Place:West Somerset District, Somerset, England

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

The West Somerset District was a local government district in the English county of Somerset from 1974 until 2019. The council covered a largely rural area, with a population of 34,900 in an area of 740 square kilometres (290 sq mi); it is the least populous non-unitary district in England.

The District included the following municipalities:

• Minehead municipal borough
• Watchet urban district
• Dulverton Rural District
• Williton Rural District

In September 2016, West Somerset District and Taunton Deane councils agreed in principle to merge the districts into one (with one council) subject to consultation. The new district would not be a unitary authority: it would still be part of the Somerset County Council area. In March 2018 both councils voted in favour of the merger and it will come into effect on 1st April 2019, with the first elections to the new council in May 2019. The new authority is known as Somerset West and Taunton District Council.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article West Somerset. especially the sections entitled "History", "Settlements" and "Parishes"

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