Westonbirt
The Parish Church

This was the manorial church for Westonbirt House

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Westonbirt Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts
Transcribed January 2004 Gloucestershire Records Office

Notes on Westonbirt Comleys
Where did they come from? No marriage has yet been found for James and Elizabeth or John and Mary, but were there two John and Marys? From the baptisms, Mary was baptised on 3 Feb 1760 - a reasonable time from the baptism of an older sister, Ann (2 July 1758), but there was a baptism of Sarah on 31 August 1760. The children of John and Mary at Cowhill were baptised at Thornbury, and described as 'first child of', 'second child of' etc.

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Baptisms from BTs
1728 Apr 14th William, son of James and Elizabeth Comely baptized
1729 Nov 2nd Sarah, dau of James and Elizabeth Comely baptized
1730/1 Feb 19th James, son of James and Elizabeth Comely baptized
1732/3 Mar 4th Robert, son of James and Elizabeth Comely baptized

Baptisms from PRs
1734/5 Jan 1st Ann, dau of James and Elizabeth Comely baptized
1736/7 Feb 13th Elizabeth, dau of James and Elizabeth Comely baptized
1738 Dec 25th Aldam, son of James and Elizabeth Comely baptized
1740/1 Mar 8th John, son of James and Elizabeth Comely baptized
1743 May 8th Mary, dau of James and Elizabeth Comely baptized
1745 Apr 12th Dinah, dau of James and Elizabeth Comely baptized

1758 July 2nd Ann, dau of John and Mary Comely baptized
1760 Feb 3rd Mary, a child at nurse, of John and Mary Comely but not born in the parish, baptized
1760 Aug 31st Sarah, dau of John and Mary Comely baptized
1762 May 16th Mary, dau of John and Mary Comely baptized
1767 Aug 30th William, son of John and Mary Comely baptized
1776 Sep 15th John son of John and Mary Comely baptized

On-line IGI:
Baptisms:

Source Information:
Batch No.: Dates: Source Call No.: Type: Printout Call No.: Type:
C057801 1610 - 1812 0427803 Film 6912013 Film

NAME
DATE
FATHER
MOTHER
WILLIAM CUMLY
14 APR 1728
JAMES CUMLY
ELIZABETH
SARAH CUMLY
07 SEP 1729
JAMES CUMLY
ELIZ
JAMES COMELY
FEB 1730
JAMES COMELY
ELIZABETH
ROBERT CUMLY
04 MAR 1732
JAMES CUMLY
ELIZABETH
ANNE COMELEY
01 JAN 1734
JAMES COMELEY
ELIZABETH
ELIZABETH CUMLEY
13 FEB 1736
JAMES CUMLEY
ELIZ
ALDUM COMLY
25 DEC 1738
JAMES COMLY
ELIZABETH
JOHN COMELY
08 MAR 1740
JAMES COMELY
ELIZABETH
MARY COMELY
08 MAY 1743
JAMES COMELY
ELIZABETH
DINAH COMELY
12 APR 1745
JAMES COMELY
ELIZABETH
ANN COMELY
02 JUL 1758
JOHN COMELY
MARY
SARAH COMELY
31 AUG 1760
JOHN COMELY
MARY
MARY COMELY
16 MAY 1762
JOHN COMELY
MARY
JOHN COMELY
15 SEP 1776
JOHN COMELY
MARY

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Burials from PRs
1734 Aug 1st Sarah, dau of James and Elizabeth Comely buried
1738/9 Jan 2nd Elizabeth, dau of James and Elizabeth Comely buried
1743 Jan 5th Aldum Comely buried
1744 Jun 19th James Comely buried
1745 Feb 21st Dinah Comely buried
1750 Oct 28th Mary Comely buried
1770 Aug 19th Mary Comely buried
1775 Sep 24th James Comely buried
1778 Mar 6th Elizabeth Comely buried
1778 Apr 9th Robert Comely, an infant, buried
1781 Mar 17th James Comley of Cowel buried
1796 Sept 20th John Comley buried
1802 Sept 20th Mary Comely buried
1806 Aug 6th Mary widow of John Comely of Cow Hill buried

