WHITCHURCH, otherwise FELTON, a parish in
the hundred of KEYNSHAM, county of SOMERSET, 3
miles (N.) from Pensford, containing 403 inhabitants.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry
of Bath, and diocese of Bath and Wells, endowed with
£200 private benefaction, and £400 royal bounty, and
in the patronage of Sir J. EL Smith, Bart. The church
is dedicated to St. Gregory. The name Filton, or Felton,
is derived from a very ancient town, situated to the
north-west of the present village, in a forest, or chase,
once called Filwood: a church having been erected on
the site of an ancient chapel, dedicated to St. Whyte,
the inhabitants of Filton gradually removed into its vicinity,
upon which the new village and the parish assumed
their designation.