Place:Clapton, Somerset, England

Watchers
NameClapton
Alt namesClapton in Gordanosource: parish name after 1954
Clapton-in-Gordanosource: Getty Vocabulary Program
TypeAncient parish, Civil parish
Coordinates51.45°N 2.767°W
Located inSomerset, England
Also located inAvon, England     (1974 - 1996)
See alsoPortbury Hundred, Somerset, Englandhundred in which it was located
Long Ashton Rural, Somerset, Englandrural district in which it was located 1935-1974
Woodspring District, Avon, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area 1974-1996
North Somerset District, Somerset, Englandunitary authority and district municipality covering the area since 1996
NOTE: There are three places in Somerset named Clapton. The other two are hamlets and have been redirected to their respective civil parishes of Crewkerne and Ston Easton. This is the one Clapton which is a parish.

Clapton was a civil parish and a village in Somerset, England. The original parish (#6/7 on map) was part of the Portbury Hundred. Between 1894 and 1954 the parish was part of the Long Ashton Rural District.

Coal was mined in the area in the 17th and 18th centuries. Half a mile west of the village is a manor house (now a farm). Another notable historic building in the village is The Black Horse pub, a 17th-century inn and former magistrate's gaol. Sperrings Farm with its 500-year-old listed farmhouse is situated on the outskirts of the village.

The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portsmouth Department of Geography).

"CLAPTON, a parish in Bedminster [registration] district, Somerset; on the Taunton canal, 3½ miles NNW of Bourton [railway] station, and 7½ W of Bristol. Post town: Portbury, under Bristol. Acres: 1,066. Real property: £2,145. Population: 173. Houses: 27. The property is subdivided. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value: £250. Patron: Walter Bernard, Esq. The church is early English, with a Norman tower."
Image:Long Ashton Rural 1900 small.png
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

In 1954 the parish was renamed Clapton in Gordano, mirroring its neighbours Walton in Gordano (#19) and Weston in Gordano (#20). The present village is on the southern side of the Gordano Valley, immediately adjacent to the M5 motorway. According to the UK census of 2011, the parish had a population of 348. Until 1974 Clapton in Gordano continued to be part of Long Ashton Rural District.

The name "Gordano" comes from Old English and is descriptive of the triangular shape of the whole valley from Clevedon to Portishead, "Gordano" being the ablative singular of the Latinised form of "Gorden" meaning "muddy valley".

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.

Between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1996, North Somerset was the Woodspring District of the county of Avon. The parish now falls within the unitary authority of North Somerset which was created in 1996, as established by the Local Government Act 1992.

Research Tips

  • GENUKI page on Clapton.
  • 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
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Clapton in Gordano. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.