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John Gibbs and Alice Collier © John Gibbs was baptized in the parish Church of St Lawrence, Mickleton, Gloucestershire1, on the 12th May, 1676. His baptism record shows his father as John Gibbs, but unfortunately no mother is mentioned. Dominated by the church spire of St Lawrence, which dates back to the 1200s, Mickleton is the northernmost village in Gloucestershire, lying close to the county border in close proximity to Worcestershire and Warwickshire2. Listed in the Domesday Book of 1086, the village is recorded as having 37 households, which at the time was considered very large. With an annual value of £10 to the Lord, the Abbey of Eynsham3. However, the village has a long history stretching back to the times before the Domesday Book, with an Iron Age hill fort at Meon Hill. Like many other villages in England, the Black Death decimated the population by 50% in 1349. On the 13th January, 1703, in the Mickleton Parish Church, John married Alice Collier4. The daughter of Mathew Collier & Ann (nee Burge), Alice was baptized in Cirencester on the 28th June, 16781. Cirencester is approximately 50km south-south-west of Mickleton. There is no clear origin of the name Cirencester, but there are references through the years to the Romanised name of ‘Corinium Dobunnorum’. There is also a probable connection to the Celtic word, ‘corin’, for corn; and this is also thought to be the origin of the name Churn for the river which still flows through the town. By the time of the Domesday Book the Saxon ‘cester’ had been added and it is recorded as the town of Cyrescestre. Cirencester's recorded history begins soon after the invasion of Britain by the Emperor Claudius in AD 43, and archaeological evidence of pre-Roman, Saxon and Norman artefacts have been found, which suggests Cirencester was an important and thriving centre of trade and settlement. King Henry I founded the Abbey in 1117, the Hospital of St John in Spitalgate was originally founded by Henry II, and the St Thomas's Hospital in Thomas Street (the oldest surviving secular building) was founded by Sir William Nottingham, for four poor weavers, in 1483. This last building is still an Alms House today, but now as 2 dwellings. At the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539, Henry VIII ordered the total demolition of the buildings and today the Norman Arch, built in 1180, and parts of the precinct wall are all that remain above ground of the old abbey. Today, Cirencester residents and visitors can enjoy the green lungs provided by the open spaces and parks which survive within the town in the Abbey Grounds, St Michael's Park and Cirencester Park5. It would appear that following their marriage John & Alice settled in Mickleton and had at least nine children: John 1704-c1710; Margaret 1706; Sarah 1708; John 1711, he married Susannah Whyate 1741; Edmund 1713-1713; Edmund 1714; Robert 1817; William 1720-1723; and Richard 1722. To-date the burials of John and Alice have remained elusive.
References:
2. Mickleton Community Archive
http://www.mickletoncommunityarchive.org.uk/
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