Winscombe, Somerset

Historical Description

Winscombe, a parish, with Winscombe village and five hamlets, in Somerset, with a station on the G.W.R., 136 miles from London. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office (R.S.O.) Acreage, 4158; population, 1379. Winscombe and Sandford have unitedly a parish council of seven members. Winscombe Court is a seat in the parish. A fair is held for cattle on the first Monday in May. Calamine is found, and limestone is quarried and calcined. Roman coins have been discovered in the neighbourhood. The living is a vicarage, with Sandford annexed, in the diocese of Bath and Wells; net value, £230 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Wells. The church is Later English, handsome, and good. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels, and a chapel of ease. A convalescent home was founded in 1892 for women and children.

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 Winscombe from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Winscombe 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.