Ross Beattie's Localities Pages : Lewis 1849 extracts

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of Engand
2nd ed., S. Lewis & Co., London 1849.

CANNINGTON (ST. MARY), a parish, in the union of BRIDGWATER, hundred of CANNINGTON, W. division of SOMERSET, 3½ miles (N. W. by W.) from Bridgwater ; containing 1349 inhabitants. This place is of considerable antiquity, having given name to the hundred, and was formerly of much greater importance than it is at present. Camden derives its name from its having been occupied by a tribe of Britons, called the Cangi. The navigable river Parret flows on the north and east sides of the parish. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 10. 10. ; net income, £371 ; patron and impropriator, Lord Clifford, whose tithes have been commuted for £965. There is a Roman Catholic chapel at Court House. A national school, erected at an estimated expense of £290, has an endowment of £19. 12. per annum. Mr. Rogers bequeathed £300 per annum, directing that £6 each should be annually given to twenty poor men, and the remainder to the poor generally. A Benedictine nunnery was founded in the reign of Stephen, by Robert de Courcy, a dedicated to the Blessed Virgin ; it consisted of prioress and six or seven nuns, whose revenue was estimated at £39. 15. 8. The buildings are now occupied by society of nuns, who support a school.
CUTCOMBE (ST. JOHN), a parish, in the union of WILLITON, hundred of CARHAMPTON, W. division of SOMERSET, 4¼ miles (S. W. by S.) from Dunster, on the road from Minehead to Exeter, containing 843 inhabitants. The surface is strikingly diversified, rising in some parts into hills of mountainous elevation ; and on the summit of Dunkery, one of the highest mountains in the western counties, and 1696 feet above the level of the sea, are the remains of several large hearths belonging to the beacons formerly erected on this elevated spot to alarm the country in times of civil discord or foreign invasion. Limestone is extensively quarried for building and burning into lime ; and iron ore, which is wrought in the adjoining parish, is supposed to exist here. Fairs are held at Wheddon Cross, on the 22nd, and at Luckwall Bridge on the 29th, of September. The living is a vicarage, endowed with part of the rectorial tithes tithes, with that of Luxborough annexed, and valued in the king's books at £14. 0. 7½. ; it is in the patronage of the Crown. The impropriate tithes have been commuted £114. 14. 6., and the vicarial for £295. ; the glebe comprises about 1¼ acre. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. A parochial school has an endowment of £35 per annum, arising from a bequest of Richard Elsworth ; and commodiouss school rooms, with a residence for the master and mistress, have been erected.
STOGURSEY, or STOKE COURCY (ST. ANDREW), a parish, in the union of WILLITON, hundred of CANNINGTON, W. division of SOMERSET, 8½ miles (N. W. by W.) from Bridgwater ; containing, with the hamlets of Burton, Knighton, Shurton, Stotford, and Week, 1467 inhabitants. The parish is bounded on the north by the Bristol Channel, and comprises 5853 acres, of which 275 are common or waste land. The living is a vicarage, with that of Lilstock annexed, valued in the king’s books at £16. 7. 6., and in the gift of Eton College. Certain tithes belonging to the rector of Huntspill were exchanged for corn-rents in 1800, under an inclosure act ; and rent-charges, in commutation of tithes under the recent act, of £50, £800, and £370, are payable respectively to an impropriator, to the College, and the vicar. A Benedictine priory, a cell to the Abbey of L’Onley, in Normandy, was founded here in the reign of Henry II., and at the suppression was valued at £58 per annum, and granted by Henry VI. to Eton College.
TIMBERSCOMBE (ST. MICHAEL), a parish, in the union of WILLITON, hundred of CARHAMPTON, W. division of SOMERSET, 2½ miles (W. S. W.) from Dunster ; containing 476 inhabitants. The parish is a beautifully situated in a small fertile valley surrounded by high hills, and is traversed by the road from Dunster to Dulverton ; it comprises by measurement 1432 acres, the soil of which is in some parts gravelly, and in others stony, and good stone is quarried for building. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the patronage of the Prebendary of Timberscombe in the Cathedral of Wells (the appropriator), valued in the king's books at £6 10. ; net income, £170. There is a parsonage-house ; the glebe consists of about 3½ acres, and the appropriator possesses also 43 acres. The church has an embattled tower surrounded by a low spire, which are much more ancient that the body of the edifice, which is built in the 15th century, and is in the later English style ; there is a south aisle, and the nave is separated from the chancel by a handsome old screen, in excellent preservation. Richard Ellsworth, in 1714, bequeathed £200 towards building a school-house, and an annuity of £20 for clothing and educating children ; it was not erected till 1824, and the original endowment having accumulated to £50 per annum, about 60 children are instructed and clothed. There are two strong chalybeate springs in the parish.
WINSFORD (ST. MARY MAGDALENE), a parish, in the union of DULVERTON, hundred of WILLITON and FREEMANNERS, W. division of SOMERSET, 5 miles (N. by W.) from Dulverton ; containing 581 inhabitants. The parish comprises 8656 acres including 2035 common or waste, and is situated on the river Exe, which forms its bounding for 6 or 7 miles. Iron-ore is abundant, and there are indications of it has having been formerly wrought to a great extent ; common stone, of the slate species, is quarried for roads and for building rough walls. A cattle fair is held on the 20th of August. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £14. 13. 9., and in the gift of Emanuel College, Cambridge : of the impropriate tithes, ¼ belongs to Sir T. D. Acland, Bart., ¼ to the poor of the parishes of King’s-Brompton, Kingston, and Bishops-Lydeard, and ½ is appropriated for exhibitions at St. Mary's Hall, Oxford. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £130, and at the vicarial for £130 ; there is a glebe-house, and the glebe comprises 92¾ acres. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

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