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Wiveliscombe in Somerset County England History and GeographyWIVELISCOMBE, a market town and parish, forming, with the parishes of Ash-Priors, Bishop's Lydiard, and Fitzhead, one of the two unconnected portions which constitute the western division of the hundred of KINGSBURY, county of SOMERSET, 28 miles (W.) from Somerton, and 155 (W. by S.) from London, containing 2791 inhabitants. This place is of considerable antiquity, but its origin and etymology cannot be traced with certainty. Conjecture has deduced the latter from the Saxon Willi, or Vili, signifying many, and Combe, a deep ravine, or dell, of which there are several in the immediate environs. The town occupies a gentle eminence, in an extensive valley enclosed by lofty hills, which suddenly break into deep ravines; the houses are in general neat and well built, and, by the recent removal of several of the more ancient, the streets have been widened, and the general appearance of the town greatly improved. The inhabitants are supplied with water conveyed by pipes from a spring on Mawndown, a hill about a mile distant. A considerable woollen manufacture is carried on, but not to so great an extent as formerly: the articles consist chiefly of slave clothing for the West India markets, swan-skins for the Newfoundland fishery, and blankets for the home trade: the number of persons regularly employed varies from eight hundred to a thousand. The diversion of the mail-road through this town has materially contributed to promote its various interests. The markets are on Tuesday and Saturday; the former is the principal, and a great deal of business is transacted in corn, &c. A great market for prime oxen, of the North Devon breed, considered to be the largest in the West of England, is held on the last Tuesday in February. Fairs are, May 12th for oxen and other cattle, and September 25th for sheep. The town is under the superintendence of a bailiff and portreeve, with ale-tasters and other officers, all of whom are chosen at a court leet held annually. It is said to have been formerly a parliamentary borough, and that it was relieved from the elective franchise on petition. The living is a vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction and patronage of the Prebendary of Wiveliscombe in the Cathedral Church of Wells, rated in the king's books at £27. 0. 10. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, has been recently erected, at an expense of £6000, raised on the security of the parish rates, to be paid off in twenty years, aided by a general subscription, and a grant of £500 from the Incorporated Society for the building and enlargement of churches and chapels: it is a very handsome edifice, in the ancient style of English architecture, and contains five hundred and fifty-eight sittings, of which four hundred and fifty-seven are free. There is a place of worship for Independents. An infirmary was established, in 1804, through the exertions of the medical men of the town and neighbourhood. In this parish are two ancient encampments; the one on an eminence at a place called Castle, of a circular form and very perfect; the other at Courtneys, square and evidently of Roman origin. Here also are some remains of an old episcopal palace, particularly an archway leading into the workhouse, and the kitchen, which is nearly entire. In digging for the foundation of the new church, it was discovered that the tower of the former had been erected upon the foundations of a more ancient building; a variety of Roman and Saxon coins was also found, together with some Nuremberg counters, used by the monks in their calculations on the Abacus. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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