AMESBURY, a parish (formerly a market-town) in the hundred of
AMESBURY, county of WILTS, 7 miles (N.) from Salisbury, and 78
(W.S.W.) from London, containing 810 inhabitants. This place,
anciently called Ambresbury, derives its name from Aurelius
Ambrosius, a descendant of the Romans, who is said to have
assumed the purple in Britain towards the decline of the Roman
empire, and who headed the Britons in several attempts to
repel their Saxon invaders. A monastery for three hundred
monks is stated to have been founded here by Ambruis, a
British monk, or, more probably, by Ambrosius, which was
destroyed by Gurthurm, or Gurmundus, a Saxon chief. After the
conversion of the Saxons to Christianity, a synod was held
here, in the reign of King Edgar, to adjust the differences
which existed between the regular and the secular clergy,
which had been previously discussed in an assembly held at
Calne. About 980, Elfrida, widow of the same king, founded
here a nunnery of the Benedictine order, which she dedicated
to St. Mary and St. Melorius, a Cornish saint, in expiation,
it is supposed, of the murder of Edward, her step-son, at
Corfe Castle. In 1177, the abbess and nuns were expelled, on
the ground of incontinence; and Henry II. made it a cell to
the foreign abbey of Fontevrault. Queen Eleanor, widow of
Henry III., assumed the veil in this convent, where she died
in 1291. It was at length made denizen; and, at the
dissolution, its revenue was valued at £558. 10. 2. The
mansion called the Abbey, which now occupies the site of the
nunnery, was, after the French revolution, at the close of the
last century, appropriated for several years to the use of a
society of nuns from Louvaine in Flanders, who afterwards
removed into Dorsetshire. The town is situated in a small
valley, on the bank of the Upper Avon, and consists of two
streets: it is neither paved nor lighted, but is well supplied
with water. The market, formerly held on Friday, has been
discontinued: fairs are held on the 17th of May, 21st of June,
and 21st of December. Constables and other officers are
appointed at the court leet of the lord of the manor. The
living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry, of Wilts,
and diocese of Salisbury, endowed with £400 private
benefaction, and £700 parliamentary grant, and in the
patronage of the Dean and Canons of Windsor. The church, which
was formerly convex tual, is a very ancient building, probably
of Saxon architecture; it is dedicated to St. Mary and St.
Melorius, and has recently been completely repaired: it is
warmed by a pair of very handsome stoves, which cost £189, and
were presented by Sir Edmund Antrobus, Bart. There is a place
of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. An English school for
twenty boys was founded and endowed, in 1677, by Mr. John
Rose; and a school for teaching fifty children to read was
endowed with an estate left by Mr. Spratt: a charity school
for clothing and instructing fifteen boys andfifteen girls,
and a National school, are supported by, subscription. A fund
is also appropriated to the apprenticing of children. Westward
from the river there is au ancient encampment, with a vallum
and deep fosse, occupying an area of forty acres, commonly
attributed to Vespasian, but undoubtedly of British origin:
the road from Amesbury to Warminster is cut through its
rampart. Within two miles is Stonehenge, a remarkable and
well-known relic of British antiquity.