Place:Uphill, Somerset, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia. Uphill (#32 on map) is now a village in the civil parish of Weston super Mare (#A) in North Somerset, England, at the southern edge of the town on Weston Bay, where the River Axe flows into the Bristol Channel. It was once a busy port. The parish was part of the ancient Winterstoke Hundred and from 1894 until 1933 was a civil parish within the Axbridge Rural District. In 1933 the civil parish was abolished and absorbed into Weston super Mare. There is evidence of a port at Uphill since Roman times, probably for the export of lead from the Mendip Hills. The mouth of the River Axe is sheltered by Brean Down. The small quay at Uphill fell under the limited jurisdiction of the Port of Bristol, however it was a free port as it did not have the customs officers to collect revenues which were present at larger ports. The normal trade from the 16th century was in livestock, brought from South Wales to be fattened on the local rich grassland. During the English Civil War (1642-1649) the port was used to bring two regiments, about 1,500 men, of the Royalist Army from South Wales before the Battle of Langport. It continued as a small landing stage for many centuries including the import of coal and iron and the export of local produce. After the Enclosure Act of 1813 a public wharf was constructed for trade and was also used occasionally by passenger excursion ships.

The Bristol to Exeter railway line runs through a steep cutting between Uphill and nearby Bleadon (#7). This cutting is spanned by a high brick bridge designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel known as "Devil's Bridge". The former Bleadon and Uphill railway station served the village from 1871 until 1964.

On top of the hill stands the unroofed Norman Old Church of St Nicholas. It is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The present day Church of St Nicholas is situated on lower ground towards the north end of the village. In addition, a separate Methodist Church is present in the village, located on Uphill Road South.

Research Tips

• 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
• The Victoria History of the Counties of England – History of the County of Somerset, produced by The Institute of Historical Research, is not available for this hundred.