Selworthy, Somerset

Historical Description

Selworthy, a village and a parish in Somerset. The village stands in a deep dell among hills, 1¼ mile from the coast, 4½ miles W of Minehead station on the G.W.R., and is a picturesque place. It has a post and money order office under Tannton; telegraph office, Porlock. The parish contains also six hamlets, Blackford manor, and Allerford tithing. Acreage, 2959; population of the civil parish, 517; of the ecclesiastical, 403. There is a parish council consisting of five members and a chairman. The manor, with Holnicote House (the ancient seat of the Steyning family), belongs to the Acland family. Holnicote House was twice destroyed by fire, but has been rebuilt and was considerably enlarged in 1874. An ancient camp, called Bury Castle, crowns a hill overlooking the village. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Bath and Wells; tithe commuted at £270 with residence. The church is mostly Perpendicular, and contains some delicate 15th century carvings, and also some good modern carvings. The rectory is a building for the most part of great antiquity; an interesting 15th century tithe barn adjoins it. There are chapels in the hamlets of Tivington and Lynch, the former being Perpendicular in style, and the latter of an earlier period, but it has been restored. The churchyard contains an ancient stone cross.

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 Selworthy from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Selworthy (All Saints))

Maps

Online maps of Selworthy 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.