KEYNSHAM, a parish (formerly a market-town)
in the hundred of KEYNSHAM, county of SOMERSET, 7
miles (W. N.W.) from Bath, containing 1761 inhabitants.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry
of Bath, and diocese of Bath and Wells,
rated in the king's books at £11. 19., 7., endowed with
£200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Duke
of Buckingham. The church is a spacious edifice in
the later style of English architecture. The town is
situated upon the river Avon, which is navigable hence
to Bath, and across it is a bridge leading into Gloucestershire;
on this river are some mills belonging to
a brass and copper company at Bristol. A court leet is
held for the hundred; also a hundred court for the recovery
of debts under 40s. There are places of worship
for Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists. A schoolroom
was built, in 1705, by Sir Thomas Bridges, and
endowed with £500, for the education of twenty poor
boys; he likewise founded an almshouse for six poor
widows, who receive £4 each per annum. An abbey of
Black canons was founded, by William, Earl of Gloucester,
about 1170, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary,
St. Peter, and St. Paul: its revenue, at the dissolution,
was valued at £450. 3. 6. In this parish is a mineral
spring of reputed efficacy in ophthalmia.