Idmiston

"IDMISTON, a parish in the hundred of Alderbury, county Wilts, 7 N.E. of Salisbury, its post town, and 5½ S.E. of Amesbury. It is situated on the Bourne branch of the river Avon, and contains the tythings of Porton and Shripple, and the hamlets of Ford and Gomeldon. The village is very irregularly built and wholly agricultural. There is a narrow strip of land on each side of the river, and the unenclosed down is valuable as pasture. The tithes were commuted for corn-rents under an Enclosure Act in 1794. The living is a vicarage with the curacy of Porton annexed, in the diocese of Sarum, value £260, in the patronage of the bishop. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is an ancient structure with a square wooden tower containing four bells. In the interior are several monuments, one of which is to the Rev. John Bowle, the Spanish scholar and editor of the Spanish "Don Quixote". The Wesleyans have a place of worship. The parochial charities produce about £3 per annum. William Beach, Esq., is lord of the manor. There are several barrows and tumuli."

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