Sherston Magna, Wiltshire

Description
Sherston Magna, a village and a parish in Wilts. The village stands on the river Avon, 5 1/4 miles WSW of Malmesbury station on the G.W.R. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Malmesbury. Acreage of the civil parish, 3758; population, 1349; of the ecclesiastical, 1524. It was known to the Saxons as Sceorstan, witnessed an obstinate battle in 1016 between Edmund Ironside and Canute, and was long a place of considerable consequence. Roman coins have been found; a deep well, supposed to have been of Roman origin, is behind the village, and an entrenched camp, probably Saxon, is a little to the NE. The living is a vicarage, united with Sherston Parva, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; gross value, £220 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester. The church is Norman and cruciform, and has a central tower. It has been beautifully restored chiefly through the exertions of the Cresswell family. The Norman arches date from 1135. There are Congregational, Baptist, and Primitive Methodist chapels.