Highworth in 1843
Highworth is in the hundred of Highworth, Cricklade, and Staple, 79 miles from the General Post-Office, London, by the Great Western Railway to Shrivenham, which is distant from Highworth four miles. The parish has an area of 9,810 acres ; it is divided into seven chapelries or tythings, and contained, in 1831, a population of 3,127. Highworth tything had at that time 130 houses, namely, 123 inhabited, 6 uninhabited, and 1 building, with a population of 124 families, or 632 persons, about one-sixth agricultural. The town is on a hill, on the road between Lechlade and Swindon : it is neither paved nor lighted. The houses are mostly built of stone, of which there are quarries in the neighbourhood. The church is in the middle of the town ; it is an ancient building, having a chapel on the south side, hung round with pieces of ancient armour. The market is on Wednesday, and there are two yearly fairs, namely, a cattle fair and a statute fair for hiring servants. The town was formerly incorporated, but lost its privilege of sending members to parliament through disuse, and the corporation has ceased to exist. The living is a vicarage united with the chapelries of Broad Blunsdon, South Marston, and Sevenhampton, all in the parish, of the joint clear yearly value of £468, with a glebe-house, in the rural deanery of Cricklade, in the archdeaconry of Bristol, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. There were in the whole parish, in 1833, one infant school with 50 children, and four other day-schools, with 159 scholars, namely, 117 boys and 42 girls, giving about one in fifteen of the population under daily instruction ; and three Sunday-schools, with 417 scholars, namely, 223 boys and 194 girls, giving above one in eight of the population under instruction on Sunday. One of the day-schools was partly supported by endowment and subscription. |