St Decumans, Somerset

Historical Description

Decumans, St, a parish in Somerset, on the coast, and on the West Somerset railway. It contains the town of Watchefc, the chapelry and workhouse of Williton, and the hamlets of Doniford, Stream, and part of Washford. Post town, Watchet, under Bridgwater; money order and telegraph office, Watchet. Acreage, 3483; population of the civil parish, 3073; of the ecclesiastical, 3127. Orchard-Wyndham was the seat of the late Earl of Egremont, and now belongs to the Wyndham family. Williton was the residence of Sir Reginald Fitz-Urse, one of the murderers of Thomas a, Becket. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells; net value, £136. The church is large, occupies a commanding site, and has ancient monuments and brasses to the Wyndhams, and the tomb of the late Earl of Egremont. The churchyard contains an ancient cross. There are Wesleyan, Baptist, and Bible Christian chapels, and a charity amounting to £100.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

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 St Decumans from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Decuman, St. (St. Peter))

Maps

Online maps of St Decumans 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.