Backwell, Somerset

Historical Description

Backwell, a parish in Somerset, 1 mile SE of Nailsea station on the G.W.R., and 7 WSW of Bristol. It includes the hamlets of Church-Town, Downside, Parley, Mooreside, and West-Town. It has a post and money order office at West-Town; telegraph office, Flax Bourton; railway station, Nailsea. Acreage, 2929; population of the civil parish, 956; of the ecclesiastical, 833. The living is a rectory and vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells; net value, £298 with residence. Patron, the Marquis of Bath. The church is good, and has a very fine tower. There is a Wesleyan chapel. A fair is held on 21st September.

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 Backwell from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Backwell 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.