OPC Vacancy
Contiguous Parishes (our neighbours)
Blunsdon St. Andrew – Brinkworth – Charlton (Malmesbury) – Cricklade St. Sampson – Lydiard Millicent – Rodbourne Cheney
Websites of Interest
The Parish Church of St. Mary
Between Swindon and the northern borders of the county stands the church of Purton, an impressive structure having both a central tower and another at its west end. Externally it seems quite a late building but its nave shows early origins and considerable modification as the centuries passed. The crossing is a pleasant assembly of arches; the tower above is caped by a spire. The west tower is tall with a good belfry stafe. The church has several windows showing tracery designs and there are a number of carved niches for statues. In the south transept is a fourteenth century wall painting.
In the church vestry is a notice dated 1778 that the rents and profits of the late Hiscocks lease on the common shall be given to the poor every Good Friday
St. Mary’s Gallery St. Mary’s Interior Gallery St. Mary’s Interior Wall Memorials St. Mary’s Churchyard Gallery
Churchyard Memorial Inscriptions
Church Missionary Working Party
Parish Register transcripts
Marriages
1558-1699 1700-1749 1750-1799 1800-1824
Parish Registers held at WSHC
Baptisms 1564-1986
Marriages 1558-1985
Burials 1558-1951
BTs 1837-1876 are held at the Bristol Record Office
Parish History
Purton is 3 miles North of Wootton Bassett and 3 miles Northwest of Swindon. This parish also includes the hamlets of Braydon and Pavenhill.
Civil Registration
1837 – April 1936 Cricklade Registration District
April 1936 – Present Swindon Registration District
Manor of Purton
The earliest known written record of Purton dates from AD 796 when Saxon king Ecgfirth of Mercia gave 35 hides from Purton to the Benedictine Malmesbury Abbey. The Abbot continued to be the chief landlord of Purton throughout Saxon and Norman times.
Twin Towns
Village Publications
Buildings and Land
Owners of Land 1873 Property to be Sold 1822
Maps
Ordnance Survey Map 1816 Ordnance Map 1816
Public Houses
Purton seems to have been well served by public houses but all of these have closed over the years.
Blue Pig – At the Brinkworth to Minety and Purton to Garston crossroads closed a couple of decades ago.
The Forester’s Arms – Was next door to the Royal George in Pavenhill and closed in 1904.
Another Forester’s Arms – was on the parish boundary at Common Platt but closed in 2010.
The Railway Hotel – renamed The Ghost Train after the railway station was closed in 1963 and the pub closed in 2008.
The Hope Inn – at the Collins Lane junction closed in 1995.
The Live & Let Live – in Upper Pavenhill closed in 1967.
The Mason’s Arms – in the Upper Square closed in 1945.
The New Greyhound – in Pavenhill closed in 2008.
The Queens Arms – was near the sub-post office in the High Street.
Property Sales
Railways
Weather
Rainfall
Stats February 1940 Stats December 1940
Crime and Legal Matters
Assault
Suspicious and Dangerous Fellow at Loose 1752
Capital Punishment
Anne Jourdan – Infanticide 1798 Capital Punishment in Wiltshire 1800-1827
Crime Reports
Murder
Attempt to Murder 1847 Murder at Purton by Henry Harman 1874
Prisons and Prisoners
Inmates of Gloucester Gaol 1815-1879
Directories
Kellys 1915 Swindon & District 1928 Taylors Telephone 1941 Taylors Telephone 1941 (Purton Stoke)
Education
Steven’s Charity – Miriam Stevens in her will of 1723 charged her estate in Purton with an annual payment of £17-10s for ever, £16 for a schoolmaster to teach 20 children reading, writing and accounts
Area School Sports Winners c1935
Emigration and Migration
Published in tables from the Poor Law Commissioners Annual Reports for 1835, 1836 and 1847-1848 the following may be of use for tracing missing ancestors. 38 paupers emigrated to Upper Canada under an assisted emigration programme between July 1835 – July 1836, 21 to Canada between July 1836 – July 1837 and 14 to Canada in 1844.
