| GUIDELINES FOR TRACING THE HISTORY OF YOUR HOUSE | |||||||||
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1.1 Before you visit 1.2 Making your first visit 1.3 What you can expect to find out |
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| 2. The records you will be using | |||||||||
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2.1 Printed and Manuscript Maps 2.2 Taxation and Rating Records 2.3 Privately Deposited Records 2.4 Other Record Sources |
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| 3. Particular Types of Houses | |||||||||
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3.1 Former Parsonage Houses 3.2 Inns 3.3 Schools 3.4 Parish poor houses 3.5 Charity properties 3.6 Toll houses 3.7 Mills |
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| 4. Printed Sources | |||||||||
| 5. Further reading | |||||||||
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Appendix A:
Tithe Map exceptions |
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| 1. INTRODUCTION | |||||||||
| Interest in tracing the history of houses has never been greater. It has been helped by the publication of general guide books, and recent television programmes, such as The House Detectives in Britain. Much of the evidence for finding out about house history can be found in local record offices, and this online guide aims to help anyone interested in researching their Somerset property. | |||||||||
| 1.1 Before you visit | |||||||||
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It is important
to do some preliminary work before visiting the record office. c. If possible find the property on a modern map and make a note of the grid reference. d. If you know former owners or other people who have lived in the area for a number of years it is worth talking to them, to see whether they know anything about the history of the house. |
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| 1.2 Making your first visit | |||||||||
| Investigating the history of your house often involves looking at a number of different records, and it is important to give yourself enough time. Maps are an essential source, and you will need to book a space on the map table in our public searchrooms. It is advisable to book about ten days before your planned visit, in order to ensure that there is space. Either telephone (01823) 337600 or email archives@somerset.gov.uk. Booking early also means that we can have some records out ready for you to look at as soon as you arrive. Once you arrive there are always members of staff willing to help, and give guidance on what records will be the best for you to consult. | |||||||||
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| 1.3 What you can expect to find out | |||||||||
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You are likely
to be able to discover the property on historical maps. This not only proves
that the property was built by the date of the map, but allows you to see
the growth of the village or town in which it is situated. Some maps, such
as tithe maps and apportionments enable you to discover the owners and
occupiers of the property at that date. Further information about who lived
in the property and when it was built can be discovered through detective
work from rating records, manorial and estate papers and a range of printed
sources. If you are fortunate you may also find architectural reports, sales
particulars and even photographs. |
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| The following section aims to describe the different types of records that could be useful for your research. All of them are available at the Somerset Record Office, unless specifically stated. | |||||||||
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| 2.1 PRINTED AND MANUSCRIPT MAPS | |||||||||
| Maps constitute a major source material, not only to pinpoint the site of a house in relation to its surroundings, but also to act as definite point in time between or before which a house was built. | |||||||||
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a.
Ordnance Survey maps |
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b. Other printed maps For maps covering the whole county, only the Greenwoods' map of 1822 and Day and Masters' map of 1782 are on a scale comparable to the 1" Ordnance Survey map, and therefore may show individual properties. Both have been published as Somerset Record Society volume 76 (1981). Comparable detail is provided by Thomas Thorpe's map of 1742 showing a five-mile radius around Bath and by B. Donn's map of 1769 showing an eleven-mile radius around Bristol. Donn's map distinguishes parsonage houses, but is less reliable than Thorpe for village properties, which are presented in a stylized manner. |
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c. Tithe maps and awards For properties over 150 years old, tithe maps and their accompanying awards form an essential source of information. They record owner, occupier and type of property. Often in Somerset, they are the only old map source available for a parish. They were prepared parish by parish in consequence of the Tithe Commutation Act, 1836. 70% of the 482 Somerset parishes were mapped between 1838-1842 and only 40 (8%) after 1844. The maps were produced in triplicate, one set being held nationally, one being distributed individually to parishes and one set being held by the appropriate diocesan authority. The Somerset Record Office, as Diocesan Record Office for the Diocese of Bath and Wells, holds the diocesan set together with a substantial number of parish copies. It also holds the national set on microfiche. There are a few exceptions to the coverage of tithe maps in Somerset, and these are listed in detail in Appendix A. |
