Leckhampton

"LECKHAMPTON, a parish in the hundred of Cheltenham, county Gloucester, 2 miles S.W. of Cheltenham, its post town. In this parish is the Devil's Chimney, a peak of the Cotswold hills. The village, which is considerable, was formerly a market town under the Despencers, and came through the Giffards and Norwoods to the Fryes. There is a tramway for the conveyance of stone in connection with the branch railway from Cheltenham to Gloucester. The soil is clayey, and subsoil gravel and limestone. Stone is quarried for building purposes, and for burning into lime. The tithes were commuted for land under an Enclosure Act in 1778.

The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £356. The parish church, dedicated to St. Peter, is an ancient structure, with a spired tower containing six bells. The interior of the church contains several monuments and mural tablets, and a brass of W. Norwood, bearing date 1598.

There is also a district church, consecrated in May, 1840, the living of which is a perpetual curacy This church, dedicated to SS. Philip and James, is situated near Cheltenham Park. There is a National school for both sexes. Leckhampton Court, the principal residence, is an ancient mansion built in the reign of Henry VII., but since modernised. The Rev. Charles Brandon Trye, M.A., is lord of the manor."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]