Transcription from Kelly’s Directory of Wiltshire, 1895
Fovant
is a parish and village, 2
miles south-west from Dinton station in the Salisbury and Yeovil Branch of the
London and South western Railway and 7 west from Wilton, in the Southern
division of the county, hundred of Cawdon and Cadworth, Salisbury and Amesbury
petty sessional division, Salisbury County Court district, Wilton Union, Chalke
Rural deanery (Chalke portion), archdeaconry of Sarum and diocese of Salisbury.
The Church of St George is an ancient Norman stone structure, it has a double
chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, a fine chancel door and a tower at the
western extremity, terminating in battlements, containing 5 bells, and has a
striking stained east window to the memory of Lord Herbert of Lea, also two
other stained windows in the chancel and one at the west end given by
contributions raised in the parish: the interior was refitted with open benches,
and re-decorated in 1863: it will seat about 300 persons.
The
register dates from the year 1541. The living is a rectory, average tithe rent
charge £411, gross yearly value £441, net about £350 including 48 acres of
glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Earl of Pembroke, and held since 1890
by the Rev. Alfred Earle M.A. of Magdalen College Oxford. Here is a
congregational chapel. A church hall wsa erected here in 1885, given by the Rev.
Alfred Earle, on a site granted by the Earl of Pembroke, available for all
church purposes, also for the use of working men in the village for reading and
recreation.
The
Earl of Pembroke is Lord of the Manor and chief landowner. The soil is loam,
subsoil, chalk and flint. The chief crops are wheat, oats and barley. The area
is 2076 acres, rateable value £2727, the population in 1891 was 506.
Parish
Clerk, George Futcher.
Post
Office:- Thomas Lever, sub postmaster. Letters from Salisbury are delivered at
6am, dispatched at 7.40 pm on weekdays, 7.40 Sundays. Postal orders are issued
here, but not paid. The nearest money order and telegraph office is at Dinton.
Wall
Letter Box, Fovant Elm, cleared at 6.45 pm week days, 12 noon on Sundays.
National
School (Mixed), built in 1847 for 150 children, average attendance 68; Miss
Georgina Fussell Mist.
Carriers
to Salisbury:- George Reed, Tues and Sat, Hy. Jarvis, Tues and Sat.
PRIVATE
RESIDENTS
Clay,
Challoner, Manor House
Earle,
Rev. Alfred M.A. (Rector)
COMMERCIAL
Bracher,
Eliza (Mrs), dairykeeper
Clay,
Challoner I.R.C.P. Edin, surgeon and medical officer and public vaccinator
Fovant Dist, Wilton Union, Manor House.
Cole,
Fdk. Hy. Pembroke Arms Public House
Cowdry,
Rhoda (Mrs) Baker and Shopkeeper
Foyle,
John, tailor
Futcher,
George, farmer and parish clerk, East Farm
Futcher
James, West Farm
Green
Jas. Chas. Butcher and Farmer
Hitchings,
John, watercress grower
Jarvis
Henry, Blacksmith and carrier
Lever,
Alfred, carpenter and builder
Lever
Sidney, Blacksmith and carpenter
Lever
Thomas, Postmaster and carpenter
Read
Geo. Cross Keys Public House and carrier
Read
Mary Ann (Mrs), shopkeeper
Simper
Thomas, Farmer