Place:Sherston, Wiltshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

Sherston is a village and civil parish about 5 miles (8 km) west of Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England. The parish is bounded to the north by the county boundary with Gloucestershire, and to the southeast by the Fosse Way, a Roman road. The parish includes the hamlets of Easton Town, immediately east of Sherston; Pinkney, further east along the Malmesbury road; and Willesley, to the north. The population of the civil parish, according to the UK census of 2011, was 1,639.

The infant River Avon (Bristol) passes Sherston, Easton Town and Pinkney, on its way to Malmesbury.

Pinkney was also called Sherston Parva, meaning Little Sherston. The Ordnance Survey map from the 1890s has "Great Sherston" and "Sherston Parva or Pinkney"; by 1951 Great Sherston had become Sherston but both names were still shown for the smaller place.

According to A Vision of Britain through Time the civil parish of Sherston Magna became the civil parish of Sherston in 1896.

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

"SHERSTON-MAGNA, a village and a parish in Malmsbury [registration] district, Wilts. The village stands on the river Avon, 5½ miles WSW of Malmsbury, and 8½ E by S of Wickwar [railway] station; was known to the Saxons as Sceorstan; witnessed an obstinate battle, in 1016, between Edmund Ironside and Canute; was long a place of considerable consequence; and has a post-office, of the name of Sherston, under Ma1msbury, and fairs on 12 May and 2 Oct.

"The parish comprises 4,280 acres. Real property, with [Sherston] Parva, £8,637. Population of [Sherston-Magna] alone: 1,503. Houses: 325. The property is subdivided. The manors of [Sherston-Magna] and [Sherston-Parva], with Pinkney Park, belong to W. H. Creswell, Esq. Roman coins have been found; a deep well, supposed to have been of Roman origin, is behind the village; and an entrenched camp, probably Saxon, is a little to the NE. The living is a vicarage, united with [Sherston-Parva], in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value, £150.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester. The church is Norman and cruciform, and has a central tower. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, and Primitive Methodists, national and British schools, and charities £13."

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.