Poulton

"POULTON, a parish and township in the hundred of Highworth, county Gloucester, 5 miles S.E. of Cirencester, and 4 W. of Fairford. This parish, previous to 1844, formed part of the county of Wilts. It is intersected by the main road from Cirencester to Oxford, and is a meet for the Vale of White Horse hounds. The village is small, and some of the inhabitants are engaged in the neighbouring stone and slate quarries. Here are traces of a Gilbertine priory, founded by Sir Thomas de Sancto Mauro or Seymour about 1347, as a cell to Sempringham, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Its revenues at the Dissolution were returned at £20 3s. 2d. per annum. The impropriate tithes were commuted for land and an annual money payment under the Enclosure Act in 1795.

The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £46, with £10 additional from Queen Anne's bounty, in the patronage of the bishop. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is an ancient structure with a tower, situated at a short distance from the village. There is a parochial school. The charities consist of a small allotment of land for the poor."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]