Place:Axbridge, Somerset, England

:The following is based on an article in Wikipedia Axbridge (#1 on map) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in the Sedgemoor District on the River Axe, near the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. According to the 2011 UK census the town's population was 2,057. It was part of the ancient Winterstoke Hundred and from 1894 until 1974 part of the Axbridge Rural District. [edit] History Early inhabitants of the area almost certainly include the Romans (who are known to have mined lead on the top of the Mendips) and earlier still, prehistoric man. The history of Axbridge can be traced back to the reign of King Alfred when it was part of the Saxons' defence system for Wessex against the Vikings. In the Burghal Hidage, a list of burhs (later, burghs) compiled in 910, it was listed as "Axanbrycg". A listing of Axbridge appears in the Domesday survey of 1086 as "Alse Bruge", meaning 'axe bridge' from the Old English "isca" and "brycg". It was part of the royal manor of Cheddar. (Cheddar is the large neighbouring parish to the east.) It was granted a Royal Charter in 1202, when King John sold most of the royal manor of Cheddar to the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Axbridge is a very old borough and sent members to parliament in the reigns of Edward I and Edward III.

Axbridge grew in the Tudor period as a centre for cloth manufacture, This was reflected in its early royal charters allowing it to hold markets and fairs, and become a royal borough. It even had its own mint, with coins showing the town's symbol: the Lamb and Flag. Trade was possible as the River Axe was navigable to wharves at Axbridge.

Later the town's importance declined, which led to stagnation and the preservation of many historic buildings in the town centre. These include King John's Hunting Lodge (actually a Tudor building) which is now used as a museum.

The 13th-century parish Church of St John is a grade I listed building. There is a separate article on it in Wikipedia.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries iron ore was extracted from the hill above and east of Axbridge.

Axbridge railway station, on the Cheddar Valley line, opened on 3 August 1869. It closed to goods traffic on 10 June 1963 and to passengers on 9 September 1963. The route of the railway is now the A371 Axbridge bypass, but the station buildings and goods shed still survive.

Workhouse

The Axbridge Union workhouse was erected in 1837 on the south side of West Street in Axbridge. The Poor Law Commissioners authorised expenditure of £4,496 17s 6d on construction of the building, which was intended to accommodate 250 inmates. It was designed by Samuel T Welch, who was also the architect of workhouses at Wells and Clifton. By 1929 the workhouse had become officially known as Axbridge Poor Law Institution.

Research Tips

• The Axbridge GENUKI page gives dates of availability of parish records (births, marriages and deaths) and Poor Law Unions.
• The Somerset Heritage Centre (incorporating what was formerly the Somerset Record Office and the Somerset Local Studies Library) can be found at its new location at Langford Mead in Taunton. It has an online search facility leading to pages of interest, including maps from the First and Second Ordnance Survey (select "Maps and Postcards" from the list at the left, then enter the parish in the search box).
  The Heritage Centre has an email address: archives@somerset.gov.uk.
• Three maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrate the changes in political boundaries over the period 1830-1945. All have expanding scales and on the second and third this facility is sufficient that individual parishes can be inspected.

• Somerset Hundreds as drawn in 1832. This map was prepared before The Great Reform Act of that year. Note the polling places and representation of the various parts of the county.
• Somerset in 1900, an Ordnance Survey map showing rural districts, the boundaries of the larger towns, the smaller civil parishes of the time, and some hamlets and villages in each parish
• Somerset in 1943, an Ordnance Survey map showing the rural districts after the changes to their structure in the 1930s

• Maps provided by the National Library of Scotland are also very useful. This map is currently set to an area now in the Sedgmoor District as it existed in the late 19th century, but can be moved to anywhere in the county using a variety of background maps. There is a very good search facility.
• A Vision of Britain through Time has a group of pages of statistical facts for almost every parish in the county
• GENUKI gives pointers to other archive sources as well as providing some details on each parish. The emphasis here is on ecclesiastical parishes (useful before 1837)
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 and tables of the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. The compiler has gone to a lot of work to provide this material. Respect his copyright.
• The FamilySearch Wiki for Somerset provides a similar but not identical series of webpages to that provided by GENUKI
• English Jurisdictions, a supplementary website to FamilySearch outlining local parish boundaries in the middle on the 19th century. The information provided is especially useful for establishing the relationship of the ecclesiastical parishes in large towns and cathedral cities.
• The Victoria History of the Counties of England – History of the County of Somerset, produced by The Institute of Historical Research at the University of London is a scholarly website with articles tracing the history of individual parishes which are sorted into their hundreds, the early subdivisions of the county. It traces the ownership of estates and manors, describes the local church in detail, and usually provides a map of each parish. The volumes for Somerset are much more recent than those for other counties. It appears to be a work in progress, only covering about half the county so far. A map of the places covered in the series is given in Volume 6, but 3 more volumes have been published since then. If a parish is included there will be a note in its Research Tips.
• The Somerset and Dorset Family History Society
• The Weston super Mare Family History Society
• The Bristol and Avon Family History Society
• A list of all Somerset parishes with online transcripts of parish registers The size of Somerset makes this a huge project. If it does not yield what you are looking for, try getting in touch with the organizer with patience and politeness.
• Somerset Online Parish Clerk project home page
• A collection of West Somerset Parish Register Transcriptions are online courtesy of Martin Southwood
• The Victoria History of the Counties of England – History of the County of Somerset, produced by The Institute of Historical Research, is not available for this hundred.