Olveston

"OLVESTON, a parish in the lower division of Langley hundred, county Gloucester, 9 miles N. of Bristol, its post town, and 7½ N.W. of Yate railway station. The village, which is chiefly agricultural, is situated on the river Severn, and on the high road from Sodbury to Aust Passage. The parish comprises the tythings of Upper Tockington and Cote, also the hamlets of Ingot and Rudgway. The soil is of a light loamy nature, with a subsoil of limestone, and interspersed with red marl, sand and black clay. An Act for enclosing waste lands was passed in 1841. The impropriate tithes belong to the Dean and Chapter of Bristol.

The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £799, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Bristol. The church, dedicated to St. Helen, is an ancient structure, with a square embattled and pinnacled tower containing a clock and six bells. The interior of the church contains an ancient brass to Walter Dennis Knighton, a former lord of the manor. The church was restored and enlarged in 1840. The parochial charities produce about £25 per annum. There is an endowed National school. The Wesleyans, Reformed Wesleyans, and Society of Friends, have each a place of worship. Robert Cann Lippincott, Esq., is lord of the manor. An annual cattle fair is held at Tockington on the 9th May and 6th December."

"COTE, a tything in the parish of Olveston, lower division of the hundred of Langley, in the county of Gloucester, 3 miles W. of Thornbury. It is situated near the river Severn."

"UPPER TOCKINGTON, a tything in the parish of Olveston, lower division of Langley hundred, county Gloucester, 3 miles S.W. of Thornbury, close to Lower Tockington."

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