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d. Enclosure maps and awards The enclosure of common land by Act of Parliament (in Somerset sometimes of open arable fields, more often of moorland or upland waste, smaller areas of heathland or scattered pieces of roadside waste) called for the deposit in the county records of copies of the Commissioners' maps and awards. The 170 maps created extend in date from 1720-1913, but most fall between 1780-1830. A handlist, W.E. Tate's Somerset Enclosure Acts and Awards, was published in 1948, and the record office has plotted the areas covered on to its set of 1st edition 6" Ordnance Survey maps. All enclosure maps will possess the merit for property on land previously unenclosed, that they will give a date after which building must have taken place. Many will show additional areas of the parish as a result of the Commissioners' powers to authorise exchanges, not only of the newly-enclosed allotments but also of old enclosures, and may mark, if not describe, houses in the vicinity. A limited number of maps cover the whole parish, on which all houses are probably mapped, but not always numbered or included in the books of reference. These exist for Alford, Backwell, Queen Camel, Charlton Horethorne, Cheddar, Compton Dundon, Creech St Michael, High Ham, Locking, Milborne Port, Portishead, Somerton, Long Sutton, Tickenham, Weston-in-Gordano and Weston super Mare. Much land was also enclosed by local private agreement, but this has rarely left surviving map evidence behind. Any such instances will be listed in the office Catalogue of Maps. |
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e. Deposited plans of public undertakings Plans and books of reference for projected public works such as railways, canals and turnpike roads had to be deposited with the county records, and these date from 1791. Houses close to the line of any developments are likely to be shown and their owners and occupiers named in books of reference. Many of the railway plans in particular fall between the dates of the tithe and 1st edition large scale Ordnance Survey maps. A catalogue is available, but this will only give the project title and not necessarily all the parishes through which it ran. It will also include schemes which were never brought to fruition. The office set of 1st edition 6" Ordnance Survey maps has been annotated with plan numbers for those railways that had been constructed to the 1880s. |
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f. Maps of highway diversions or closures. Highway diversions or closures were settled locally by two Justices of the Peace and subject to confirmation at Quarter Sessions. Maps and certificates relating to old and new roads are filed with the Sessions papers (ref. Q/SR) and indexed on to the general topographical index in the Searchroom. They exist from c.1790 and within the limited areas covered will mark houses, but not always name owners. |
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g. Estate and parish maps Apart from enclosure maps, estate and parish maps provide the only map source before 1790. Unfortunately, Somerset lacked the early tradition of private map-making so widespread in other counties, particularly those nearer London, and comparatively few exist. The office Catalogue of Maps lists all maps, including sale catalogue maps of pre-tithe map date, giving the extent and location of the area mapped, together with the 6" Ordnance Survey sheet numbers involved. |
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| 2.2 TAXATION AND RATING RECORDS | |||||||||
| Records relating to taxation and rating are the only written sources guaranteed to provide comprehensive cover for a particular parish. | |||||||||
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a. Land tax assessments These are held for the whole county (excluding the city of Bath and the borough of Bridgwater) and were compiled between 1781-1832 to serve as evidence of property qualification for voting purposes at county parliamentary elections. Assessments for 1766 and 1767 have also been incorporated in the same series. The assessments give names of owners and occupiers, brief description of the property held, and a generally constant assessment figure. They do not always make it clear if a house is involved. They are arranged alphabetically by hundreds and similarly within each hundred by parish and this is reflected in the office catalogue (ref. Q/Rel). Parishes are sometimes sub-divided further into tithings, but where these all lie in the same hundred they are grouped together under the appropriate parish. Sometimes, the tithings of a parish will be found to be in different hundreds. Any edition of Kelly's Directory of Somerset will indicate the hundred to which each parish was assigned in the land tax period. The successful use of this type of record depends upon bridging the gap between 1832 (latest assessment) and c.1840 (tithe map), and the satisfactory identification of the property concerned with its land tax description. If overcome, the land tax assessments will provide a succession of owners and occupiers over a 50-year unbroken period. Post-1832 land tax assessments also exist for the Wells and Ilminster Divisions, comprising all or most of the hundreds of Abdick and Bulstone, Crewkerne, Glaston 12 Hides, Kingsbury East, South Petherton and Wells Forum. |
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b. Registers of electors The gap between 1832 and tithe map may be filled by rate books or by the series of registers of electors, which take over from land tax duplicates in 1832. However, the restriction of the franchise means that the value of this source is limited. |
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c. Inland Revenue valuation books For 1910, the office possesses Inland Revenue valuation books for the whole county (ref. DD/IR), originally held in three offices in Bath, Weston super Mare and Taunton, and some 400 working sheets of the 2nd edition 25" Ordnance Survey map from the two first offices covering much of the north and east of the county. These maps are annotated with numbers linking them to the hereditament numbers in the valuation books. |
