Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for WINCANTON

WINCANTON, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Somerset. The town stands on the river Cale, and on the Dorset and Somerset railway, 5 miles SSE of Bruton; was known to the Saxons as Wyndcaleton; suffered great devastation by the plague in 1553; was the scene of a skirmish between the troops of the Prince of Orange and some dragoons of James II. in 1688; contains a house in which the Prince of Orange slept after the skirmish; is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling place; occupies steep ground at the head of the broad vale of Blackmoor; and has a post-office‡ under Bath, a r. station with telegraph, two banking offices, two chief inns, a police station, a town hall, a reading room, a good church, Independent and Baptist chapels, a national school, a workhouse, charities £6, a brewery, a weekly market on Wednesday, and fairs on Easter Tuesday and 29th Sept.—The parish comprises 4130 acres. Real property, £15,150. Pop., 2,450. Houses, 476. The manor was given, at the Norman Conquest, to W. de Douay; and passed to the Lovells, the Zouches, the Seymours, and the Daubenys. Marsh Court was the manor house, and is now occupied by a farmer. A priory was founded at Stavordale, by R. Lovell, in 1263; and has left some interesting remains, now incorporated with a farm stead. Mineral springs, similar to those of Cheltenham, are at Horwood. The site of an ancient British fort, called Kennewilkins Castle, is in the middle of a wood. Roman coins have been found. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value, £130. Patrons, Messrs. G. and J. Messiter.—The sub-district contains 12 parishes. Acres, 19,646. Pop., 6,007. Houses, 1,304.—The district comprehends also Bruton, Milborne-Port, and Castle-Cary sub-districts; and comprises 66,120 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £11,320. Pop. in 1851, 21,311; in 1861, 21,500. Houses, 4,588. Marriages in 1866, 153; births, 629,-of which 43 were illegitimate; deaths, 399,-of which 118 were at ages under 5 years, and 10 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-61, 1,460; births, 6,613; deaths, 4,309. The places of worship, in 1851, were 41 of the Church of England, with 9,498 sittings; 10 of Independents, with 2,406 s.; 3 of Baptists, with 650 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 50 s.; 14 of Wesleyans, with 1.633 s.; 2 of Primitive Methodists, with 285 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 8 s.; 1 of Bible Christians, with 70 s.; and 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 300 s. The schools were 28 public day-schools, with 1,595 scholars; 48 private day-schools, with 852 s.; 46 Sunday schools, with 3,114 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 37 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Wincanton AP/CP       Wincanton SubD       Wincanton RegD/PLU       Somerset AncC
Place names: WINCANTON     |     WYNDCALETON
Place: Wincanton

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