Strays Index Emigration Home Contact Requested 1800 – Present
Employment and Business
Apprentices
Wiltshire Boys Apprenticed in Oxfordshire
Aviation
Aviators Certificate of Edward Oscar Bickford 1931
Communications
Post Office
British Postal Service Appointments 1737-1969
Radio
Repairs & Maintenance Advert 1940
Community Services
Police
Metropolitan Service & Pension Records
Wiltshire Constabulary
Markets
Cricklade Monthly Markets 1838
Medicine
Medical License Extract for James Hickes 1676
Miscellaneous Documents
Non Conformity and Other Places of Worship
Primitive Methodist, Joseph Sweeper 1834-1911 Sunday School Exam Successes 1963
People and Parish Notables
Associations, Clubs, Organisations and Societies
Medical Groups
Whist Drive for Nursing Association 1940
Women’s Groups
Women’s Missionary Federation Meeting 1941
Census Returns Transcripts
Elections and Polls
| Poll of Freeholders 1772 | Poll Book 1818 | Voters List 1832 | Voters Lists Revisions 1843 | Poll Book 1868 |
| Electoral Lists Revision Court 1902 | MP Nominations 2015 | MP Nominations 2017 |
Entertainment, Fairs and Fetes
Family Notices
1800-1849 1850-1899 1900-1949 1950-1999
Funeral Reports
General Items
Secrets of Farming Book Subscribers 1863 Longevity 1912-1914
Inquest Reports
Local Families
In the Tudor period the Maskelyne family were significant land owners and landlords in Purton having inherited rights granted by the last Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey to the Pulley/Pulleyne family. The Maskelynes were involved in Purton life for more than four centuries from the 16th.
The Rev. Dr. Nevil Maskelyne (1782-1811) lived at Down Farm and is buried in Purton churchyard. He was appointed Astronomer Royal in 1765.
The Royalist statesman and author Edward Hyde who was the MP for Wootton Bassett in the 1630s lived at College Farm in the centre of Purton. It is likely that his daughter Ann, the first wife of James II, also lived there for a while. Hyde became Lord Chancellor of England and was ennobled as Earl of Clarendon. Hyde’s Whig arch-rival, Sir Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, also had a property in Purton .
In 1859/1860 Dr. Samuel Champernowne Sadler FRCS of Purton had built the Pump House at Salt’s Hole, a natural mineral water spring said to have medicinal healing properties. His son, James Henry Sadler DL. JP. (1843-1929) although a Purton native lived in Lydiard House. A strict but generous benefactor, Sadler gave the cricket ground and Working Men’s Institute to the village.
Parish Notables
Neville Maskelyne, Astronomer Royal Desmond Morris, Zoologist, Ethologist and Writer
Personal Research Items
Tuck Family Research Burial Extracts – This item was donated by Ken Tuck and contains entries that may or may not relate to the Tuck family however they have been published as such. Many refer to Quaker burials found across the county
Sports
Pigeon Racing Annual Awards 1956
Taxes
Wedding Reports
Almost Married 1921 Wilkins & Baker 1936
Poor Law, Charity and The Workhouse
Nevil Maskelyne, who died about 1679, charged Privy Pasture with a yearly payment of £5 to the poor of Purton and a further 10 shillings to a minister to preach on Good Friday. The Privy Pasture contained 9 acres and was part of the Down farm, later it was called Wilde’s Pry. The money was paid to the poor of the parish who attended church on Good Friday in shillings and sixpences.
Gleed’s Charity – Frances Gleed gave £200, rents and profits, to the poor housekeepers of the parish not receiving weekly alms, 10s once a year but the relatives of the benefactor received preferential consideration. The £200 was invested in about 13 acres of land at the Cross Lanes on the north side of Hawks Moor Lane called Poor’s Ground.
Purton Stoke Poor’s Land – Charles I by letters patent gave 25 acres to the poor of Purton Stoke in lieu of their right to feed cattle and collect wood in Braydon Forest. The benefits between £1-15s. and £4 were distributed annually in January.
The Cottage Hospital was erected in 1877 by the generous kindness of Mr. And Mrs. Wykeham-Martin. It was open to all classes of the inhabitants of Purton and surrounding area and supported by voluntary subscriptions.
Settlement Examination of William Kibblewhite 1796 Workhouse Crime 1835-1850 Public Assistance Administration 1948
Probate
Inquisitions Post Mortem of Lands Held
William Bathe 1625 Henry Caffey 1639 Henry Caffey 1641 Edmund Maskelyne 1630 William Read 1628 John Saye 1632
Parishioners Wills
War, Conflict and Military Matters
War Memorials & Military Gallery
Boer War
Imperial Yeomanry Casualties 1899-1902
Royal Navy
Deserters in Australian Newspapers 1851
Service Men and Women
Servicemen & Families with the 1st Wilts. Regt. in South Africa 1911
WWI
Casualties
Calne & District Casualty Lists 1914-1918 Casualties of WWI Pte. Thomas Bartlett 1917 WWI & WWII Roll of Honour
WWII
Red Cross
Working Party’s Efforts for Red Cross & Armed Forces 1940
Braydon
Crime and Legal Matters
Directories
Swindon & District 1928 Taylors Telephone 1941
Education
Old School
Ministry of Education Notice 1954
Emigration and Migration
Strays Index Tuck Family – Braydon to Cheltenham, Australia
