Horton, Gloucestershire

Horton is a village and civil parish on the Cotswold Edge, in the South Gloucestershire district, in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. It is about 2+1⁄2 miles (4.0 km) north of Chipping Sodbury. The nearest settlement is Little Sodbury, about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) away; Hawkesbury Upton and Dunkirk are both 2+1⁄2 miles (4.0 km) miles away. It is a linear settlement built on the slopes of a steep hill.^[2] In 2011 the parish had a population of 355. On 1 April 2023 the parish of Little Sodbury was merged with Horton.^[3]

Horton
The Grade I listed church is dedicated to St James the Elder
Horton Location within Gloucestershire
Population	355 (2011)[1]
OS grid reference	ST726822
Civil parish	Horton
Unitary authority	South Gloucestershire
Ceremonial county	Gloucestershire
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BRISTOL
Postcode district	BS37
Dialling code	01454
Police	Avon and Somerset
Fire	Avon
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	Thornbury and Yate
List of places UK England Gloucestershire 51.564°N 2.339°W / 51.564; -2.339

The name Horton is a common one in England. It normally derives from Old English horu 'dirt' and tūn 'settlement, farm, estate', presumably meaning 'farm on muddy soil', but the historical forms of this Horton vary, including the Domesday Horedone, Hortune from 1167, and the 1291 form Heorton, the latter of which could point to Old English heort 'stag'.^[4]

Horton Court is a manor house, now in the ownership of the National Trust and is a Grade I listed building. The estate is reputed to have at one time been owned by one of King Harold's sons. The oldest part of the house was built as a rectory by Robert de Beaufeu, who was rector of Horton and prebendary of Salisbury. The Norman doorways and windows have rounded arches and the roof is arch-braced and dates to the fourteenth century. It is one of the oldest houses in the country, with parts of the great hall and north wing dating from 1140, with further additions to the north wing added in the fourteenth, fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. The rest of the house was built in 1521 for Willian Knight, who was later the Bishop of Bath and Wells. The house has an L-shaped plan and is constructed of stone with a stone slate roof.^[5][6]

The Anglican church of St James the Elder is also a Grade I listed building, originally built in the twelfth century and rebuilt in the fourteenth century, with alterations in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and restorations in 1865.^[7]

References

1. "Parish population 2011". Retrieved 19 March 2015.
2. Concise Road Atlas of Britain. AA Publishing. 2016. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-7495-7743-8.
3. "The South Gloucestershire (Reorganisation of Community Governance) Order 2023" (PDF). South Gloucestershire Council. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
4. Victor Watts (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), s.vv. HORTON Avon, HORTON COURT.
5. Historic England. "Horton Court (1114992)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
6. Keith Pauling. Discovering The Cotswold Way. Lulu.com. pp. 115–116. ISBN 978-1-4710-2342-2.
7. Historic England. "Parish Church of St James the Elder (1114993)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 January 2022.

External links

Media related to Horton, Gloucestershire at Wikimedia Commons