Place:Stoke St. Michael, Somerset, England

Watchers
NameStoke St. Michael
Alt namesStoke Lanesource: another name for parish
Stoke-Lanesource: hyphenated
TypeChapelry, Civil parish
Coordinates51.22°N 2.48°W
Located inSomerset, England
See alsoDoulting, Somerset, Englandparish of which it was a chapelry
Whitstone Hundred, Somerset, Englandhundred in which it was located
Shepton Mallet Rural, Somerset, Englandrural district in which Stoke St Michael situated 1894-1974
Mendip District, Somerset, Englandnon-metropolitan district in existence since 1974 which includes Stoke St Michael
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia.

Stoke St. Michael (#21 on map) is a civil parish and a village in Somerset, England on the Mendip Hills. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Shepton Mallet, and 8 miles (12.9 km) west of Frome.

History

Since the 14th century the village has also been known as Stoke Lane, although the origin of the alternative name is unclear, but may be connected to John de Lison who gave lands in the village to Glastonbury Abbey in 1253.

The village became a centre for cloth manufacture with fulling mills being established on the River Frome to the north of the village. Henry Fussell established paper mills in 1803, and his family, including James Fussell, who came from the village, established their iron works and edge-tool business in Mells.

The Knatchbull Arms was built in the late 17th century, and is named after the Knatchbulls of Babington House who held the manor in the late 18th century.

The manor house on Tower Hill, which was previously known as the old vicarage, was built around 1700.

Image:Shepton Mallet Rural small.png

Governance

The parish of Stoke St. Michael or Stoke Lane originated as a chapelry of the ancient parish of Doulting (#7) in the Whitstone Hundred, one of the hundreds or early subdivisions of the county of Somerset. From 1894 until 1974 it was part of the Shepton Mallet 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. Stoke St. Michael has been in the non-metropolitan Mendip District since 1974.

Research Tips

  • GENUKI page on Stoke St. Michael.
  • 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 Stoke St Michael. 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.