In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Kington St Michael like this:
KINGTON-ST. MICHAEL, -formerly Kington-Monachorum, -a village, a tything, and a parish in Chippenham district, Wilts. The village stands near the Chippenham and Stroud railway, 3 miles NW by N of Chippenham; was once a market town; and has still a fair on 6 Oct. The tything includes the village, and extends into the country. ...
Real property, £3, 745; of which £17 are in quarries. Pop., 530. Houses, 121. The parish contains also the tythings of Kington-Langley and Easton-Piercy; the former of which has a postoffice under Chippenham. Acres, 4, 136. Real property, £8, 705. Pop. in 1851, 1, 219; in 1861, 1, 089. Houses, 245. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged to the Saxon kings; was given to Glastonbury abbey; and passed to the Snells and the Longs. A Benedictine nunnery, a cell to the abbey, was founded here before the time of Henry II.; and has left some remains at a farm. Aubrey, the antiquary, a native of Easton-Piercy, says that "forty or fifty nuns might be seen in a morning spinning with their wheels and bobbins." Britton, the antiquary, was a native of the village. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristols Value, £450.* Patron, Ear. Cowley. The church is chiefly early English, with Norman chancel arch, and with a tower of 1726; was restored in 1857; and contains a memorial window to Aubrey and Britton, erected in 1857, two brasses, and some monuments to the Colemans, the Aubreys, and others. The p. curacy of Kington-Langley is a separate benefice. A school has £5 from endowment, all houses £20, and other charities £8 10s.
Kington St Michael through time
Kington St Michael is now part of North Wiltshire district. Click here for graphs and data of how North Wiltshire has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Kington St Michael itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Kington St Michael in North Wiltshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/11857
Date accessed: 07th November 2024
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