&

.388 SKILGATE. SOMERSET. [ KELLY'S

Abrahamson Rev. .Albert Elias B.A. Hill John, farmer, Leigh Barton Palmer John Perry, baker, draper' &; Rectory Hurley Robert, farmer, Surridge grocer, Post office COMMERCIAL. J ennings Frands, farmer, Pitt Stevens John, shoe maker Atkins William, farmer, IIendover J ones Frands, farmer Thorne John, farmer Broom John, farmer, Little Haddon Luxton Levi, shoe maker Thorne Wm. Henry, frmr. Frogwell Ford 'rhomas, cooper Norman George, farmer, Ga,mblyn Yandle Jame~, farmer, Haddon end. Heywood George, farmer, Chapple Parrot John, tailor

SOMERTON is a market town, on the river Cary and Sexton, Tom Gibbs. on the high road from Wells to Taunton, 5 miles north­ Post, M. O. &; T. 0., T. M. 0., S. B., Express Delivery,. east from Langport station on the Yeovil branch of the Parcel Post & Insurance &; Annuity Office (Sub-Office. Great Western railway, and 7 ,south from Glastonbury Letters should have S.O.Somerset added).-Jesse Gillett station on the Somerset and Dorset railway, and 126 from Williams, sub-postmaster. The telegraph office is opea London; a line between Langport and Castle Cary, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; sundays, 8 to IQ a.m.; savings. shortly to be commenced, will pass through this parish; bank, money order &; inland revenue bminess is trans­ it is the head of a petty sessional division, in the Eastern acted daily (except sunday) from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. De­ division of the county, Somerton hundred, Langport union liveries at 7 a.m. 12·30 & 4.40 p.m.; on sundays there­ and county court district, rural deanery of Ilchester, arch­ is only the 7 a.m. delivery; dispatches at 9.10 a.m. deaconry of Wells and diocese of Bath and Wells. The (letters by this mail are delivered in London same even­ town is paved, lighted with gas by a company from works ing), 1.55 &; 6.40 p.m.; sundays, 6.40 p,m. Wall Box, in the town and supplied with water from the Somerton West street, cleared at 9.20 a.m. 2.5 &; 6. 15 p.m. on and District waterworks. A court leet is held yearly in week days; sundays, 5.45 p.m. only. On sunday tha October. The police arrangements are under the control I office i8 open for the sale of stamps &; registration of of the county police. The church of St. Michael is an letters from 7 to 10 a.m ancient edifice of stone in the Decorated style, with Per­ pendicular additions, consisting of chancel, c1erestoried OOL'NTY MAGISTRATES FOR THE PETTY SES­ nave, aisles, transept,s, south porch and an embattled SIONAL DIVISION OF SOMERTON. octagonal tower over the south transept, containing a clock and 6 bells: near the south transept is a recumbent Stuckey Vincent esq. D.L. Hill house, Langport R. S.O. female effigy of stone of the nth century: in the north chairman transept is a brass to Christopher Overton, dated 1683; Combs Richard Thomas esg. Earnshill, Curry Rivell,. the pulpit, of carved oak, is dated 1615, and the corn· Taunton munion table 1626; the nave roof, of oak, is a splendid Dickinson Arthur esq. The ,Mount, Somerton S.O example of Perpendicular wood work of that period: Eastlake Charles Lock esq. Sutton house, Long Sutton,. the church was restored in 1889-90 at a cost of £3.585. Langport R.S.O and the chancel at a further cost of £goo, defrayed by Neal Capt. William, Kingsdon, Taunton the Earl of Ilchester, who is lay rector; an organ was Pretor-Pinney Fredk. Wake esq.The Grange,SomertonS.O erected in Ig01 at a cost of about £550: there are sittings Pinney Capt. Charles Frederick, Somerton S.O for 750 persons. The register dates from the year 16g7. Trevilian Edwin Brooks Cely esq. Midelney Place, Curry The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £285, including Rivel, Taunton "108 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Earl of Ilchester, Valentine Edmund William esq. Somerton S.O and held since 189-8 by the Rev. George Thomas Steacy The chairman, for the time being, of the Langport: B.A. of Trinity Oollege, Dublin. The Congregational Rural District Council, is an ex-officio magistrate. chapel, erected in 1803, will seat 350 persons; the Wes­ Clerk to the Magistrates, Edward Quekett Louch leyan chapel, erected in 1846, has 200 sittings and the Bible Petty Sessions held at the Court House, Somerton -& ToW1llf Christian chapel 150 sittings: the Friends' meeting house, Hall, Langport (alternately), about fortnightly OLl built in 1876, will