Olveston

The district has been inhabited since the Stone Age, and the salt marshes that made up almost half of the parish, were progressively drained in Roman and Saxon times.

It was for a while the seat of the Denys family of nearby Siston who had inherited Olveston manor, together with nearby Alveston, Earthcott Green, Siston and a moiety (1/2) of Aust together with the rights of the Hundred Court of Langley, in 1380 on marriage to Margaret Corbet, granddaughter of Sir Peter Corbet(d.1362) Lord of Caus, Shropshire.

[3] Due to the possibility for confusion between Alveston and Olveston, the Inquisition post mortem of Sir Gilbert Denys, taken at Chipping Sodbury on 25 June 1422, is given here: Gilbert Denys held of the King in chief in his demesne as of fee by knight service the manors of Alveston and Earthcott and the Hundred of Langley, total annual value £19 5s.

By a charter dated at Olveston on 20th Jan. 1420, shown to the jurors, he held jointly in tail male with his wife Margaret (2nd.

wife Margaret Russell), who survives, the manor and advowson of Olveston, reversion to Gilbert's kinsman Nicholas Denys for life, remainder to the right heirs of Gilbert, by feoffment of Robert Stanshawe, John Broune, Robert Coderyngton and John Vaghorn, vicar of St. Nicholas, Bristol.

Hugh Denys was Groom of the Stool to King Henry VII, an important figure in the management of the royal and national finances.

On the death of Sir Gilbert Denys in 1422, Stradling had obtained the valuable wardship and marriage of his 12-year-old heir Maurice, whom he had married off to his da.

Stradling, probably through the influence of Beaufort, had obtained the licence to marry off his young nephew John Kemeys of Began, Monmouth, to Sir Gilbert Denys's widow, Margaret Russell.

In his will Denys had requested his widow to take a vow of chastity, which clearly was made impossible by Sir Edward Stradling who had married her off to John Kemeys within 7 months of Gilbert's death.

St. Mary's church parish register also includes details of births and burials of Quakers, who had a Meeting House in the village for nearly 200 years.

An historic, early 20th century, house in the inner suburbs of Dunedin, New Zealand is named Olveston, after the place owner David Theomin had enjoyed his childhood holidays.

After the mechanisation of farming, and the growth of the aircraft industry at nearby Patchway and Filton, the parish gradually became a home for commuters.