Winterbourne

"WINTERBOURNE, a parish in the upper division of Langley hundred, county Gloucester, 6 miles N.E. of Bristol, and 4 S.W. of Yate railway station. This place, situated on the road from Bristol to Oxford, is watered by the small river Frome, and for ecclesiastical purposes was divided in 1834 under the Church Building Act into two distinct parishes, viz:, Winterbourne, with the hamlet of Watley's End, and St. John the Baptist, Frenchay, with the hamlet of Hambrook. The soil is loamy, on a subsoil of limestone. There are stone quarries, iron-works, and a large hat manufactory.

Both the livings are rectories* in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, the former value £845, in the gift of St. John's College, Oxford, and the latter £153, besides 180 acres of glebe. The mother church, dedicated to St. Mary, or St. Michael, was rebuilt in 1843 on the site of the old one of the time of Henry II. The church, dedicated to St. John Baptist, at Frenchay, is likewise modern. At Winterbourne the Wesleyans have a chapel, and at Frenchay there are chapels for Independents, Socinians, and Society of Friends.

There are National schools in connection with both churches, and an infant school at Winterbourne. The charities produce about £130 per annum, besides ten almshouses built in 1851 by Mrs. Jones. Fairs are held on the 29th June and 18th October for cattle. Mrs. Wadham is lady of the manor of Winterbourne, and the Smyth family of that of Sturden Court."

"HAMBROOK, a tything in the parish of Winterbourne, upper division of the hundred of Langley, county Gloucester, 5 miles N.E. of Bristol."

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