Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CORSHAM

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.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Corsham CP/AP       Corsham SubD       Chippenham RegD/PLU       Wiltshire AncC
Place: Corsham

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