Place:Lydeard St. Lawrence, Somerset, England

Watchers
NameLydeard St. Lawrence
Alt namesLydeard-St. Lawrencesource: Family History Library Catalog
Lydiard St. Lawrencesource: another spelling
St. Lawrence Lydeardsource: another spelling
Hoccombesource: hamlet in parish
Pyleighsource: hamlet in parish
Westowesource: hamlet in parish
TypeAncient parish, Civil parish
Coordinates51.085°N 3.251°W
Located inSomerset, England
See alsoTaunton and Taunton Dean Hundred, Somerset, Englandhundred in which it was located
Taunton Rural, Somerset, Englandrural district 1894-1974
Taunton Deane District, Somerset, Englandnon-metropolitan district covering the area 1974-2019
Somerset West and Taunton District, Somerset, Englandnon-metropolitan district covering the area since 2019
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Lydeard St. Lawrence or St Lawrence Lydiard (#18 on map) is a civil parish and a village in Somerset, England, situated 7 miles (11.3 km) northwest of Taunton. The village had a population of 506 in the UK census of 2011.

The parish includes the hamlets of Westowe, Hoccombe and Pyleigh, with its 16th century manor house.

From Saxon times the manor was owned by the Bishop of Winchester as part of their Taunton Deane estate. After the Norman Conquest it was granted to Wilward by William the Conqueror and known as Pylegh.

In the 18th century the manor was acquired by the Hancock family.

The parish church of St Lawrence dates from 1350 and has been designated as a Grade I listed building. It was granted to Taunton Priory by Simon de Florey in the late 12th century with the patronage later being held by the Portman family during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Image:Taunton Rural 1900 small A.png

Governance

The parish of Lydeard St. Lawrence was part of the Taunton Deane Hundred, one of the hundreds or early subdivisions of the county of Somerset. From 1894 until 1974 it was part of the Taunton Rural District.

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. Lydeard St. Lawrence joined the non-metropolitan Taunton and Taunton Deane District in 1974.

In May 2019, the districts of West Somerset and Taunton Deane merged into a single district named the Somerset West and Taunton District. The new district is not a unitary authority, and has not taken any county level functions from Somerset County Council. West Somerset covered a largely rural area, with a population of 35,300 in an area of 740 square kilometres (290 sq mi) and is the least populous non-unitary district in England. Taunton Deane's population was over 100,000, but it was still not considered a large enough district to be kept on its own.

Research tips

  • [https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/LydeardStLawrence GENUKI page on Lydeard St. Lawrence.
  • 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 Lydeard St Lawrence. 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.