Shalbourne, Berkshire Genealogy

England Berkshire  Berkshire Parishes  Shalbourne

Parish History
SHALBOURN (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Hungerford, hundred of Kinwardstone, Marlborough and Ramsbury, and S. divisions of Wiltshire, 5 miles (S. S. W.) from Hungerford; containing, with the tythings of Oxenwood and Newtown, and the hamlet of Bagshot, 1043 inhabitants, of whom 620 are in the village of Shalbourn. The parish comprises about 6000 acres of land, principally arable; the surface is varied, and the meadows are watered by a copious stream issuing from a spring near the village, which in its course turns several mills. The substratum contains green, white, and red sandstone, and is supposed to comprise coal also, but no mines have been opened. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £14. 17. 6.; net income, £271; patrons, the Dean and Canons of Windsor; impropriator, the Marquess of Ailesbury. The church is principally in the Norman style. In the parish is an ancient chapel in a dilapidated state, with a house attached to it called West-court, thought to have been a retreat for the monks of Sarum. On the edge of the down, here forming a continuation of Salisbury Plain, is a tumulus commanding prospects over several counties. Fragments of human skeletons, supposed to be the remains of persons slain in the wars during the heptarchy, are often met with in the neighbourhood; and Wansdyke, the line of division between the kingdoms of Mercia and the West Saxons, runs along one boundary of the parish. Here is a chalybeate spring, formerly in great repute. A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 51-56. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51265 Date accessed: 15 August 2011.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
To find the names of the neighbouring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Berkshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Poor Law Unions
Contributor: Add information about the pertinent poor law unions in the area.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.