In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Steeple Ashton like this:
ASHTON (Steeple), a village and a tything in Westbury district, and a parish in Westbury and Melksham districts, Wilts. The village stands 2½ miles S of the Kennet and Avon canal, and 3¾ E of the Great Western railway at Trowbridge. It takes its distinctive name from a tall steeple which was destroyed by lightning in 1670. ...
It formerly was a market-town, and still has a fair on 19 Sept.; and it is a seat of petty sessions, and has a post office under Trowbridge.-The tything comprises 2,808 acres. Real property, £5,846. Pop., 776. Houses, 177.—The parish includes also the tythings of Great Hinton, West Ashton, and Littleton, and the chapelry of Semington. Acres, 6,789. Real property, £14,474. Pop., 1,767. Houses, 359. A considerable extent of the land was formerly com mon and recently enclosed. Rood-Ashton House, the seat of the Long family, is about a mile SW of the village. Very numerous fossils have been found; and an ancient pavement, thought to have been Roman, but of different character from other Roman pavements, has been dug up. The living is a vicarage, united with the curacy of Semington, in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £852. Patron, the Master of Magdalene college, Cambridge. The church is large and later English, with a four-spired tower; and was built, toward the end of the 15th century, chiefly by Robert Long, a clothier. The vicarage of West Ashton is a separate charge.
Steeple Ashton through time
Steeple Ashton is now part of West Wiltshire district. Click here for graphs and data of how West Wiltshire has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Steeple Ashton itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Steeple Ashton in West Wiltshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/11494
Date accessed: 30th April 2024
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