Oldbury-on-the-Hill 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 ...

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, ninety-three miles west of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and less than north of the village of

Didmarton Didmarton is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It lies in the Cotswold District, about southwest of Tetbury. The parish is on the county borders with South Gloucestershire (to the southwest) and Wiltshire (to the south and ...

History

Oldbury-on-the-Hill has been inhabited since

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

times, and Nan Tow's Tump, a

round barrow A round barrow is a type of tumulus and is one of the most common types of archaeological monuments. Although concentrated in Europe, they are found in many parts of the world, probably because of their simple construction and universal purpose. ...

beside the A46 road, is a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

earthwork and archaeological site. The tree-grown barrow is about thirty metres in diameter and three metres high. The name refers to Nan Tow, said to have been a local

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

who was buried upright in the barrow. The parishes of Oldbury-on-the-Hill and Didmarton were together surrounded on all sides by the parish of Hawkesbury and the county boundary 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 ...

, which is taken to suggest that they were anciently part of Hawkesbury.Barrow, Julia, & Brooks, Nicholas, ''St Wulfstan and His World'' (Ashgate Publishing, 2005, )
pp. 158-159
online at books.google.co.uk (accessed 13 April 2008) 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 calls the village Aldeberie. Before 1066, it was held by Eadric, Sheriff of Wiltshire, and in 1086 by

Ernulf de Hesdin Ernulf de Hesdin (died 1097), also transcribed as ''Arnulf'' and ''Ernulphe'', was a French knight who took part in the Norman conquest of England and became a major landholder under William the Conqueror and William Rufus, featuring prominentl ...

. A document of 972 gives the name as Ealdanbyri, meaning 'old fortification'. A possible derivation from the name of St Arilda has also been suggested. In 1342, the

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...

of hay and other lesser tithes in Didmarton and Oldbury-on-the-Hill belonging to Badminton church were assessed at £4 13s. 4d. Together with neighbouring Didmarton, the parish was subject to

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

in 1829. Benjamin Clarke's ''British Gazetteer'' (1852) says: According to ''The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland'' (1868): On 25 March 1883, Oldbury-on-the-Hill was incorporated into the civil parish of

, the two having shared a

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

since 1735.

Parish records

Parish registers for Oldbury-on-the-Hill survive from as early as 1568, and all surviving records for the period 1568 to 1978 are deposited at the Gloucester Record Office. Monumental inscriptions from St Arilda's churchyard include the names Alcock, Baker, Bayliss, Chappell, Clark, Cockram, Dale, Fry, Gunter, Hatherell, Hatherle, Holborow, Holobrow, Long, Pirtt, Rice, Thompson, Toghill, Verrinder, Walker, Watts, Webb, White, and Yorke.

Parish church

The earliest record so far found of a church at Oldbury-on-the-Hill occurs in 1273, when there is a mention of a ‘free chapel’ there. In 1291, the Rector of Great Badminton had a portion of 8s. and 6d. in the chapel of Oldbury. The oldest part of the present medieval parish church of Oldbury is estimated to date from the 14th century.Verey, D., ''The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds'' (London, Penguin Books, 1974) p. 351 The church shares its ancient dedication to St Arilda with the church of

Oldbury-on-Severn Oldbury-on-Severn is a small village near the mouth of the River Severn in the South Gloucestershire district of the county of Gloucestershire in the west of England. The parish, which includes the village of Cowhill had a population at the 2011 ...

, some away. St Arilda was a Gloucestershire virgin and

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

who lived at an uncertain time before the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

at Kington, near

Thornbury Thornbury may refer to: Places ;Australia *Thornbury, Victoria * Thornbury railway station, Melbourne ;Canada * Thornbury, Ontario ;England *Thornbury, Devon * Thornbury, Herefordshire *Thornbury, Gloucestershire **Thornbury Castle **Thornbury (UK ...

, which is now in the parish of Oldbury-on-Severn. Her

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

is 20 July.St Arilda of Oldbury on Severn, Gloucestershire
at bath.ac.uk (accessed 13 April 2008) St Arilda's at Oldbury-on-the-Hill has been declared redundant, so is no longer used for regular worship.

Notes

External links

at genuki.org.uk

page at rootsweb.ancestry.com, with photograph of St Arilda's Church, Oldbury-on-the-Hill

at wishful-thinking.org.uk
Oldbury-on-the-Hill location map
from google.co.uk/maps

at geodaisy.com (includes current weather report and weather forecast for next ten days)

at genuki.org.uk {{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Cotswold District