Prestbury

"PRESTBURY, a parish in the lower division of Deerhurst hundred, county Gloucester, 1½ mile N.E. of Cheltenham, its post town. The village is situated under the Cotswolds, and is chiefly agricultural. It was formerly a market town, but was burnt in the reign of Henry VII. It was garrisoned by the parliamentarians in the civil war of Charles I. It has a mineral spring, over which is a pump room. The soil is various, with a subsoil of gravel and clay. The vicarial tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £258, with a glebe of 21 acres, and the impropriate tithes for one of £311 11s., part of which latter belong to the Dean and Precentor of Hereford.

The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £234. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient stone structure, with a square embattled tower containing six bells. The church contains some tablets to the De-la-Bere and other families. It has recently undergone a complete restoration. The parochial charities produce about £30 per annum, exclusive of an almshouse for ten inmates. There is a National school for both sexes."

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