Place:Rockhampton, Gloucestershire, England

Watchers
NameRockhampton
Alt namesRochemtunesource: Domesday Book (1985) p 114
Newton (Rockhampton)source: settlement in parish
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish
Coordinates51.633°N 2.5°W
Located inGloucestershire, England     ( - 1974)
Also located inAvon, England     (1974 - 1996)
Gloucestershire, England     (1996 - )
See alsoLangley and Swineshead Hundred, Gloucestershire, Englandhundred in which the parish was part located
Berkeley Hundred, Gloucestershire, Englandhundred in which the parish was part located
South Gloucestershire District, Gloucestershire, Englanddistrict municipality and unitary authority covering the area since 1974
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Rockhampton is a village since 1996 located in South Gloucestershire within the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. It is northeast of Thornbury. The south end of the village is more properly called Newton.

The Church of St Oswald is a Grade II* listed building, dating from the 14th century, which was substantially rebuilt in 1860-61.

A 19th century description

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

"ROCKHAMPTON, a parish, with a village, in Thornbury [registration] district, Gloucester; 2 miles N N E of Thornbury, and 4¾ W by N of Charfield [railway] station. Post-town, Thornbury, under Bristol. Acres: 1,206. Real property: £2,740. Population: 248. Houses: 50. The property is much subdivided. The manor belongs to Major Peach. [Rockhampton] Lodge is the seat of F. Brooks, Esq. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value: £289. Patron: Mrs. Coates. The church was partly rebuilt in 1862. Charities, £14."

Research Tips

  • These notes re sources from GENUKI may be of interest:
  • Original source material relating to Rockhampton, and other parishes in Diocese of Gloucester may be found at the premises of Gloucestershire Archives.
  • Scribes Alcove is a site to enable searches of baptism, marriage and burial indexes from six Gloucestershire parishes: Berkeley, Thornbury, Oldbury-upon-Severn, Hill, Stone & Rockhampton.
  • The period covered for St Oswald's Church parish records is 1700-1900C; 1700-1878M (except 1859-1862); 1700-1900B.
  • Bristol Archives is where paper and microfilm copies of all records for Bristol and its environs are stored.

Online sources which may also be helpful:

  • Three maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrate the changes in political boundaries over the period 1830-1945. All have expanding scales and on the second and third this facility is sufficient that individual parishes can be inspected (except in the immediate Bristol area--for Bristol, see English Jurisdictions).
  • Gloucestershire Hundreds as drawn in 1832. This map was prepared before The Great Reform Act of that year. Note the polling places and representation of the various parts of the county.
  • Gloucestershire in 1900, an Ordnance Survey map showing rural districts, the boundaries of the larger towns, the smaller civil parishes of the time, and some hamlets and villages in each parish
  • Gloucestershire in 1943, an Ordnance Survey map showing the rural districts after the changes to their structure in the 1930s
  • A Vision of Britain through Time has a group of pages of statistical facts for almost every parish in the county
  • GENUKI gives pointers to other archive sources as well as providing some details on each parish. The emphasis here is on ecclesiastical parishes (useful before 1837)
  • A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 and tables of the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. The compiler has gone to a lot of work to provide this material. Respect his copyright.
  • The FamilySearch Wiki for Gloucestershire provides a similar but not identical series of webpages to that provided by GENUKI
  • English Jurisdictions, a supplementary website to FamilySearch outlining local parish boundaries in the middle on the 19th century. The information provided is especially useful for establishing the locations of ecclesiastical parishes in large towns and cathedral cities, as well as changes in their dedications (names). Very useful for Bristol.
  • The Church Crawler has a website of photos and histories of English Churches with emphasis on Bristol.
  • Unfortunately, the Victoria County History series provided by the website British History Online only provides information on Gloucestershire Churches in this part of the county. More general information on the Bristol and South Gloucestershire area is sadly omitted.
  • Ancestry UK has recently added Gloucestershire Burials, 1813-1988; Confirmations, 1834-1913; Baptisms, 1813-1913; Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1813; and Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938. (entry dated 1 Aug 2015)
  • Ancestry has also now updated Bristol, England, Select Church of England Parish Registers, 1720-1933 (entry dated 14 Mar 2016)
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Rockhampton, Gloucestershire. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.