Selworthy (All Saints)
SELWORTHY (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Williton, hundred of Carhampton, W. division of Somerset, 4 miles (W.) from Minehead; containing, with the tything of Allerford, the manor of Blackford, and the hamlets of Brandy-street, Buddie-hill, Holnicote, Knowle, Lynch, and Tivington, 505 inhabitants. The parish comprises 2218 acres, of which 358 are common or waste land. It is intersected by a ridge from east to west, and a ridge from east to south. The soil is various, light and stony in the higher grounds, and fertile in the valleys; there are considerable plantations of larch, fir, and of forest trees, which add beauty to the scenery, and a fine trout-stream winds through the lower lands. The substratum contains limestone, which is burnt into lime for agricultural uses. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 15. 5., and in the gift of Sir T. D. Acland, Bart.: the tithes have been commuted for £270, and the glebe comprises 54 acres. The church is a neat edifice in the decorated style, with a plain embattled tower. There are remains of two chapels; one at Tivington, now used as a schoolroom, and the other at West Lynch, converted into a barn; and on a hill to the north-west of the church are vestiges of an ancient encampment called Bury Castle, of an elliptical form, with a rampart of earth and stones, inclosing an area of about an acre and a half.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.