs, Bishop, Brooks, Brush, Burcombe, Byrton, Carey, Chapman, Chappel(l), Codrington, Collings, Davies, Drew, Emely, Frith, Gingill, Harris, Hatchett, Heaven, Iddols, Kingscott, Lewis, Milsum, Minchin, Porter, Powel, Power, Robbins, Scrope, Shipton, Smart, Sparkes, Taunton, Thompson, Walls, Watts, Weekes, White, and Witchell.

The surnames recorded in the parish graveyard, and in that of the Didmarton Congregational church, include: Baker, Bickerton, Borham, Cox, Gould, Lucas, Pritchard, Short, Rice, Robbins, Till, and Tuck.

Research Tips

• The website British History Online provides eight chapters out of at least eleven of the Victoria County History Series on Gloucestershire. Some of these are outlines of topics concerning the whole county, others contain descriptions of cities, towns and villages of varying sizes throughout the area.
• Brett Langston's Registration Districts in Gloucestershire follows the history of registration district provision in Gloucestershire from its inception in 1837 through to the present day.
• GENUKI has a brief overall guide to various sources of information for the county.
• The FamilySearch Wiki on Gloucestershire provides information similar to that in GENUKI.
• Gloucestershire Archives for older sources such as pre-1837 parish registers and other contemporary documents. Address: Clarence Row, Alvin Street, Gloucester, England GL1 3DW