seat 150 persons; and there are Salva­ mondays at II a.m. The parishes in the division are tion Army barracks holding 200. The Cemetery, 2 acres AlIer, Babcary, Barton St. David, Charlton Adam,Oharl­ in extent, was formed in 1875, and is under the manage­ ton Mackrell, Oompton Dundon, Curry Rivel, Drayton.. ment of the Parish Council, of which E. W. Valentine Fivehead, High Ham, Huish Episcopi, Keinton Mande­ esq. is chairman. There is an ancient market cross, dated ville, Kingsbury Episcopi, Kingsdon, Kingweston, Lang­ 1673, and about 30 feet in height. The market, formerly port, Long Sutton, Lydford East, Lydford West,Muchel­ held on Tuesday, is now quite obsolete. Fairs are held ney, Pitney, Somerton &, Swell on the last Monday in January, on Palm Tuesday, and the The parishes of Butleigh Puddimore Milton, Street, WaI!­ 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th Tuesdays following, on Michaelmas ton, West Camel &; Yeovilton are also included in this Day and 8th November. In the town is a shirt collar division for tax purposes, & those of Baltonsborough, factory and a brewery, which afford employment to a Curry Rivel, Drayton, Fivehead, Kingsbury Episcopi considerable number of people. Attached to the police & Swell are included in another division station here, which is the headquarters of the constabulary for the Somerton district, is a court room, a consultation PUBLIO ESTABLISHMENTS. room and lavatory, and a number of cells. The G Co. Cemetery, Behind Berry, Jesse Hunt, clerk of the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Prince Albert's (Somerset­ Inland Hevenue Office, Henry John Ede, ride officer. shire Light Infantry) is stationed here. An Institute is New street now (IgOI) in course of erection, as a memorial to Lady County Police Station, Market place, Joseph White, super­ Smith, from funds left for the purpo.se by the late Col. intendent, I sergeant & I constable William Pinney: it will contain a reading room and a Fire Brigade, T. G. Coggan, captain; Jesse Hunt, sec mission room. There are almshouses for four aged men, founded in 1626 by Sir Edward Hext, knighted at White­ VOLUNTEEHS. hall, 12 May, 1604, and endowed with £50 yearly; and 3rd Volunteer Battalion Prince Albert's (Somersetshire other almshouses for widows, founded in 1866 by Mrs., Light Infantry) (G Co. 2nd Lieut. R. W. Pinney, com­ Scott Gould, of Moredon, North Curry: charities of £35 manding; WaIter Bowering, sergeant drill instructor; yearly value are distributed in kind. The Somerton G. Gregory, color ,sergeant church·lands estate, consisting of certain lands and houses, left at various times to defray the repairs and expenses PUBLIC OFFICERS. of the church, increased in value as the old leases expire, and now (lgOl) amounts to about £162 annually. This Certifying Faet{)ry Surgeon, Medical Officer & PubliC' was formerly the principal town in Somerset and the resi­ Vaccinator, Nos. 2a & 2b Districts, Langport Union, &-. dence of some of the Saxon kings, who had a castle here, Medical Officer, No. 6 District, Shepton Mallet Union. afterwards made a state prison, and in which John, King Charles Durban lnglQ M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.Lond. of France, is said to have been confined by Edward nl. : Hopefield the gaol was afterwards built upon the site. The Stawelll, Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages, Somerton Sub­ Barons Stawel of Somerton, a bitIe which became extinct District, Relieving Officer 2nd District & School Attend­ on the death of Edward, 4th baron, in 1735, were an­ ance Officer, Langport Union, Harry Woolf cientlr connected with this place. Somerton Erleigh, now Assistant Overseer & Clerk to the Parish Council, J esse­ (190I) unoccupied, is the property of Frederick Wake Hunt, West street Pretor-Pinney esq. J.P. who resides at The Grange. Superintendent of County Police, Joseph White Somerton Court, the property of Major J. Hall-Stephen­ 'rown Oriel', William Sibley, West end son, is now (1901) occupied by John Mainwaring Hall esq. l\I.A. The Earl of Ilchester, who is lord of the manor, SOHooLS. nnd Frederick Wake Pretor·Pinney esq. J.P. are the chief Free Grammar, Board street, founded in 1676, for the free landowners. The area is 6,35° acre~; rateable value,. education of IS boys, by Thomas Glover, who endowed it £9,6°5; the population in 1901 was 1,797. with an estate of small value, but it is now an element-