Charlton-Horethorne, or Canfield (St. Peter And St. Paul)
CHARLTON-HORETHORNE, or Canfield (St. Peter And St. Paul), a parish, and formerly a market-town, in the union of Wincanton, hundred of Horethorne, E. division of Somerset, 5½ miles (S. W.) from Wincanton; containing 569 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated on the road from Bath to Weymouth, comprises about 2500 acres. Stone of good quality is extensively quarried for building, and repairing the roads; and a considerable number of the inhabitants are employed in the manufacture of dowlas. The market was obtained in the 22nd of Edward I., by Henry de Lacy, who had by the same charter a grant for a fair on the eve and morrow of St. Thomas the Martyr; the fair is still held. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8. 10. 5.; net income, £384; patron and impropriator, the Marquess of Anglesey: the glebe comprises 40 acres. The church is a handsome edifice in the early English style, but has been greatly disfigured by the insertion of windows of modern character. There was anciently within the manor a chantry chapel, dependent on Kenilworth priory.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.