Bitton Gloucestershire Family History Guide
Bitton is an Ancient Parish in the county of Gloucestershire. Oldland is a chapelry of Bitton.
The parish includes also Hanham chapelry and Oldland hamlet, with Kingswood village.
Parish church: St Mary
Parish registers begin: 1571
Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational, Moravian/United Brethren, Primitive Methodist, Wesleyan Methodist, and Wesleyan Methodist Reform.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Oldland
- Warmley
- Doynton
- Hanham
- Wick and Abson
- Weston Somerset
- North Stoke Somerset
- Keynsham Somerset
- Saltford Somerset
- Cold Ashton
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
BITTON, a village, a parish, and a subdistrict, in the district of Keynsham, and county of Gloucester. The village stands near the confluence of the Boyd and the Avon, adjacent to the Julian way, 2 miles NE of Keynsham r. station, and 6 SE of Bristol; and it has a post office under Bristol.
The parish includes also Hanham chapelry and Oldland hamlet, with Kingswood village. Acres, 7,156. Real property, £28,319; of which £1,594 are in mines. Pop., 9,630. Houses, 2,032. The property is much subdivided.
Coal and iron ore are worked; and the workers at them, in last century, were noted for vicious character, and for reclamation by the preaching of Wesley and his associates.
Traces of many Roman antiquities have been found. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value, £390. Patron, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The church is partly Norman, partly perpendicular English; and has a good tower.
The vicarages of Hanham, Oldland, and Kingswood are separate benefices.
There are a Wesleyan chapel, national schools, and charities £26.
The subdistrict comprises three parishes. Acres, 8,267. Pop., 5,071. Houses, 1,063.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1851
Bitton, a parish in the upper division of the hund. of Langley and Swinehead, county of Gloucester; 6 miles south-east of Bristol, on the northern bank of the river Avon, and in the vicinity of the Great Western railway.
It comprises the chapelries of Hanham and Oldland, with the hamlet of Bitton.
Living, a discharged vicarage, formerly in the dio. of Gloucester, now in the archd. of Bristol, and dio. of Gloucester and Bristol, valued at £18 15s.; gross income £350. The church is a handsome edifice in the Norman style of architecture. A new church has been erected here by the parliamentary commissioners, in the Gothic style, with a tower, at an expense of £2,293. Sittings 1,019.
There are seven daily and seven Sunday schools in this parish, besides three infant schools.
Charities connected with Bitton produce about £27 per annum.
In this parish are extensive collieries, and much iron ore; 531 men are employed in coal-mines, quarries, and on the railroad.
At Hanham there are traces of a camp and station of the Romans.
Pop., in 1801, 4,992; in 1831, 8,703. Houses 1,696. Acres 7,520. A.P. £15,373. Pop. of the hamlet, in 1801, was 1,094; and in 1831, 2,258. Houses 435. A.P. £7,386. Poor rates, in 1837, £753.
Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1851.
Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850
Bitton, 4 m. S.E. Bristol. P. 9338
Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850.
Bankrupts
Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.
Sweet Aaron, Bitton, Gloucestershire, coal dealer, Nov. 26, 1825.
Parish Registers
The Registers of Bitton, Co. Gloucester 1571-1674
Parish Records
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England, Somerset, Bitton
Gloucestershire Historical Directories
Directory Transcriptions
Kellys Gloucestershire Directory 1863
BITTON is a very extensive parish, 6 miles east from Bristol and 6 west from Bath, on the London road, chiefly situated in a rich and fertile valley, in the hundred of Langley and Swineshead, Keynsham union, deanery of Hawkesbury, archdeaconry and county court district of Bristol. The river Avon, on the south east of the parish, divides the counties of Gloucester and Somerset.
The parish is divided into hamlets as follows :- HANHAM, 2 miles west; OLDLAND COMMON, 1½ north east; and KINGSWOOD, 3 north west.
Here is a Wesleyan chapel. There are schools for boys and girls on the National Education system which are supported by voluntary contributions.
Beach, Soundwell, Longwells Green, Stouts Hill, Upton Cheyney, Park Wall, Fieldgrove, Willsbridge, Stonehill, Redfield, Cheltenham, Highfield, Barton, Cadbury Heath, Londonderry, Cully Hall, Cockroad, North Common, Fifteen Acres, Grimsby and Barrs Court are places here.
