Place:Newton St. Loe, Somerset, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia Newton St. Loe (#8 on map) is a civil parish with a village of the same name in Somerset, England close to the villages of Corston (#4) and Stanton Prior (#13) between Bath and Bristol. The majority of the village is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. The parish had a population of 681 in the UK census of 2011. There is a history of coal mining in the area as part of the Somerset coalfield but all mines have now closed. The Globe Pit was a 19th century pit in Newton St Loe. There was also a forge at the top of Smith Hill that leads up into the village. The Newton Park mansion, which was built in 1762–65 by Stiff Leadbetter for Joseph Langton, is a Grade I listed building and its estate which is currently home to Bath Spa University. The mansion was used as a Red Cross hospital to house Australian and New Zealand troops in World War I. The grounds include Newton St. Loe Castle, comprising a keep (which was part of a fortified mansion) and a 15th-century gatehouse, which are both Grade I listed. The Duchy of Cornwall purchased the Newton Park Estate, which included much property in the village, following the death of 5th Earl Temple in 1941. Together with the adjacent Manor of Inglescombe (Englishcombe) that the Duchy already owned, this created the Duchy's largest estate outside Dartmoor in Devon. (NOTE: The eldest son of the reigning British monarch inherits possession of the Duchy of Cornwall. The current duke is Charles, Prince of Wales.) The local Church of the Holy Trinity dates back from the 11th century. An interesting feature is its clock, which has only one hand.

Governance

The parish of Newton St. Loe was part of the Wellow Hundred, one of the hundreds or early subdivisions of the county of Somerset. Between 1894 and 1933 it was a parish in the Keynsham Rural District. In 1933 the rural district was abolished and Newton St. Loe was transferred to the newly formed Bathavon 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. 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. Newton St. Loe is now in the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset.

Research Tips

• St Loe GENUKI page on Newton St Loe
• 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