Uphill, Somerset

Historical Description

Uphill, a parish, with a village, in Somerset, on the coast, at the mouth of the river Axe, with a station on the G.W.R., 139 miles from London, and 2¼ S of Weston-super-Mare. It has a post office under Weston-super-Mare; money order and telegraph office, Weston-super-Mare. Acreage, 1128; population, 835. There is a parish council consisting of five members. The manor, with Uphill Castle, belongs to the Knyfton family. Uphill is supposed to have been a Roman settlement under the name of Axium, and was the shipping place of mining produce from the Mendip Hills. It was for some time the residence of the historian Gildas. Uphill Cavern is a bone cave, was discovered in 1826, and was then replete with remains of sheep, oxen, pigs, horses, elephants, rhinoceroses, bears, and hyaenas. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Bath and Wells; net value, £220 with residence. The old church crowns a hill commanding an extensive view, serves as a notable landmark, is in the Norman and Late Perpendicular styles, was for some time in a crumbling state of decay, but has now been partially restored. There is a ring of five bells. A new church was built in 1843, and is in the Later English style. A new chancel was built in 1893, and the nave renovated with oak seats, &c. There is a Wesleyan chapel.

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.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Uphill from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Uphill 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.