HEMPSTEAD, a parish in the middle division of the
hundred of DUDSTONE-AND-KINGS-BARTON, county of
GLOUCESTER, 1 mile (S. W. by W.) from Gloucester,
containing, with South Hamlet, 548 inhabitants. The
living,is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of
Gloucester, rated.in the king's books at £8. Mr.Alderman
Jones was patron in 1826. The church is dedir
cated to- St. Swithin. In a field here are vestiges of
some earthworks thrown up by the royalists during the
civil war. The Gloucester and Berkeley canal passes
through this parish, and the navigable river Severn runs
along its western boundary.