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d. Parish rating records Parish records have now been received for over 98% of the parishes in the county/diocese, and some rating records will be found in most collections deposited (ref. D/P/...). These may date from the early 17th century but are fuller from the mid-18th century onwards. Sometimes rating and associated valuation records have passed into the hands of successor local authorities, for example, parish councils (ref. D/PC/...), boards of guardians (ref. D/G...) or pre-l974 borough, urban and rural district councils (refs. D/B..., D/U..., D/R..., respectively). |
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| The office's holdings of rating records are incomplete geographically and uneven in extent. Where they exist, they are liable to survive for longer periods, are likely to extend both forwards and backwards from the tithe map date, and more regularly indicate the existence of a house on a given property. Where rating and taxation records overlap or exist side-by-side in the pre-l840 period it can often prove beneficial to consult both sources. Revisions of rating assessments were rarely made before the first quarter of the 19th century. This means that the amount paid will remain unchanged and can offer a virtually sure means of identifying a holding at changes of ownership. Furthermore, the sudden appearance of a property at the foot of a rate or at the end of a section of a rate can often be taken as a clue to the date of building, particularly if this can be reinforced by architectural evidence. Unfortunately, rates do not always name occupiers in addition to owners prior to c.1837 when printed rate books were introduced according to the form laid down by the Poor Law Commissioners. Also there can be no guarantee that the same property will always be described in the same terms, either in the same category of record or in contemporary records in different classes. | |||||||||
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| 2.3 PRIVATELY DEPOSITED RECORDS | |||||||||
| Deeds and manorial and estate management records often supply the only source of primary material after map and taxation sources have been exhausted. Appendix C lists the major estate and family collections held at the Somerset Record Office. The range and quality of records from landed estates will vary widely. | |||||||||
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a. Deeds Deeds recording property transactions will often be found to have been kept either in chronological bundles, or in small groups each relating to individual properties over a longer time spread. In addition to deeds of individual freeholds acquired by the family by purchase or inheritance, there will also be records of the holdings of their manorial tenants. These may take the form of court rolls or books recording the surrenders and admissions by copyholders (i.e. those whose title was based on their copy of the court roll), but increasingly in Somerset from the mid 16th century an alternative form of tenancy was created. This was by lease for (generally 99) years determinable upon (generally 3) lives, and the bulk of copyholds were converted to this type of leasehold. Deeds can present problems. Older title deeds lack precise details, only rarely are maps added to the deeds, and the near universal practice of numbering and/or naming houses is a comparatively recent phenomenon. Therefore, even the fullest source will not allow immediate association of deeds with property. Holdings range from a single document or bundle to vast accumulations over several centuries by a major landed proprietor. Some deeds include map references (generally tithe map numbers) for deeds after c.l840, but sometimes earlier sketch maps will help identify otherwise anonymous lands. Many will relate to the acquisition of pieces of land without buildings and others to houses no longer standing. The most useful deeds will be those which give a distinctive house or farm name which survives to modern times. The only pitfalls are the possible transfer of the same name to another property, or a total rebuilding on a nearby plot of land. The word 'manor' can also be misleading. If it not followed by such words as 'capital messuage' or 'chief mansion house', it will be referring only to the lordship of the manor. A lordship can exist without having a manor house attached to it, and can also exist independently of its manor house and follow a separate ownership. In the more recent past some houses have taken the name 'manor' simply because of their age or size, or due to the social standing of the owner. Dates of initial building are very rare in deeds. Only when deeds begin with a title to land on which a house was later built will information be given. In such cases, dates between which development occurred can be established either from the two deeds concerned or sometimes within a single deed between a dated preliminary clause recited and the main text. Other sources (rates, maps, etc.) may help reduce the period, and an awareness of family circumstances may also support a particular date. As deeds and leases are exclusively concerned with ownership and title, architectural evidence is rarer than a building date. Only very occasionally will plans survive as a feature in a bundle of deeds. Narrative detail describing the building within the body of text of a deed will normally only occur when a property has to be divided, possibly between two heirs, or extended to provide accommodation by one generation for another (upon marriage or in old age). |
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b. Records of solicitors and smaller
