Place:Preston (near Ledbury), Gloucestershire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

NOTE: The destription "Preston (near Ledbury) has been used to differentiate the parish from Preston (near Cirencester) and Preston-on-Stour.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Preston (near Ledbury) from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"PRESTON, a parish in Newent district, Gloucester; adjacent to Herefordshire, 3 miles S W of Ledbury [railway] station. Post-town, Ledbury. Acres: 884. Real property: £1,227. Population: 78. Houses: 13. Nearly all the property is held by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value: £140. Patron: the Bishop of [Gloucester and Bristol]. The church has a Saxon doorway."

Wikipedia describes Preston as being in the Forest of Dean District, but does not have an article on the hamlet. Admittedly, Ledbury is in Herefordshire, but there are no large towns nearby within Gloucestershire. A Vision of Britain through Time states that it had links to the ancient borough of Gloucester. In 1935 the parish was abolished with the area going to the neighbouring parish of Dymock.

Registration Districts

• Newent Registration District (1837 - 1935) The parish was abolished in 1935 and the area became part of the parish of Dymock.

Research Tips

• Gloucestershire Archives in Gloucester is where paper and microfilm copies of all records for this part of Gloucestershire are stored.

Online sources which may also be helpful:

• GENUKI gives pointers to other archive sources as well as providing some details on each parish in the county. The emphasis here is on ecclesiastical parishes (useful before 1837)
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 and tables of the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
• The FamilySearch Wiki for Gloucestershire provides a similar but not identical series of webpages to that provided by GENUKI
• A Vision of Britain through Time has a group of pages of statistical facts for almost every parish in the county
• Unfortunately, A History of the County of Gloucester in the Victoria County History series provided by the website British History Online does not cover this part of the county
• Ancestry.co.uk has recently added Gloucestershire Burials, 1813-1988; Confirmations, 1834-1913; Baptisms, 1813-1913; Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1813; and Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938. (entry dated 1 Aug 2015)