Place:South Newton, Wiltshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

South Newton is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. It is considered to be within the municipal borough of Wilton (Source: A Vision of Britain through Time) The village straddles the A36 road. Topologically it lies between chalk downs to the northeast and downland with Grovely Wood to the southwest. In the valley is the River Wylye with water meadows. The Wessex Main Line railway passes the village on the opposite bank of the River Wylye.

The parish includes the village of Stoford (not to be confused with Stoford, Somerset) and the hamlets of Little Wishford and Chilhampton. The parish had a population of 819 in the 2011 UK census.

There has been a settlement in the village since Saxon times and South Newton is largely a 10th-century estate which stretched from the River Wylye to the ridge of the hills to the northeast. The village originated at about the same time as its three neighbours Stoford, Chilhampton and Little Wishford, each village having a strip of land down to the river and up onto the downland of the drainage area.

In the mid-nineteenth century the parish included part of North Ugford and part of the present day Wilton. Various other portions have been ceded to other parishes during the last 150 years. About 300 yards (270 m) south of the church is an ancient watermill on the banks of the River Wylye.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History - Wiltshire - Vol 15, pp213-227 - Parish: South Newton". British History Online. University of London.
• 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.