Place:Wotton St. Mary, Gloucestershire, England

Wotton was a district of the city of Gloucester with its parish church being dedicated to St. Mary. In 1885 a decistion was made to separate it into two parishes: "Wotton St. Mary Within" and "Wotton St. Mary Without". The latter covered an area outside the confines of Gloucester as they were then drawn up.

Very little information has been found about specific parts of Gloucester. The places listed in connection with the Registration Districts may be of help if inspected along with England and Wales Jurisdictions 1851. But it must be stressed that the map has been drawn based on the information for the year 1851 and the changes that occurred in 1885 have not been taken into consideration. It will be noted that many of the parishes are made up of separate parts. The alterations of 1885 was probably an endeavour to put together the geographically detached parts.

The article in The Victoria County History of Gloucestershire covers the settlements within Wotton which existed before 1800. Unfortunately it does not supply a map. Ermin Street is usually spelled Ermine Street and was a Roman road which today is followed by the main highway to the northeast of Gloucester, the A38 (named Barnwood Road on Google Earth).

Wotton St. Mary Within and Wotton St. Mary Without have both been redirected here.

Registration Districts

Wotton St. Mary

• Gloucester Registration District (1837 - 1885)
  Abolished 1885 to become parts of the parishes of Wotton St. Mary Within, Gloucester South Hamlet, Gloucester Barton St. Mary, Wotton St. Mary Without, Gloucester St. John the Baptist, Gloucester St. Catherine, Barnwood, Longford, and Matson.

Wotton St. Mary Within

• Gloucester Registration District (1885 - 1896)
  Created 1885 out of the parishes of Wotton St. Mary, Gloucester St. Catherine, Gloucester Barton St. Mary, Gloucester Barton St. Michael, Wotton Vill, Gloucester South Hamlet, and Gloucester North Hamlet. Abolished 1896 to become part of the parish of Gloucester.

Wotton St. Mary Without

• Gloucester Registration District (1885 - 1935)
  Created 1885 out of the parishes of Wotton St. Mary, Longford St. Catherine, and Barnwood. Abolished 1935 to become part of the parishes of Gloucester, Longlevens, Churchdown, and Barnwood.

Research Tips

• Gloucestershire Archives in Gloucester is where paper and microfilm copies of all records for this part of Gloucestershire are stored.

Online sources which may also be helpful:

• The Victoria County History of Gloucestershire has an article describing Wotton from the 1300s to the turn of the 20th century. It is also mentioned several times in the long introduction to this article entitled "Outlying Hamlets"
• GENUKI gives pointers to other archive sources as well as providing some details on each parish in the county. 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. Respect the copyright on this material.
• The FamilySearch Wiki for Gloucestershire provides a similar but not identical series of webpages to that provided by GENUKI
• A Vision of Britain through Time has a group of pages of statistical facts for almost every parish in the county
• England and Wales Jurisdictions 1851 provides a map illustrating the locations of the various Gloucester parishes. Enter "Gloucester" in the search box at the top left, then select the parish required from the list below the search box.