Portbury, Somerset

Historical Description

Portbury, a village and a parish in Somerset. The village stands near Wans Dyke, 1½ mile W of the river Avon, with a station on the G.W.R., 128 miles from London, and 6 WNW of Bristol. It occupies the site of a Roman station, where Roman coins, foundations of Roman villas, and other Roman relics have been found. It has a post office under Bristol; money order office, Pill; telegraph office at railway station. Acreage, 2906; population of the civil parish, 439; of the ecclesiastical, 516. There is a parish council consisting of five members. An Angustinian cell to Bromere Priory was here, and has left some vestiges. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells, gross value, £300 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Worcester. The church is ancient, and consists of nave, aisles, chancel, and chapel, with a fine tower; it has been well restored.

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 Portbury from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Portbury 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.