Ashwick (St. James)

ASHWICK (St. James), a parish, in the union of Shepton-Mallet, hundred of Kilmersdon, E. division of Somerset, 3¾ miles (N. by E.) from Shepton-Mallet; comprising 1527a. 2r. 34p., and containing 945 inhabitants. There are many quarries, supplying a material for building and for making lime. At the village of Oakhill, which stands partly in this parish and partly in Stoke-Lane and Shepton-Mallet, are some good residences, and a public brewery; and the road from Bath to Exeter, and another from Bristol to Weymouth, run through the parish. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £113; patron, the Vicar of Kilmersdon; impropriator, J. Twyford Jolliffe, Esq. The great tithes have been commuted for £28. 10., and those of the incumbent for £59. 15.; the glebe consists of 2½ acres. The curacy was separated from the vicarage of Kilmersdon in 1826, at which time also the church was rebuilt, with the exception of the tower; it is a neat structure, accommodating about 550 persons. There are places of worship for Independents, Unitarians, and Methodists. On the south-western side of the parish, near the Fosseway, is a Roman camp, with a double intrenchment, called Masbury Castle.