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Name | Wick St. Lawrence |
Alt names | Wick-St. Lawrence | source: Family History Library Catalog | | Week St. Lawrence | source: spelling alternate/error | | Bourton | source: hamlet in parish | | Icelton | source: hamlet in parish |
Type | Chapelry, Civil parish |
Coordinates | 51.385°N 2.914°W |
Located in | Somerset, England ( - 1974) |
Also located in | Avon, England (1974 - 1996) |
See also | Congresbury, Somerset, England | ancient parish in which it was a chapelry | | Winterstoke Hundred, Somerset, England | hundred in which it was located | | Axbridge Rural, Somerset, England | rural district 1894-1974 | | Woodspring District, Avon, England | district municipality covering the area 1974-1996 | | North Somerset District, Somerset, England | district municipality and unitary authority covering the area since 1996 |
The village lies near a small creek known that flows into the River Yeo. The last wharf on the river was a pier connected by a spur to the former Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway. The railway track was removed between October 1942 and late 1943. The wharf was used to import coal from South Wales mostly by sailing barges. The coal was off-loaded by steam crane or by the barges’ derricks into wagons.
The Ebdon Bow Bridge which carries the road from the village to nearby Worle (#37) over the River Banwell was built in the late 18th or early 19th century. The parish has seen a vast increase in population in recent years, due to a housing development in this immediate area.
The village lies near the northwest extremity of the North Somerset Levels approximately 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) inland from Woodspring Bay on the Bristol Channel coast and between the estuaries of the River Banwell and the Congresbury Yeo. The M5 motorway runs along the parish's southeastern boundary.
The majority of the parish is farmland — primarily livestock rearing — with low-lying fields criss-crossed by hedgerows and rhynes or wide ditches.
The parish church of St. Lawrence, designated as a Grade II* listed building, dates mainly from the 15th century. It is built largely of pink or grey Lias limestone combined with other local limestones and sandstones. These were used during a major restoration in 1864–1865 by Foster and Wood of Bristol, made necessary after the church was struck by lightning in 1791. This caused cracks to open in the tower which was then reinforced with iron bands. However over the next 60 years the church began to fall apart, prompting the restoration. The intricately carved stone pulpit came from Woodspring Priory in 1536 following the dissolution of the monasteries. The Priory had been bought by a Bristol merchant, William Carr, and his son and heir John Carr arranged the pulpit's relocation. (John Carr subsequently became Lord of the Manors of both Congresbury and Wick St Lawrence.)
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.
Categories: Somerset, England | Wick St. Lawrence, Somerset, England | Congresbury, Somerset, England | Winterstoke Hundred, Somerset, England | Portbury Hundred, Somerset, England | Axbridge Rural, Somerset, England | Woodspring District, Avon, England | Avon, England | North Somerset District, Somerset, England
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