Place:Norton St. Philip, Somerset, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia.

Norton Saint Philip is a Village in Somerset, England, located between the City of Bath and the town of Frome. The village is in the district of Mendip, and the parliamentary constituency of Somerton and Frome

Historic Descriptions

1822 - Somersetshire delineated by Christopher & John Greenwood

NORTON-ST. PHILIPS — a small town in the liberty of Hinton and Norton, and locally in the hundred of Wellow, situated 7 miles S. from Bath, and containing 134 inhabited houses, and 150 families, 34 of whom are employed in agriculture, 84 in trade, manufacture, or handicraft, and 32 not comprised in either class. This town had formerly a weekly market, and four annual fairs; two of the latter are still held, one on May 1st, and the other on August 29th. The church is dedicated to St. Philip and St. James, and is an ancient building, consisting of a nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a neat embattled tower At the west end 70 feet high, containing a clock and six bells. The living is a vicarage, in the deanery of Frome, and in the gift of the Bishop of the diocese ; Rev. J. Cammeline, incumbent; instituted 1819. Population, 1801, 557 — 1811, 593 — 1821, 669.

1929 - Somerset by George Woosung Wade & Joseph Henry Wade

Norton St Philip, a comely village equidistant (3 m.) from Midford (S. & D.) and Freshford (G.W.R.) Stations. It stands on high ground near the crossing of the roads from Frome to Bath, and from Radstock to Trowbridge. In mediaeval days Norton was the scene of a considerable cloth fair, the tolls of which were the perquisites of the prior of Hinton. At a later date it was the scene of a sharp skirmish between the Duke of Monmouth's forces and a body of regulars under the Duke of Grafton. The church has an extraordinary W. tower, the eccentricities of which have led some to conclude that it was constructed out of odds and ends from the dismantled monastic buildings at Hinton. Note the singularly deep buttresses and the quasi-porch formed between them. The body of the church is likewise peculiar, but of more merit. It is one of Sir G. Scott's restorations. In the S. wall of the nave is the recumbent effigy of a layman (cp. Cleeve). Beneath the tower is a tablet commemorating a local "freak"—the two ladies of Foxcote, who appear to have been an early edition of the Siamese Twins. A neighbouring garden contains a good Elizabethan dovecot. Norton St Philip claims to possess the oldest licensed house in England—the George—a stately 15th cent. hostelry standing at the top of the village. It is a fine old half-timbered building, with a small bay window in front and an octagonal projecting staircase and gallery at the back, and is well worthy of inspection within and without. It was probably built for the accommodation of the merchants of the staple in the old cloth fair-days.

Research Tips

Old Maps

• Ordnance Survey 1:10560 County Series 1st edition (c.1884-87) Sheet 30 Subsheet 08
• Ordnance Survey 1:10560 County Series 2nd edition (c.1900) Sheet 30 Subsheet 08

Family History Catalog

• Parish registers, 1585-1902
• Bishop's transcripts, 1609-1639
• Bishop's transcripts, 1597-1836
• Land tax assessments for Norton-St. Philip, 1766-1832
• Poor law records, 1658-1890
• Parish chest materials, 1686-1892
• Census returns for Norton-St. Philip, 1841-1891

Other Resources

• Somerset Record Office
• Somerset Archives holdings for Parish of 'Norton St. Philip'
• Frome Registration District Research Guide
• Norton St. Philip at Wikipedia
• Norton St. Philip at GENUKI
• Norton St Philip Parish Council

source: Family History Library Catalog

Picture Gallery

The George Inn