BOWDEN HILL is an ecclesiastical parish, formed in 1863 out of the parish of Lacock; it is about 4 miles north from Melksham station and 5 south-east from Corsham station, on the Swindon and Salisbury section of the Great Western railway, and 6 south from Chippenham, in the North West division of the county, Chippenham hundred, union, petty sessional division and county court district, and in the rural deanery of Chippenham, archdeaconry of North Wilts and diocese of Bristol. The church of St. Anne, built by the late Captain Gladstone R.N. of Bowden Park, is of stone, with Bath stone quoins, in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave, north porch, organ chamber, and a tower containing a clock and 2 bells. The register dates from the year 1863. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £150, with residence, in the gift of John Evelyn Gladstone esq. and held since 1911 by the Rev. Arthur Kennet Hobart-Hampden M.A. of New College, Oxford. The Parish room is used as a Sunday school. Bowden Park is the seat of John Evelyn Gladstone esq. M.A., D.L., J.P. The population in 1911 was 261.
[Kelly's Directory of Wiltshire, 1915]