ROWDE, a parish, with a village, in Devizes district, Wilts; on an affluent of the river Avon, 2½ miles W N W of Devizes r. station. It has a post-office under Devizes. Acres, 2, 665. Real property, £7, 139. Pop., 1, 142. Houses, 255. The property is divided among a few. The manor belongs to F. A. S. Locke, Esq. R. Ford and R. Ashton are chief residences. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £260.* Patron, G. Goldney, Esq. The church was partly rebuilt in 1833. There are a Wesleyan chapel, a national school, and charities £29.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))