landowners At a level below the major estates there are at least as many substantial landholders whose property was restricted to a single parish or a limited area. Their records may have come either directly from the family or its heirs or indirectly from one of the many long-established firms of solicitors. These have been similarly catalogued and indexed, but will generally consist of an accumulation of deeds of freehold properties and will rarely include series of leases or manorial records. The range of other archives produced is also restricted because of the absence of any need for a permanent agent or full-scale administration. |
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c. Estate management papers Manorial surveys of lease and copyholds are valuable because they bring together entries relating to all the properties within the manor without the omissions or losses as may be the case where the individual leases are concerned. Only occasionally will they also carry architectural detail alongside the property description. Estate management papers and surveys of the 18th and 19th centuries are more likely to carry observations and reports on the state of buildings as a tool for a valuation of the estate, and estate accounts will reflect a different stage of the same proceedings. Even so these relate to a very small proportion of properties in the county. One family's papers will also include documents relating to properties outside its ownership, for example, particulars of an acquisition which was never completed or was subsequently disposed of or copies of rates and assessments, perhaps no longer surviving in official sources, taken in connection with some local dispute. |
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d. The Manor of Taunton Deane This manor was unique in having its own form of comprehensive land registration. Records have survived in abundance between 1550-1845 and, in more limited form, for a century or so before the earlier date. (Most is catalogued within the refs DD/SP and DD/DP). The great manor of Taunton Deane belonged to the Bishop of Winchester for many centuries, and the same systems continued to operate after his disposal of the manor in 1822. The area covered comprised most or all of the parishes of Kingston St Mary, Staplegrove, Bishops Hull, Trull, Pitminster, Corfe, Stoke St Mary, Ruishton, the parts of Taunton St Mary outside the borough, those parts of Taunton St James which had not formed part of the estate of Taunton Priory, and Otterford and Rimpton (but see below). A like system of registration was applied to the Priory Manor and to Wilton (Fons George), but the surviving record sources are less comprehensive. All owners of property held of the manor were required to register any transaction or change of tenancy involving them with the manor's officers at Taunton Castle. |
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| 2.4 OTHER RECORD SOURCES | |||||||||
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a. Probate records Wills can often provide an essential link with deeds in the chain of title, and inventories listing household goods and possessions of the deceased form probably the largest individual documentary source for reconstructing the architectural use of properties. Sadly, virtually all Somerset's probate records, dating from the early 16th century, were lost in the 1942 air raid on Exeter. The only near complete substitute series is that of 13,000 copy Estate Duty wills, which exist between 1812-1857 (ref. DD/ED), and small numbers of 16th and 18th century wills left behind at Wells and Taunton before the transfer to Exeter. These and any other probate or other copies of wills have been indexed under the testators' names. Only about 300 probate inventories survive relating to all parts of the diocese, c.1580-c.1630; approximately 2,500, 1630-1755, survive for Taunton Archdeaconry (roughly the county west of a line drawn from Crewkerne to Bridgwater) and isolated copies found in privately deposited collections. The inventories offer the best chance of being linked with an identifiable house. If a will was proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury it will be housed at the Public Record Office. This practice was followed by most people of note and was necessary if property in any shape or form was held in more than one diocese. Somerset wills to 1558 have been published in Somerset Record Society volumes 16, 19 and 21, and select abstracts from the same source (plus limited other public records), but carried forward to c.1750, were made by the Revd Frederick Brown. Many of Brown's abstracts were subsequently printed by FA Crisp in six volumes as Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills (1887-1890). Both manuscript and printed versions are available, with their own indexes, but property information is often omitted or condensed, making consultation of the originals unavoidable. |
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b. Quarter Sessions papers A series of conveyances and settlements, etc., of properties, restricted originally to the single category of deeds of bargain and sale, but later extended to include other more miscellaneous documents, was required to be registered at Quarter Sessions (ref. Q/RDd). The deeds date from 1537 and the 471 documents down to 1828 have been published or abstracted in Somerset Record Society vol. 51 and Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries vols XI and XXI. Papists were required to register their estates with the same court under an Act of 1715. Rolls giving deed or survey-type information for 70 holdings exist between 1717 and 1788, mostly for the first ten years (ref. Q/RRp). These are all separately listed in the office catalogue, giving name of owner and brief property descriptions. |
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c. Protestant Dissenters and 1851
