Place:Saltford, Somerset, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia Saltford (#12 on map) is a civil parish with a large village of the same name now in Bath and North East Somerset district (commonly abbreviated to BANES) which is classified as a unitary authority. It lies between the cities of Bristol and Bath, and adjoins Keynsham (#6) on the same route. Saltford Manor House (built about 1160) claims to be the oldest continuously occupied dwelling in England. The village lies on the A4 road and on the River Avon, to which the Saltford and Kelston locks provide access. The low-lying area is prone to flooding. The population of the civil parish in the UK census of 2011 was 4,073. The parish of Saltford was part of the Keynsham Hundred, one of the hundreds or early subdivisions of the county of Somerset. From 1894 until 1933 it was part of the Keynsham Rural District. In 1933 the rural district was abolished and after five years in the replacement Bathavon Rural District, Saltford became part of the newly formed Keynsham Urban District in 1938. 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. Saltford is now in the Bath and North East Somerset district.

St Mary's Church, Saltford, a Norman church dating back to the 12th century, is a Grade II listed building. The tower dates from Saxon times, although it has been extensively repaired and the top 10 feet were added later.

Saltford Manor House, which lies west of the church, dates from around 1160, and was found through a survey by Country Life magazine to be the oldest continuously occupied house in England. Architectural historian John Goodall believes the house has details, particularly in the ornate windows, which date it securely to before 1150, and probably to around 1148, the completion date of Hereford Cathedral, with which it has some similarities. The façade of the house dates from the 17th century. Another mansion, Saltford House, was built in 1771. In 1856 it was bought by Admiral Benedictus Marwood Kelly who died there on 26 September 1867.

The 18th-century Old Brass Mill, like the Manor House, is listed as Grade II* and is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The Brass Mill was one of a series along the Avon Valley powered by water wheels.

Research Tips

• GENUKI page on Saltford
• 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