AUST is a tithing and village of Henbury parish, 28 miles south-west from Gloucester: 12 north from Bristol, 4 west-by-south from Thornbury, 4 north-west from New Passage station on the Bristol and South Wales Union railway and 122 from London, in the Western division of the county, Henbury hundred, Thornbury union and county court district, rural division of Bristol rural deanery, Bristol archdeaconry and Gloucester and Bristol diocese. It is situated on the navigable river Severn, and on the high road from Sodbury to the Old Passage ferry (now disused) to Chepstow.

The church (name not known) is an old Gothic stone building, with chancel, nave, porch, square embattled tower with 2 bells and a clock in which Wickliffe often officiated, to which he was presented by King Edward III, in 1374. The register dates from the year 1530. The living is a chapelry attached to Henbury, together with Northwick and Redwick, in the gift of the trustees and the vicar of Henbury. The Rev. Charles Elrington Browne, of Lincoln College, Lincoln, is the resident curate. The charities are of £1 yearly value, distributed in bread on St. John’s day; also an endowment of £20. yearly towards the expenses of divine service.

The old Roman passage if Augustus is in this parish—hence its name. There are traces of the Fosse road to Cirencester. The cliff contains a rich bed of fossil bones and gypsum.

Robert Cann-Lippincott, esq. who is lord of the manor, and Thomas Bush, esq. are chief landowners. The soil is clay and loam: subsoil, new red sandstone and blue lias. The chief crops are wheat, barley and pasturage. The area is 933 acres: rateable value, £2,033; the population in 1871 was 175.

Parish Clerk, John Vizard

Letters arrive from Almondsbury (Railway sub-office) by messenger, at 10.30 a.m.

Wall Letter Box cleared at 2.55 p.m.; Sundays, 12.10 p.m.

The nearest money order office is at Thornbury.

Infant School, Miss Mary Lee, mistress

CARRIER.—Mrs. Elizabeth Collins, from the ‘Old Passage’ to Bristol, Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday.

RESIDENTS

Browne Rev. Charles Elrington [curate]

Parrott William

Alway John & Thos. Farmers, Aust Farm

Barton Alfonso, farmer

Brewer George, farmer

Collins Amelia (Mrs.), carrier

Cornock Wm. Farmer, Tan House farm

Kingscott William, shopkeeper

Parrott Frederick, farmer

York Kate (Mrs.), Old Passage.