Bleadon, Somerset

Historical Description

Bleadon, a parish in Somersetshire, on the river Axe, 1 mile from Bleadon and Uphill station on the G.W.R., 139 miles from London, and 4½ SE of Weston-super-Mare. It includes the hamlets of Oldmixon and Shiplet, and has a post office under Weston-super-Mare, which is the money order and telegraph office. Acreage, 2962; population, 563. Remains of an ancient British camp are on Bleadon Hill, and bones, coins, and armour have been found. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Bath and Wells; net value, £450 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of London. The church was repaired in 1859. M. Casaubon was for some time rector.

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

The parish register dates from the year 1706.

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Somerset Archives & Local Studies, have images of the Parish Registers for Somerset online.

Churches

Church of England

St. Peter (parish church)

The church of St. Peter is a building of stone in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel (dedicated in 1317), nave, south porch and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing 5 bells: there are several memorial windows and a font of Transition Norman date: on the south side of the chancel is a canopied tomb: the pulpit of stone is octagonal, and has five disengaged sides, ornamented with Perpendicular carving: on one side of the porch, within a sunk panel, is a group in relief of the Virgin and Child, with kneeling figures of a nun and an ecclesiastic; it may once have formed the head of a cross: in 1832 the tower was struck by lightning and injured: the interior of the building was thoroughly restored in 1859 and 1901, and in 1897 a new organ was provided at a cost of £200: there are sittings for 240 persons.

Methodist

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 Bleadon from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Bleadon 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.