Place:Keynsham, Somerset, England

Watchers
NameKeynsham
Alt namesKeynsham Abbeysource: predecessor of Keynsham town
TypeAncient parish, Civil parish, Urban district
Coordinates51.416°N 2.498°W
Located inSomerset, England
Also located inAvon, England     (1974 - 1996)
See alsoKeynsham Hundred, Somerset, Englandhundred in which it was located
Keynsham Rural, Somerset, Englandrural district 1894-1933
Bathavon Rural, Somerset, Englandrural district 1933-1938
Wansdyke, Avon, Englanddistrict in which Keynsham located 1974-1996
Bath and North East Somerset, Somerset, Englandunitary authority which took over from Avon on its abolition in 1996
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Keynsham (#6 on map) is a town and civil parish located between Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. It has a population of about 16,000.

Keynsham developed into a medieval market town after Keynsham Abbey was founded around 1170. It is situated at the confluence of the River Chew and River Avon and was subject to serious flooding before the creation of Chew Valley Lake and river level controls at Keynsham Lock in 1727. It was home to the Cadbury's chocolate factory, Somerdale, which opened in 1935. It was a major employer in the town until it closed in 2011.

The town is served by Keynsham railway station on the London-Bristol and Bristol-Southampton trunk routes and is close to the A4 road which bypassed the town in 1964.

History

Around 1170, Keynsham Abbey was founded by the Victorine congregation of canon regulars. Archeological evidence suggests that the abbey was built over the site of the previous Saxon Minster church. The settlement developed into a medieval market town, and the abbey of Keynsham was given ownership of the Keynsham Hundred. The Abbey survived until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. The remains have been designated as a Grade I listed building by English Heritage.

Image:Keynsham Rural small PJ.png

Keynsham played a part in the Civil War as the Roundheads or Parliamentarians saved the town and also camped there for the night, using the pub now known as the Lock Keeper Inn as a guard post. During the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685 the town was the site of a battle between royalist forces and the rebel Duke of Monmouth. Bridges Almshouses were built around 1685 and may have been for the widows of those killed in the rebellion.

Begun in 1292, the Church of England parish church of St John the Baptist, Keynsham, gradually evolved until taking its present general form during the reign of Charles II (reigned 1660-1685), after the tower collapsed into the building during a storm in 1632. A former organ is said to have stood in the church, but "had tones so mellow" that Handel bargained for it, offering a peal of bells in exchange. The offer was accepted. The musician went off with the organ and the bells were delivered. There are eight bells in total, some made by the Bilbie family of Chew Stoke. The church has been designated as a Grade II* listed building.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Keynsham#History.

Governance

Keynsham was a civil parish in the Keynsham Rural District from 1894 until 1933 when the rural district was merged into the Bathavon Rural District. Five years later, in 1938 Keynsham was made an urban district independent of the rural district. It remained as such until 1974.

In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, all urban and rural districts across England were abolished and counties were reorganized into metropolitan and non-metropolitan districts. In addition, this area of Somerset with the city of Bristol and part of Gloucestershire were declared a new county named Avon. Like other counties, it had non-metropolitan districts covering the more non-urban areas. The area directly south of Bristol and east to the border with Wiltshire was placed in the Wansdyke District, while the section west to the Bristol Channel was placed in the Woodspring District. The county of Avon only lasted until 1996. When it was abolished a slight restructuring of non-metropolitan districts occurred to allow those parts of Avon to return to Somerset and Gloucestershire. Keynsham is now in Bath and North East Somerset district (commonly abbreviated to BANES) which is classified as a unitary authority.

Research Tips

  • GENUKI page on Keynsham.
  • 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
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Keynsham. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.