PRIVATE RESIDENTS
Bush Mr George
Dodgson George esq Hunters hall
Ellacombe Rev Henry Nicholson MA Vicarage
Evans Samuel esq Beach house
Fraser Alex Bristow esq Brockham hill
Frere Miss Rectory
Gough John esq Upton Cheyne
Kingston William esq Barrow lodge
Mantell Francis esq Westover
Pritchard North esq Stoutsell
Parker Joseph esq Upton Cheyne
Parker Richard esq Park walk
Peace Mr John Oldland cottage
Pring Mrs Richard Willsbridge
Sealy Captain Fieldgrove
Smith John esq
Sommerville William esq Bitton hill
Stanley John Bligh esq
Stibbs Misses Willsbridge villa
Swan Mr William Payne Willsbridge
Van Stephen esq Oldland hall
COMMERCIAL
Alvis Chas farmer & cattle dealr Beach
Bissix Robert farmer Stonehill
Brain & Co coal proprietors
Brain Aaron coal proprietor
Brain James coal master
Brain James miller Boyd mill
Brain William farmer
Bright Lewis farmer
Bryant Amos blacksmith Upton
Bryant Mark millwright Upton
Bush Charles tailor & shopkeeper
Bush George brewer Beach
Bush Henry solicitor Beach
Caple John farmer Redfield
Cule Aaron carpenter
Collier Henry farmer Willsbridge
Collier James farmer Willsbridge
Cryer Jonas farmer
Cryer William Francis farmer Upton
Davis James overseer collector of poor rates & surveyor of roads Rose cot
Foxwell Henry farmer Highfield
Foxwell Llewellyn farmer Highfield
Fudge John carpenter
Fudge Thomas hatter Cheltenham
Gay George grocer Upton
Gibbs John butcher Upton
Gibbs Moses farmer Beach
Glass John farmer Upton
Godfrey John farmer Cadbury heath
Godfrey John surveyor of roads
Green Caroline Mrs, ‘Ship’
Green Sarah beer retailer Cowhorn hill
Grove Edward farmer Londonderry
Harris James farmer Cully hall
Hook Elisha Chequers
Hyden Andrew shopkeeper
Lapham Job beer retailer
Lee George farmer North common
Lightfoot & James Misses ladies school Willsbridge house
Long Samuel butcher
Mantell Francis R surgeon
Matthews Henry spirit stores
Matthews William farmer Beach farm
Mayne John farmer Upton Cheyne
Mills Richard miller
Morgan Edwin blacksmith
Morgan George tailor
Morgan Leonard grocer
Oliver Abraham farmer North common
Parsons George farmer
Parsons W White Hart
Port Walter Old Swan
Pow William farmer Cadbury heath
Quarman James Crown & Horseshoe
Shellard Daniel beer retailer Longwells green
Short George sen hatter Willsbridge
Short Moses beer retailer
Sommerville William & James Golden Valley paper mills
Sparrow George farmer Fifteen acres
Sperrin Alfred farmer
Stanley John solicitor
Stibbs William farmer Cully hall
Taylor Charles shoemaker
Thompson James beer retailer
Thompson Sumption, Queen’s Head
Truebody Mary Mrs farmer Upton
Walton Richard farmer wells green
POST OPFICE James Brewer, postmaster. Letters arrive at 8.15 am & 6 pm; dispatched at 9 am & 4.30 pm. Keynsham is the nearest money order office. Letters arrive from Bath at 4.20 pm; dispatched at 8.15 am
Post Office, Willsbridge Mrs Sarah Barlow postmistress
National School John Bagshaw master
Source: Post Office Directory of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and the City of Bristol, Printed and Published by Kelly and Co., Old Boswell Court, St. Clement’s, Strand, London. 1863.
Administration
- County: Gloucestershire
- Civil Registration District: Keynsham
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Gloucester (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Post 1835 – Gloucester and Bristol, Pre 1836 – Gloucester
- Rural Deanery: Hawkesbury
- Poor Law Union: Keynsham
- Hundred: Langley and Swinehead
- Province: Canterbury