Westerleigh

"WESTERLEIGH, a parish and village in the hundred of Puckle-Church, county Gloucester, 3 miles S.W. of Chipping-Sodbury, 9 N.E. of Bristol, and 1½ mile S.W. of the Yate station on the Bristol and Gloucester railway. The parish, which formed part of Puckle-Church till the 14th century, includes the ecclesiastical district of St. Saviour's, Coalpit Heath, and the hamlets of Henfield, Kendalshire, Mayshill, and Nibley. The soil is loamy, upon a subsoil of pennant-stone. There are extensive collieries at Coalpit Heath and other parts of the parish, the produce of which is conveyed to Bristol by means of a tramway 9 miles in length, passing through a tunnel 1,540 feet in length.

The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, attached to the vicarage of, Puckle-Church, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Wells. The church, dedicated to St. James, contains an old font on one pillar and a stone pulpit. The Independents have a chapel, and there are National Schools. The parochial charities produce about £42 per annum, including a school endowment of £20. A fair is held on 19th September for cattle, pigs, &c."

"COALPIT HEATH, a hamlet and chapelry in the parish of Westerleigh, in the county of Gloucester, 3 miles W. of Chipping Sodbury. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £150, in the patronage of the bishop."

"HENFIELD, a hamlet in the parish of Westerleigh, county Gloucester, 3 miles S.W. of Chipping Sodbury."

"KENDALSHIRE, a hamlet in the parish of Westerleigh, county Gloucester, 2 miles S.W. of Chipping Sodbury."

"MAYSHILL, a hamlet in the parish of Westerleigh, hundred of Puckle Church, county Gloucester, 2 miles S.W. of Chipping-Sodbury."

"NIBLEY, a hamlet in the parish of Westerleigh, county Gloucester, 2 miles W. of Chipping Sodbury. It is situated near the Bristol and Gloucester railway."

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