Corsham, Wiltshire Family History Guide
Corsham is an Ancient Parish in the county of Wiltshire.
Other places in the parish include: Corsham Side, Easton, and Pickwick.
Alternative names:
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1563
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1605
Nonconformists include: Baptist, Independent/Congregational, Plymouth Brethren, Primitive Methodist, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
CORSHAM, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district, in Chippenham district, Wilts.
The town stands ¾ of a mile N of the Great Western railway, and 4 SW of Chippenham; it was a residence of the Saxon kings, afterwards of the Earls of Cornwall, and was long called Corsham-Regis; it had formerly a jail, a court-house, a market-cross, and some ancient buildings, which have been swept away; it forms now one long street of stone houses; and it has a post office under Chippenham, a railway station, an inn, a market-house, a parish church, and four dissenting chapels.
The church is a large edifice, with central tower; comprises parts from Norman to late English; and has a richly carved screen and two altar-tombs. A weekly market was formerly held on Wednesday; and fairs are still held on 8 March and 4 Sept.
The parish includes also Pickwick and Easton tythings, and Corsh-Side hamlet. Acres, 6,498. Real property, £19,654; of which £2,703 are in quarries. Pop., 3,196. Houses, 683. The property is much subdivided.
The manor belonged at Domesday, to Earl Tosti; passed to the Earls of Cornwall, and to the Hungerfords; and belongs now to Lord Methuen. Corsham Court, Lord Methuen’s seat, has a fine south Tudor front of 1582, and a new north front in good Italian, by Bellamy; and contains a rich collection of paintings, founded by Sir Paul Methuen, the framer of the “Methuen treaty” of Portugal.
The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value, £300. Patron, Lord Methuen. A chapel of ease is at Hartham, and a church at Corsham-Side; and the latter was built in 1866, and is a separate charge.
A Gothic alms-house and free school, founded in 1672, has £60 a year from endowment; and other charities have £238. Edward Hasted, the historian of Kent, was for some years master of the free school; and Sir Richard Blackmore, physician to William III. and poet, was a native.
Two alien priories were in the parish, the one a cell to Caen abbey, the other to Marmonstier.
The sub-district contains seven parishes. Acres, 17,127. Pop., 6,979. Houses, 1,468.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Bankrupts
Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.
Sartain James, Corsham, Wiltshire, sheep dealer, Feb. 17, 1843.
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Maps
Vision of Britain historical maps
Administration
- County: Wiltshire
- Civil Registration District: Chippenham
- Probate Court: Court of the Peculiar of the Perpetual Vicar of Corsham
- Diocese: Gloucester and Bristol
- Rural Deanery: Pre-1847 – None, Post-1846 – Malmesbury
- Poor Law Union: Chippenham
- Hundred: Chippenham
- Province: Canterbury