Shipham, Somerset
Historical Description
Shipham, a village and a parish in Somerset. The village stands on a slope of Black Down, among the Mendip Hills, 2½ miles NNE of Axbridge station on the G.W.R. It has a post office under Congresbury; money order office, Woodborough; telegraph office, Winscombe railway station. Acreage of parish, 772; population, 390. The manor belongs to the Dean and Chapter of Wells. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Bath and Wells; net value, £200 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Wells. The church was rebuilt in 1842. There is a Wesleyan chapel. Cattle fairs are held annually on 27 April and 17 Nov.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Somersetshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Shipham St. Leonard | |
Hundred | Winterstoke | |
Poor Law union | Axbridge |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Somerset Archives & Local Studies, have images of the Parish Registers for Somerset online.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Shipham from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Shipham (St. Leonard))
Maps
Online maps of Shipham are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Somerset papers online:
- Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette
- Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser
- Western Gazette
- Wells Journal
- Somerset County Gazette
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Somersetshire, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.