Ecclesiastical Census Following the passing of the Toleration Act in 1689 Protestant Dissenters were allowed to worship openly, but had to register their places of worship either with Quarter Sessions or with the bishop. Thus two parallel series exist and not until the 19th century was any exchange of information required. Such meetings were often held in private houses. Records of registration at Quarter Sessions date from 1689 and entries will be found in the court books and also in an abstract which lists all 1200 entries to 1845 in chronological order by date of court at which it was registered. Registrations with the bishop survive from 1736-1852 consisting of c.600 original certificates arranged in chronological order. These have all been indexed on the office topographical index in the searchroom. Reproductions of the Ecclesiastical Census, 1851 (originals in PRO) are held for most registration districts and these give dates of erection of chapels where known. |
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d. Hearth Tax records No original Hearth Tax survives locally, but those held in the Public Record Office have been published by E. Dwelly in his National Records vol. 1 (1916). This is incomplete and only covers approximately 30% of Somerset parishes (by hundreds). As it consists only of a name and a number (of hearths) under parish or tithing headings its value is restricted to some indication of the size of a property when the trail of ownership has been followed back to the 1660 period. |
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e. Plans and building reports Present-day descriptions, sometimes with plans, will be found for a growing number of properties in a variety of published and unpublished sources. The Department of the Environment's schedules of 'listed buildings' give descriptions of appearance and construction and assign an approximate building date. In addition, there are two groups in Somerset interested in 'vernacular architecture' (smaller domestic houses built before l750). The Vernacular Architecture Group and the Somerset Vernacular Building Research Group have surveyed and described, often with plans and photographs, over 1,650 houses in the pre-1974 county of Somerset and are continually adding to their number. |
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3.1 Former parsonage
houses Normal title sources were unnecessary for property that remained in the church's hands. Many rectories or vicarages have changed site, and references to a rectory does not necessarily refer to the house in which the incumbent was living. However, there is rather more architectural evidence surviving than for private dwellings, although such evidence tends to be quite recent in date. Church records provide almost the only sources, and the oldest general source is the series of glebe terriers in the diocesan records (ref. D/D/Rg). These exist for 400 parishes that possessed glebe lands, and most but not all also possessed a glebe house. Terriers were called for on limited occasions between 1606-1638, with a few dating back to 1571. No post-Restoration terriers have survived and it seems probable that none were taken. The terrier or survey usually begins with a description of the parsonage house and in about 40% of cases itemises the rooms. A card index is available, which indicates the degree of architectural detail contained. Most other sources date from the active building period from the late 18th century. The most comprehensive cover is the series of annual benefice returns made by incumbents for every year between 1814-1837. These were particularly concerned with the existence of glebe houses, questions of residence or non-residence, and reasons for the latter. They can be helpful in dating new buildings in this period, especially where the dilapidated condition of the existing house called for its replacement. The exchange of glebe was often the precursor to the building of a new parsonage and there are two complementary series within the diocesan records: 70 deeds or packets specifically of exchanges,1694-1873, but mostly 1800-1840 (ref. D/D/Bg); and a series of petitions for faculties either for exchange or to remove and rebuild parsonage houses (ref. D/D/Cf). Both series have been indexed on to the office general topographical index. Under two Acts of George III, glebe and tithe could be mortgaged to raise money for the purchase, building or repair of parsonage houses and a series of some 350 mortgages exist from 1780-1918. Plans exist intermittently from the outset and become general from 1815. There is a list of the parishes involved, which indicates where plans exist (ref. D/D/Bbm). Plans and files of more recent date relating to most, parsonage houses sold have been deposited by the Church Commissioners. These comprise 70 files of architectural papers, most of which include plans, relating to building works carried out, 1823-1946. These are listed (by parish and date only) in the catalogue of the Commissioners' records (ref. DD/CC) and are noted on the office index. Four further groups of records have come from the Diocesan Board of Finance: 140 files and plans of fairly recent date relating to parsonage houses sold from c.1950; 200 plans, generally post World War II, but including a few from c.1900; c.1500 photographic negatives of parsonage houses, c.1920-1935; and a great number of quinquennial reports on parsonage houses and benefice property, generally dated 1871-1955. All these groups are listed separately in alphabetical order of parishes (ref. DD/WBF). |
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3.2 Inns References to inns may be found in deed sources either because it is directly involved in a transaction or because it is an adjoining property. Signs, tended to change over the years and the same sign could be adopted by different premises at different dates. In addition, licensing of alehouses was a function of Quarter Sessions to 1829 and the resulting recognizances (bonds), arranged by divisions, exist from c.1730 and intermittently before that date, together with a useful general register which covers the period 1822-1829 (ref. Q/RLa). Unfortunately, inn signs are rarely given in this series before 1800. Licensing later passed to the Justices in Petty Sessions Divisions, but few 19th century records have survived. As hotbeds of local gossip, inns are likely to be referred to incidentally in the course of examinations of witnesses or persons charged before local magistrates. Such references may occur anywhere in the court papers ('rolls') of Quarter Sessions (ref. Q/SR). They may also feature as meeting places for official or unofficial bodies, such as Justices or Friendly Societies. |
