Elberton is a small village and former
civil parish, now in the parish of
Aust, in the
South Gloucestershire district, in the ceremonial county of
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...
, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 137.
The village is located near the
River Severn and the
Severn Bridge, and is situated on the main road between the villages of Aust and
Alveston. The nearest town is
Thornbury and the nearest city is
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
. Neighbouring villages also include
Olveston and
Littleton-upon-Severn.
Elberton is mostly a farming community, with a church, a village hall, and a
garage.
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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
. On 1 April 1935, the parish was abolished and merged with Aust.
Elberton Camp
The
earthworks of an
Iron Age
The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
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 or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
, the influential early
Quaker 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 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 Joseph Sturge (1793–1859) and
Sophia Sturge (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 is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...
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
Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, Wastewater treatment, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic ...
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'' () 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 who are as ...
to the village.
The organist and composer
Basil Harwood 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 listed tombs.
External links
Olveston and Aust parishes website
Notes
References
{{Authority control
Villages in South Gloucestershire District
Former civil parishes in Gloucestershire