Place:Sedgemoor District, Somerset, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

The Sedgemoor District is a local government district in Somerset, England formed on April 1, 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of

• municipal borough of Bridgwater,
• Burnham on Sea Urban District,
• Bridgwater Rural District and
• part of Axbridge Rural District.

The district covers an area larger than the historical Sedgemoor area (described below), extending north of the Polden Hills across the Somerset Levels to the Mendip Hills.

"Sedgemoor is a low-lying area of land south of the Polden Hills, an historically largely marsh (or "moor" in its older sense). The eastern part is known as King's Sedgemoor, and the western part West Sedgemoor. It is part of the area now known as the Somerset Levels. Historically the area was known as the site of the Battle of Sedgemoor in 1685, the last battle of the Monmouth Rebellion." (Source: Wikipedia on Sedgemoor)

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Sedgemoor. including lists of the towns, villages and parishes making up the area.

Research Tips

Archives and Libraries

• 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. The Heritage Centre has an email address:archives@somerset.gov.uk.

• The Somerset County Council homepage has a 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)

• Old Maps Online has a further selection of local maps

• A Vision of Britain has a wide selection of articles of local interest.

• Each Library in Somerset has its own web page. The index page to libraries leads to each of the libraries along with the facilities to be found there.

• The Somerset pages of GENUKI contain a great amount of useful data and references to other websites. Some of the web links are not up to date.

• The four family history societies covering parts of Somerset are:

• Bristol & Avon FHS
• Somerset & Dorset FHS
• Weston super Mare FHS
• Friends of Somerset Archives