1903 – Kelly’s Directory of Wiltshire (Market Lavington)

Market Lavington or East Lavington

(Formerly called Lavington Forum and Staple Lavington)

Is a parish and small town pleasantly situated in a fertile valley, at the base of the chalk hill which forms the northern boundary of Salisbury Plain, and consists principally of one street, and is about 2 miles from Lavington station on the Great Western Railway, 6 miles south of Devizes, 19 north-west of Salisbury and 90 miles from London, in the Eastern Division of the county, Swanborough hundred, Devizes petty sessional division, union and county court district, rural deanery of Potterne (Potterne portion), archdeaconry of Wilts and diocese of Salisbury. A market was formerly held on Wednesday, but is now discontinued.

The church of St. Mary is an ancient structure of Bath stone in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, standing on an eminence west of the town and consists of chancel, clerestoried nave of two bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles, containing a clock and 6 bells, recast in 1876 at the cost of £220; the east end of the north aisle was formerly a chantry chapel, founded in 1349 by Robert de la Mere, and dedicated to SS. Mary, Katherine and Margaret, and its piscina still remains. Sir Walter Beauchamp Kt. in his will dated 1429, desires that his body shall be buried here: his son William Beauchamp, Lord St. Amand ob. 1457, also in his will makes a like request; the spiral stone stair, entered by a doorway from this chapel, anciently led to the rood-loft; in the vestry is a curious holy water stoup, now under a piscina niche: a quantity of Norman carving (now build into a string course in the south porch) was discovered in the east wall of the nave and the chancel arch in 1862; the chancel retains a credence and hagioscope; in 1878 a rededos of Caen stone, marble and alabaster was presented by Mrs. Pearson, widow of Rev. T. Pearson, formerly vicar of this parish; the east window and three others are stained, and there are mural tablets to the Sainsbury family, including one to Thomas Sainsbury esq. Lord Mayor of London, 1786: the church was restored in 1862, and affords 380 stittings. The church register dates from the year 1673. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £210, with 30 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford, and held since 1875 by Rev. Edward Blackstone Cokayne Frith B.A. of Christ Church, Oxford. Here is a Congregational chapel, built in 1805, seating 160, and a Baptist chapel. Dr. Thomas Tanner, Bishop of St. Asaph, was born here in 1674, his father having been the vicar of this parish, and at his death, in 1733, be bequeathed £200 for the benefit of the poor. In 1795 Thomas Sainsbury esq. bequeathed £200 in the £3 per Cent. Consols, to be expended in bread for the poor of the parish at Easter and Christmas eve; and in 1796 William Sainsbury esq. mada a similar bequest: a like amount has been bequeathed by Miss Maria Sainsbury, a relative of the above. Sarah Stobbart left by will, in 1864, £360 the interest to be expended in fuel.

The Workmen’s Hall was erected in 1865, with funds left by Edward Sanders esq. of Bath, and comprises a coffee room, a reading room well supplied with newspapers and a small library. Charles Awdry esq. of Shaw Hill, Melksham, is lord of the manor, the Crown, the trustees of H. H. Ludlow and William Stanton esq. are the principal landowners. Manor House, the occasional residence of the Marquise de la Valette, of 22 Grosvenor square, London W, is a modern Elizabethan mansion of red brick, beautifully situated in extensive grounds.

The soil is rich loam, with a sub-soil of green sand and some chalk. The land is largely pasture. There are excellent beds of clay, which are extensively worked as brick and pottery fields. The area is 3,804 acres of land and 2 of water; rateable value, £5,053, including £267 Government property; the population in 1901 was 978 in the civil (including 44 in Fiddington House Private Asylum) and 849 in the ecclesiastical parish.

Parish Clerk, Alfred Mullings.

Easterton tithing, three-quarters of a mile north-east, is now a ecclesiastical parish, and will be found under a separate heading.

Fiddington, formerly part of West Lavington, has been added to this parish for civil purposes by Local Government Board Order 16,452, dated March 24, 1884; it is in the ecclesiastical parish of Easterton. Fiddington House Private Asylum is pleasantly situated in about 15 acres of pleasure grounds and gardens at the top of the town; it is well provided with every kind of indoor and outdoor amusement and is now under the management of Major J. M. T. Reilly.

Post, M. O. and T. O., T. M. O., S. B., E. D., P. P. and A. and I. O. – Thomas B. Morris, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Devizes and are delivered at 7 a.m. and 4.15 p.m.; dispatched thereto at 9.15 a.m. and 8 p.m. Sundays, letters delivered at 7 a.m. and dispatched at 8 p.m. Money order & savings bank business transacted from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Elementary School (boys, girls and infants), erected in 1845, at a cost of £620 and enlarged in 1871, for 200 children; average attendance, 50 boys, 41 girls and 49 infants; John William Duck, master; Miss Louisa Stevens, girls’ mistress; Mrs Emma Fanny Price, infants’ mistress.

Carrier to Devizes – Edwin Potter, omnibus, daily

The above transcription is from Kelly’s Directory of Wiltshire for 1903.
Note: The layout, along with some textual changes, have been made to provide the information to the reader more clearly and consistently.