Burials from Memorial Inscriptions
Dates are of death, not burial. Dates in RED have not been found in the Parish registers
Bigland:
1733 July 30 Sarah their daughter (James and Elizabeth COMELY) aged 4
1738 Dec 31 Elizabeth their daughter (James and Elizabeth COMELY) aged 1y 0m
1744 Jan 2nd Aldom son of James and Elizabeth COMELY aged 5
1744 July 17th James son of William and Elizabeth COMELEY aged 18y 6m
1745 Feb 19th Dinah daughter of James and Elizabeth COMELY aged 10m 2w
1750 Oct 25th Mary their daughter (James and Elizabeth COMELY) aged 7
1769 Nov 6th Anne daughter of James and Elizabeth COMELY aged 34
1775 Sep 2nd James COMLEY aged 77
1778 Mar 3rd Elizabeth wife of JAMES COMELEY aged 75
1778 Apr 7th Robert son of John and Mary COMELEY aged 6(?)
1781 Mar 14th James their son (John and Mary COMELEY) aged 5y 11m
1790 May 5th William Comely buried
1796 Sep 16th John COMELY late of Cowhill aged 54

Visit by Andrew Mead, March 2004
Inscriptions which are not in Bigland, or differ from him:
1760 Oct 1st Mary daughter of James and Elizabeth COMELY aged 17
        This appears in the parish register as 1750!
1778 Nov 5th Elizabeth wife of JAMES COMELEY aged 75
        This appears in the parish register as burial on March 6th 1778!
1790 May 1st William COMELY aged 69
1806 Aug 2nd Mary wife of John COMELY of Cowhill aged 57

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WESTON BIRT
From 'Bigland'
The Church consists of a Chancel, Nave and two small Cross Aisles, and an embattled tower at the West-end
MR HOLFORD, LORD OF THE MANOR
Whose house is on the South side of the Church Yard

 

Memorial Inscriptions:
There are five COMELY tombs still in the churchyard, in a poor state of repair.
Nothing is readable on the tops and one is very broken up.
Ralph Bigland recorded many of the memorial inscritions in Gloucestershire graveyards.
His original work, in two volumes, only got as far as 'N' and was published in 1786
so would not have included Westonbirt. He stopped recording in about 1781.
Westonbirt was added 110 years after his death when a researcher published
volumes 3 and 4 from Bigland's notes and comments below are from this book.
For more information on the book, see Archive CD Books

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In Memory of
JOHN COMLEY, late of Cowhill
In the Parish of Thornbury
In ths County
Who died 16th September 1796
Aged 54 Years

ALSO In Memory of
MARY COMELY Wife of
the late John Comely
of Cowhill
who departed this life
August ye 2nd 1806
Aged 57

 

 

IN MEMORY of Elizabeth, wife
of JAMES
Comely of ys Place,
Who died Nov 5 1778, Aged 75
Also here lyeth Robert, son of
John and Mary Comely, of Thornbury
in this County He died Apr 7 1778,
Aged 6 months
Bigland gives: Aged 6 Years
This is an error. Other inscriptions on the graves are generally no longer legible -
the records were taken in the late 1700s.

On the side of the above is:
WILLIAM COMELY who
departed this life May 1st(?)
1790 aged 62 years

 

IN MEMORY of ANNE
daughter of James and
Elizabeth COMELY who
died 6 November 1769
Aged 34 years

ALSO IN MEMORY Of
Mary Daughter of James and
Elizabeth Comely who died
October 1(?) 1760
Aged 17 years

This may well have been James Comely's - Bigland gives:
In Memory of
JAMES COMELY
Who died 2 Sept 1775
Aged 77 years

 

 

Other references from Bigland are:

Here lyeth the Body of
James, the son of WILLIAM
And ELIZABETH COMELEY
Who died the 17th of July 1744
Aged 18 years, and Six Months.

JAMES, their Son, died 14 Mar 1781,
Aged 5 Years and 11 Months

SARAH and ELIZABETH,
their daughters. SARAH died
ye 30 July 1733 aged 4 years.
ELIZABETH died 31st Dec 1738
Aged 1 year and 0 months
Here lyeth the Body of
ALDOM, the son of
JAMES And ELIZABETH COMELY
Who died 2ND January 1744
Aged 5 Years
Also DINAH, The daughter of
JAMES And ELIZABETH COMELY
Who died 19 of Febr. 1745,
Aged 10 months and 2 weeks
Also MARY their Daughter
Died 25 Oct. 1750 Aged 7 Years

Note: 'COM' of COM(E)L(E)Y is spelt 'CORN' throughout the page, presumably as a result
of the later publisher being unable to read Bigland's notes correctly

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Westonbirt Wills

James Comley, of Weston Birt, 1775
Robert Comley, of Weston Birt, 1796

 

Page updated: 6/07/15