Weare, Somerset
Historical Description
Weare, a village and a parish in Somerset. The village stands on the river Axe, 2 miles SSW of Axbridge station on the G.W.R. It has a post office under Axbridge; money order and telegraph office, Axbridge. It was once a market-town, sent members to parliament in the time of Edward I., and consists of two parts, Lower Weare and Upper Weare. The parish also contains the hamlets of Alston Sutton, Brinscombe, and Stone Allerton. Acreage, 1729; population of the civil parish, 438; of the ecclesiastical, 536. There is a. parish council consisting of five members. Badgworth Court is the seat of the Luttrell family. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells; net value, £270 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Bristol. The church is a building of local stone in the Perpendicular style, and has been restored; in the churchyard is an ancient cross about 10 feet high. There are Wesleyan, Baptist, and Bible Christian chapels.
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 | Weare St. Gregory | |
Hundred | Bempstone | |
Poor Law union | Axbridge |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1637 and a list of vicars is kept, dating from 1309.
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Somerset Archives & Local Studies, have images of the Parish Registers for Somerset online.
Churches
Church of England
St. Gregory (parish church)
The church of St. Gregory is a building of local stone, in the Perpendicular style, erected in the time of Henry VII. consisting of chancel, nave, aisle, south porch, vestry, a fine embattled western tower with a pierced parapet and four pinnacles, and containing 6 fine-toned bells: on the exterior of the tower are two canopied niches: in the sanctuary is a brass with the effigy of a merchant with a gypcière attached to his girdle, and an inscription to John Bedbere, c. 1500: the font is Norman: there are fragments of ancient stained glass in one of the windows, one: of which bears the initials J.B.; and another the five wounds; a third, the chalice and wafer; and the last a crown with the monogram "I.H.S.": in the churchyard is an ancient cross, raised on a base of four steps, the total height being about 10 feet: the church was restored and a north aisle added in 1846, at a cost of £800, and in 1886 a new organ, erected at a cost of £250: during the restoration in 1901 the removal of the plaster from the walls of the sanctuary brought to light an ancient aumbry and piscina, and on the west side of the chancel arch a doorway was found to the staircase leading to the rood-loft: there are sittings for 200 persons.
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 Weare from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Weare (St. Gregory))
Maps
Online maps of Weare 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.