Place:Chew Magna, Somerset, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Chew Magna is a village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in the Unitary Authority of Bath and North East Somerset, in the Ceremonial county of Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 1,161.^[1]

To the south of the village is Chew Valley Lake. The village is on the B3130 road, about from Bristol, from Bath, from the city of Wells, and from Bristol Airport.

The village is close to the northern edge of the Mendip Hills (a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), and was designated a conservation area in 1978. There are many listed buildings reflecting the history of the village. The River Chew flows through the village. Just outside the village is Chew Magna Reservoir: this small Bristol Water supply reservoir intercepts the Winford Brook.

The village has approximately 1,200 residents. There is one primary school, and an adjacent secondary school, several shops and small businesses, three churches, and three pubs serving the area. There is also a football pitch and children's play area. The village frequently wins regional categories in the Calor Village of the Year competition, and is currently moving towards zero waste status, having been described as "probably the greenest parish in Britain".

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Chew Magna is the largest village in the district, and can trace its importance back to Saxon times. It was a thriving woollen centre in the Middle Ages. The manor of Chew was held by the Bishops of Bath and Wells from 1062 to 1548, and therefore was called Chew Episcopi or Bishop's Chew. The bishops built a palace near the church of St Andrews, which was visited by Henry III in 1250. Chew Court is a surviving part of the palace. More recently, since about 1600, the name has been Chew Magna because this has been the most important of the several villages along the banks of the River Chew. According to Robinson it was an episcopal property held by Giso, the last Saxon bishop and the name Magna comes from the Latin meaning 'the greater'.

The parish was part of the hundred of Chew.

Around 1700 the Lord of the Manor was Sir William Jones, the Attorney General of England and in the 1820s it was the seat of Lord Lyttelton. Until about 1880 the village had toll roads and a toll house to collect the fees. During the 19th and 20th centuries the importance of the wool trade in the village declined and it became largely a dormitory area for the cities of Bristol and Bath, although it has continued to be the commercial centre of the valley.

Second World War

During German bombing raids targeted on Bristol, many bombs fell in the parish: Ruen House on the road to Chew Hill was bombed. The nearly flat area just east of the Y-junction on Chew Hill was initially chosen as a Starfish site area to be lit by fires to simulate Bristol in flames. Later, about half way between North Chew Farm and Manor Farm, North Wick there was an area secured by Royal Air Force personnel, lit by fires, and with "automatic" guns to simulate anti-aircraft guns. There was also a genuine heavy anti aircraft battery at Chewhill farm. The area was guarded by pill boxes of which one remains on the west side of Blacklands (map reference ST579640).

Chew Valley Lake

The construction of Chew Valley Lake in the 1950s brought opportunities for leisure and tourism.^[2]

1968 storm

On 10–11 July 1968 a storm brought heavy rainfall to the Chew valley and Dundry, with falling in 18 hours on Chew Stoke, double the area's average rainfall for the whole of July, and flooded 88 properties in Chew Magna with many being inundated with of water. The bridge on the road to Dundry was demolished.

Telephone exchange

The Chew Magna telephone exchange was manually operated until the 1950s. An important number Chew Magna 2 was that of Doctor Terrell Hughes: the exchange operators could often locate him in an emergency even if he was away from his home and surgery. The manual exchange served most of the Chew valley and even East Dundry.

Research Tips

• The Chew Magna 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.

• Old Maps Online has a further selection of local maps. Some of these do not expand sufficiently to identify rural places.

• A Vision of Britain has a wide selection of articles of local interest.

• A History of Britain Online is a compilation of gazetteers which may provide more information about very small places which are missing from Wikipedia. In the case of Somerset it refers to A History of the County of Somerset by R. W. Dunning (editor), published as part of the Victoria County History series in 2006.

• A collection of West Somerset Parish Register Transcriptions are online courtesy of Martin Southwood

source: Family History Library Catalog