Ramsbury, Wiltshire

Description
Ramsbury, a village and a parish in Wiltshire. The village stands on the river Kennet, 5 miles from Hungerford station oil the G.W.R., and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Hungerford. It was the seat of a diocese from 909 till 1058; was also a market-town; consists now of one long street; contains some mailing, brewing, and tanning establishments; and has fairs on 14 May and 16 Oct. The parish contains also the tithings of Axford, Eastridge, and Whittonditch, and the places called Park Town, Maridge Hill, Newtown, Elmdown, and Lamplands. Acreage, 9806; population, 2164. There is a parish council consisting of fifteen members. The manor house belonged to the Joneses, was designed by Webb the son-in-law of Inigo Jones, and belongs now to the Burdett family. Littlecote Park, Crowood, and the Cedars also are chief residences. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £350 with residence. Patroness, the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. The church, restored in 1894 at a cost exceeding £6000, was the mother church to Sarum and the cathedral of the quondam diocese, has a massive tower, and contains a mausoleum of Littlecote and monuments of the Reads and the Joneses. There are Congregational, Wesleyan, and Methodist chapels.