| AdminBiogHistory | Parish of St Mary, Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, in the diocese of Salisbury.
There was a church at Great Bedwyn in 1066 and possibly a minster church there in the late 10th century. The church revenues were given to Salisbury cathedral in 1091 and became an endowment of Bedwyn prebend. The prebendary was rector of the church and a vicarage had been ordained by 1316. He also enjoyed archidiaconal jurisdiction over the Great Bedwyn parish. Until 1543 the vicars of Great Bedwyn were presented to the dean of Salisbury by the prebendary but in that year the prebend was dissolved.
In 1547, the Dean and Canons of Windsor were given the tithes in prebend as part of the New Dotation. An Act of parliament in 1790 settled a rent charge in lieu of the tithes in the parishes of Great and Little Bedwyn and Preshute.
From 1544, the advowson of the vicarage descended with the prebendal manor and was eventually acquired by the bishop of Salisbury in 1953. It was always a poor vicarage, being valued at £9 in 1535, c. £20 in 1678 and £212, c. 1830. |