BADMINTON (GREAT), a parish in the upper division of the hundred of GRUMBALD'S-ASH, county of GLOUCESTER, 6 miles (E. by N.) from Chipping- Sodbury, containing 464 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Gloucester, rated in the king's books at £5. 5. ^\., and in the patronage of the Duke of Beaufort. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, was rebuilt by the Duke of Beaufort, in 1785. The petty sessions for the division of Sodbury and Grumbald's Ash are held here, at Cross Hands, and at Chipping-Sodbury, in rotation. In 1705, Mary, Duchess Dowager of Beaufort, gave a rentcharge of £ 94 for the endowment of an almshouse for three men and three women, and a school for the children of Great and Little Badminton and Littleton- Drew. The noble mansion of Badminton was erected by the first duke of Beaufort, in the reign of Charles II,, on the site of an ancient seat of the Boteler family.