KINGSWOOD ABBEY

The abbey at Kingswood, adjacent to Wotton-under-Edge but just south of the boundary of Berkeley hundred, was founded by the Berkeleys of Dursley. The abbey held the manors of Kingswood, Bagpath, Newington (now Newington Bagpath) and Ozleworth, and granges at Calcot in Newington, Elbury, Bagston, Ridge, Hill and Hazleton, as well as various other holdings scattered over most of the manors of the hundred. Charters concerning most of those holdings remain in the Castle, despite the fact that in the early 17th century the family historian John Smyth stated categorically that the little manor of Canonbury, previously of St. Augustine's Abbey, Bristol, was the only instance of church lands acquired by the family [Smyth, ii. 361.]. The patronage of the abbey was one of the acquisitions of Thomas (IV) Lord Berkeley mentioned in the settlement of 1417. Most of the charters are concerned with Bagpath, Newington and Ozleworth, which all lay within Berkeley hundred. [Smyth, iii. 73-6, 306-10. Newington was a manor of the Berkeleys of Dursley, so it did not from part of Berkeley Herness.]