Place:Langport, Somerset, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia Langport (#22 on map) is a civil parish and a small town which never became an urban district in Somerset, England, 5 miles (8 km) west of Somerton (#27). Langport is surrounded on three sides by Huish Episcopi (#15), a separate parish that includes much of the town's outskirts. The parish (which covers only part of the present town) has a population of 1,081. [edit] History Langport (old forms are "Langeberga" and "Langeport") consists of two parts, one on the hill and one by the River Parrett which makes a turn from west to north around the urban area. The hill part owed its origin to its defensible position, while the riverside owed its growth to its facilities for trade on the chief river of Somerset. Eilert Ekwall translates Langport as "long town" or "long market". Its name looks like Anglo-Saxon for "long port", but it may be "long market place" that could have been on the causeway that is now Bow Street. Langport was previously also known as Langport Eastover, with the part on the western bank which is in Huish Episcopi being Langport Westover, now known just as Westover. Langport is on the ancient way from Glastonbury to Taunton.

In 1086, according to Domesday Book it had 34 resident burgesses and was worth the then-large sum of £79-10s-7d.

In medieval times Langport was an important centre for cloth making. The charter of 1562 granted three annual fairs to Langport, on 28 June 11 November, and the second Monday in Lent. Only one fair is now held, a horse and cattle fair on 3 September. A Saturday market was held under the grant of 1562, but in the 19th century the market day was changed to Tuesday.

On 10 July 1645, the Battle of Langport was fought here, in which the last effective Royalist field army was destroyed and the Parliamentary (Cromwellian) victory in the English Civil War became all but inevitable. When the Royalists retreated through the town many were killed at the bridge over the Parrett, and many of the buildings were set on fire. Although one authority states this was an act by the Parliamentary cavalry, reading contemporary accounts of the battle it is clear that the Royalist cavalry set the lower town on fire in the (vain) hope that this would hinder the pursuit led by Cromwell's cavalry.

In 1826 it was the birthplace of Walter Bagehot a businessman, essayist and journalist, who wrote extensively about literature, government, economic affairs and other topics. He went into partnership with George Stuckey and by 1866 the company owned 14 East Indiamen as well as 19 barges on the River Parrett. This developed into the Somerset Trading Company. Stuckey's Bank had been founded in 1770 and by 1909 its banknote circulation was second only to that of the Bank of England. It was then taken over by Parr's Bank which became part of the Westminster Bank.

The Great Bow Bridge, which now carries the A378 road, is a three-arched bridge, constructed under the terms of the Parrett Navigation Act of 1836. Completed in 1841 at a cost of £3,749, it replaced the previous medieval bridge, with its nine tiny arches, all too small to allow navigation. A bridge at this site was first mentioned in 1220. The medieval bridge consisted of a total of 31 arches, of which nine crossed the river.

Around 1840 the Westport Canal was built which joined the river at Langport. The abortive Ivelchester and Langport Navigation scheme had sought to avoid the Great Bow Bridge, by making the Portlake Rhine navigable, rebuilding Little Bow Bridge in the centre of Langport, and making a new cut to Bicknell's Bridge. Seven locks, each with a small rise, were planned but the scheme foundered in 1797, due to financial difficulties. The railway came to Langport in 1853 and opened up new markets, but caused the decline of river traffic.

In World War II Langport was the site of a United States Army military prison or Disciplinary Training Center.

Governance

Langport was a chapelry of Huish Episcopi and a parish in the Pitney Hundred, one of the hundreds or early subdivisions of the county of Somerset. From 1894 until 1974 it was part of the Langport Rural District.

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. Langport has been in the non-metropolitan South Somerset District since 1974.

Research Tips

• GENUKI page on Langport.
• An article on Langport from the Victoria History of the Counties of England – History of the County of Somerset, produced by The Institute of Historical Research.
• 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