Batheaston

"BATHEASTON, a parish in the hundred of Bath Forum, in the county of Somerset, 3 miles to the N.E. of Bath. It is divided into Upper and Lower Easton, and includes the villages of Easton and Amoril. The village is pleasantly seated on the banks of the river Avon, at the foot of Solsbury Hill, which rises steeply from the river to the height of 600 feet. The Fosse Way intersects the parish, and the Great Western railway passes near it. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells, of the value with the curacy of St. Catherine, which is annexed to it, of £298, in the patronage of the Dean and Canons of Christ Church College, Oxford. The church, which is in the perpendicular style, with a handsome tower, is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel here. The parochial charities, including a small endowment to a school, amount to £35 per annum. There are many villas and seats of the gentry in the neighbourhood. On the summit of Salisbury Hill are the remains of a Saxon encampment. In the Saxon age this place was a royal demesne, and was called Eastone." From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson © 2003