Elberton is a small village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

, now in the parish of

Aust Aust is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England, about north of Bristol and about south west of Gloucester. It is located on the eastern side of the Severn estuary, close to the eastern end of the Severn Bridge which carries the M48 ...

, in the

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming part ...

district, in the ceremonial county of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 137. The village is located near the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

and the

Severn Bridge The Severn Bridge ( cy, Pont Hafren) is a motorway suspension bridge that spans the River Severn between South Gloucestershire in England and Monmouthshire in South East Wales. It is the original Severn road crossing between England and Wale ...

, and is situated on the main road between the villages of Aust and

Alveston Alveston is a village, civil parish and former royal manor in South Gloucestershire, England, inhabited in 2014 by about 3,000 people. The village lies south of Thornbury and north of Bristol. Alveston is twinned with Courville sur E ...

. The nearest town is Thornbury and the nearest city is

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. Neighbouring villages also include

Olveston Olveston is a small village and larger parish in South Gloucestershire, England. The parish comprises the villages of Olveston and Tockington, and the hamlets of Old Down, Ingst and Awkley. The civil parish population at the 2011 census was 2, ...

and

Littleton-upon-Severn Littleton-upon-Severn is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Aust, in the South Gloucestershire district, in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England, near the mouth of the River Severn and is located to the west of ...

. Elberton is mostly a farming community, with a church, a village hall, and a

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

History

The name Elberton means the farmstead of a man called Æthelbeorht. The name dates back to at least 1086, when the village was listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

. On 1 April 1935, the parish was abolished and merged with Aust.

Elberton Camp

The

earthworks Earthworks may refer to: Construction *Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour * Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil *Earthworks (military), m ...

of an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

defended settlement, Elberton Camp, can be found in the Vineyards Brake woodland overlooking the village.

Quakers

In 1654, in the wake of the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, the influential early

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

preachers John Audland and John Camm held a meeting in the village of "1000 people". Elberton and neighbouring villages remained home to many Quaker families, such as the

Goldney family The Goldney family were a wealthy English merchant trading family, most associated with Wiltshire and latterly Bristol. Later branches of the family became the Goldney baronets. Wiltshire The Goldney family made their monies as weavers and clot ...

who from 1674 owned Elberton Manor over multiple generations. The family later sold the manor to the Sturge family, who were also Quakers. Later generations of the Sturge family included the leading

abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

Joseph Sturge Joseph Sturge (1793 – 14 May 1859) was an English Quaker, abolitionist and activist. He founded the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (now Anti-Slavery International). He worked throughout his life in Radical political actions support ...

(1793-1859) and

Sophia Sturge Sophia Sturge (1849–1936) was a British Quaker suffragist, social reformer and peace campaigner who carried out activities in opposition to World War I. Life Sturge was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England on 5 January 1849. She was the f ...

(1795-1845) who were both born in the village. Joseph Sturge purchased a sugar plantation in Montserrat and renamed it Elberton, hoping to demonstrate the commercial viability of a plantation built on free waged-labour, as opposed to slave labour.There is contradiction between sources on whether the plantation was purchased in 1837 or 1857.

Quarry

On the edge of the village lies the former Harn Hill quarry, which has since been filled in as a

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...

site. The expansion of the quarry in 1960s saw the demolition of a number of buildings, including the old vicarage. The landfill now serves as a source for biogas generation, producing 2.6MW for the national grid.

Miscellaneous

From 1799 to 1802 the Welsh antiquarian Edward Davies was

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

to the village. The organist and composer

Basil Harwood Basil Harwood (11 April 1859 – 3 April 1949) was an organist and composer in the English church music tradition, best known today for his liturgical works, particularly his anthem ''O How Glorious is the Kingdom'' (1898) and his ''Service in ...

composed a hymn tune named after the village.

St John's Church

The tower of the Church of St John the Evangelist dates back to the 14th century, while the rest of the church was mostly rebuilt in 1858, and the spire refurbished in 2000. The graveyard includes a number of

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed tombs.

External links

Olveston and Aust parishes website

Notes

References

{{Authority control Villages in South Gloucestershire District Former civil parishes in Gloucestershire