Kewstoke, Somerset
Historical Description
Kewstoke, a village and a parish in Somerset. 'The village stands on the coast, at Sand Bay, 2 miles NNE of Weston-super-Mare station on the G.W.R., and 9 NW of Axbridge. The parish contains also the liamlet of Milton. It has a post office under Weston-super-Mare; money order and telegraph office, Worle. Acreage, 2344 of land and 854 of water and foreshore; population of the civil parish, 795; of the ecclesiastical, 789. Woodspring Priory here was founded in 1210 for Augustinian canons by William de Courtenay, was dissolved in 1534 when it had a revenue of, £111, and is now represented partly by a farmhouse, partly by a ruined tower, which retains much of its original character. A modern road, through a wood, from Kewstoke village to Weston, commands charming views over the Bristol Channel to the Welsh mountains, and a flight of about 200 rude stairs, called the " Hermit's Steps," leads up to a magnificent view and an ancient camp on Worle Hill. Limestone is quarried. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells; net value,, £150 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is Norman and Early English, and comprises nave and chancel, with porch and tower. There is a chapel of ease at Milton, erected in 1886, and a Congregational and two Plymouth Brethren 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 | Kewstoke St. Paul | |
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.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Kewstoke from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Kewstoke (St. Paul))
Maps
Online maps of Kewstoke 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.