Meysey Hampton (also known as Maisey Hampton or Maiseyhampton) is a village and

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 ...

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, approximately 30 miles (48 km) to the south-east of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. It lies in the south of the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...

, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

History

Toponymy

Meysey Hampton was listed as ''Hantone'' 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 ...

of 1086, derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''hām-tūn'' meaning "home farm" or "homestead". It was recorded in 1287 as ''Meseishampton'', this alteration showing the influence of a local family called de Meisi. By 1868, it was known as ''Meysey Hampton'', with an alternative spelling of ''Maisey Hampton''.

Governance

Meysey Hampton has a Parish Council, currently with 7 members. The current Chair is local resident Roger Case. As of May 2015 the village became part of 'The Ampneys and Hampton Ward' on Cotswold District Council. The current District Councillor is Liberal Democrat Lisa Spivey who was elected in the

2019 United Kingdom local elections Local elections in parts of the United Kingdom were held on Thursday 2 May 2019, with 248 English local councils, six directly elected mayors in England, and all 11 local councils in Northern Ireland being contested. A total of 8,886 council ...

. Meysey Hampton is part of the wider South Cerney electoral division for elections to

Gloucestershire County Council Gloucestershire County Council is a county council which administers the most strategic local government services in the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire, in the South West of England. The council's principal functions are county road ...

, Lisa Spivey who was elected in the

2021 United Kingdom local elections 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

is also the County Councillor.

Geography

Meysey Hampton lies in the southern part of the

, a range of hills designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Close to the border with

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, it is approximately 30 miles (48 km) south-east of

. Situated on the

A417 The A417 is a main road in England running from Streatley, Berkshire to Hope under Dinmore, Herefordshire. It is best known for its section between Cirencester and Gloucester where it has primary status and forms part of the link between the m ...

, it is about 6 miles (10 km) east of Cirencester and 2 miles (3.5 km) west of

Fairford Fairford is a town in Gloucestershire, England. The town lies in the Cotswold hills on the River Coln, east of Cirencester, west of Lechlade and north of Swindon. Nearby are RAF Fairford and the Cotswold Water Park. History Evidence of se ...

. Villages nearby include Poulton,

Ampney St. Peter Ampney St Peter is a small village and civil parish in the Cotswolds, part of the Cotswold of Gloucestershire, England. According to the 2014 mid year estimate the parish has a population of 75. Locally the town was known as Easington. The Ampn ...

, Ampney St. Mary, Down Ampney,

Marston Meysey Marston Meysey, pronounced and sometimes also spelt Marston Maisey, is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, lying northeast of Cricklade on the county boundary with Gloucestershire. The parish includes the hamlet of Marston Hill. Ma ...

Totterdown Totterdown is an inner-suburb of Bristol, England, situated just south of the River Avon and to the south-east of Temple Meads railway station and the city centre. It rises relatively steeply from the river bank to a largely terraced Victorian ...

and Honeycombe Leaze.

Education

Meysey Hampton has one

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

; Meysey Hampton Church of England Primary School, a

voluntary controlled school A voluntary controlled school (VC school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a Christian denomination) has some formal influence in the running of the school. Such schools have less autonomy than ...

for children from the age of 5–11. In 2006, the school had 102 pupils.

Church

Meysey Hampton's church is dedicated to St. Mary.

Consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

in 1269, it is thought to have been financed by the

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

was enlarged in the 14th century.

References

{{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Civil parishes in Gloucestershire Cotswold District