CHARLTON (KING'S), a parish in the hundred of
CHELTENHAM, county of GLOUCESTER, 2 miles (S. S. E.)
from'Cheltenham, containing 1607 inhabitants. The
living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of Gloucester, endowed with £ 1400 parliamentary
grant, and in the patronage of the Principal and
Fellows of Jesus' College, Oxford. The church, dedicated
to St. Mary, has lately received an addition of two
hundred and twenty sittings, of which one hundred and
sixty are free, the Incorporated Society for the enlargement
of churches and chapels having granted £200 toward
defraying the expense. There is a place of worship-
for Baptists. A manorial court is annually held.
The sum of £6 a year is paid to a schoolmaster for the
instruction of six poor children, out of the rental
of land producing £30 per annum, given by Samuel
Cooper, about the year 1743; the remainder is applied
to the relief of the poor. A day and Sunday school, in
which upwards of one hundred children are taught, is
supported by subscription. The amount of divers benefactions
has also been laid out in the purchase of
land, now . producing £39 a year, which is distributed
among the deserving poor. The new road to Cirencester
passes through the parish. There is a hill called
Battledowns, the scene of a battle during the parliamentary
war, in which many of the inhabitants who
adhered to the royal cause were slain. A mineral spring,
similar in its properties to the Cheltenham water, has
been lately discovered in this parish.