THORNBURY, a market-town and parish in the
lower division of the hundred of THORNBURY, county
of GLOUCESTER, 24 miles (S.W.) from Gloucester, and
124 ("w. by N.) from London, containing, with the
chapelries of Falfield, Oldbury upon Severn, and Rangeworthy,
and the tythings of Kington, and Moorton,
3760 inhabitants. This town, which is of considerable
antiquity, is situated on the banks of a small rivulet,
two miles westward of the Severn, in the vale of
Berkeley, and consists of three principal streets. The
chief object worthy of notice is the remains of an
old castle at the end of the town, begun by Edward,
Duke of Buckingham, in the year 1511, but left in an
unfinished state; th outer wall is still in good preservation,
and over the arched gateway, which formed the
principal entrance, and is greatly admired, is an inscription
in raised letters, recording the date of its erection:
these ruins command a fine view of the river Severn,
which flows on the western side of the parish, and
the remote landscape of South Wales. Henry VIII.
and Anne Boleyn were sumptuously entertained here,
for ten days, in 1539. The clothing business formerly
flourished, but has been long discontinued, and there
is now no particular branch of trade. The market is
on Saturday. Fairs are held on Easter-Monday, August
15th, and the Monday before December 21st, for cattle
and pigs. The corporation, now merely nominal, consists
of a mayor and twelve aldermen, with a serjeant
at mace and two constables. A manorial court leet is
held annually, and occasionally a court baron; also a manor
court for the surrender of admission to copyholds.
A court for the recovery of debts under 40s., for the
hundred, is held once in three weeks, on Thursday;
and a court of record, for pleas to any amount, for
the honour of Gloucester, is also held every three weeks, on Tuesday.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of Gloucester, rated in the king's books at
£25. 15. 10., and in the patronage of the Dean and
Canons of Christ Church, Oxford. The church, which
is dedicated to St. Mary, is a spacious and handsome
cruciform structure, in the later style of English architecture,
with a lofty tower with open-worked battlements
and eight pinnacles; the north and south doors
are of much earlier date. There are places of worship
for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, and
Wesleyan Methodists. A free grammar school was
founded and endowed, in 1648, by William Edwards, its
funds having been augmented by subsequent benefactors;
the present income is £57. 3. 6., and twelve
boys are instructed on the foundation Another free
school was founded, in 1729, by means of a bequest- of
£500 from John Atwells, and endowed with lands in
1789; the income is £70 per annum, and twenty-four
boys and twelve girls are educated. Here are six almshouses
for fifteen poor people, founded by Sir John
Stafford, in the reign of James I.