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3.3 Schools The record office holds log books and minutes, etc., for many Somerset schools, especially those closed since the 1902 Education Act (ref. C/E). There are also plans for the building or alteration of 150 19th century schools, submitted for central grant aid purposes, dating from c.1840 (ref. DD/EDS). Returns to questionnaires sent to all schools in the county area after the 1902 Act give information dates of erection of school buildings and the existence of a school house. |
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3.4 Parish poor houses Most poor houses were sold shortly after the creation of Poor Law Unions in 1836 and the ensuing building of Union workhouses. Identification is not helped by the fact that the majority of sales pre-dated the tithe map. Information on sales, with names of purchasers, will be found in the minute books of the Boards of Guardians and this may lead to a tithe map identification. In addition, descriptions of a large number of poor houses in the south and west of the county will be found in the series of Poor Law Commissioners' sealed orders for sale among the Ilminster Petty Sessions records (ref. D/PS/ilm). These are indexed on the office place names index. Pre-l836 references are likely to occur in individual parish collections in the form of deeds or leases or by entries in minutes or accounts of the Vestry or of parish officers. These latter sources are also useful for tracing church houses, many of which were converted into poor houses. Where deeds or leases are found in private archives these will have been noted in catalogues and in the place names index. |
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3.5 Charity properties Houses which formed part of the endowment of a charity may be referred to in parish records deposited, and will certainly be described in the Reports of the Charity Commissioners 1819-1837 (copy in office library). |
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3.6 Toll houses Most toll houses have been demolished or fallen victim to road improvement, but any which remain can generally be recognised. The lines of all former turnpike roads have been plotted on a set of modern 1" Ordnance Survey maps and all records have been catalogued (ref. D/T). Specific records relating to toll houses will have been noted, but in most cases information will have to be sought in the trust minute books on their location and to whom sold when trusts were wound up in the 1870s. Those which still exist are recorded in J.B. Bentley and B.J. Murless, Somerset Roads: the Legacy of the Turnpikes (2 vols, 1985, 1987). |
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3.7 Mills These feature in deeds in their own right, and the use to which they were then put is normally indicated. They may also be referred to in manorial records. There will, however, always be a need to distinguish between a site used as a mill, which may go back for centuries, and the mill building which exists today. For windmills see also the papers of the late Dr Shove relating to his researches in the county in the early 1970s (ref. DD/SHO). |
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| 4. PRINTED SOURCES | |||||||||
| Printed sources can fill in a great deal of additional information about a particular building, especially if it is a substantial or significant property. | |||||||||
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a. Printed books The volumes of the Victoria County History, countywide publications of the Somerset Record Society, Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society or Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries all contain valuable information. The Somerset Record Society has published texts or calendars of wills, feet of fines, cartularies (deed registers) of religious houses and chantry properties to the 16th century and of Sales of Wards and Liveries (major estates inherited by minors), 1603-41. The Archaeological Society's Proceedings have extensive articles on the histories of religious houses and both it and Notes and Queries have occasional articles on individual houses with particular historical or architectural features. |
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b. Calendars If an owner or occupier supported the Crown during the Civil War, the property may be listed in the printed Calendars of the Committee for Compounding (1643- 1660), or the Calendars of the Committee for the Advance of Money (1642-1656). Earlier references, again largely to more significant properties, may be found in the Calendars of Patent, Close, Fine and Charter Rolls, the Inquisitions Post Mortem and the Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. These can be consulted at the Somerset Studies Library. |
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c. Newspapers Local newspapers, carry many advertisements for the sale or letting of houses, farms, inns, mills etc., and these usually carry more useful information than that found in legal documents. The Western Flying Post, Taunton Courier, Somerset County Gazette, Somerset County Herald, Western Gazette and Pulman's Weekly News exist for most years from the middle of the 18th to the end of the 19th centuries, but their areas of influence are almost exclusively in the south and west of the county. In the absence of a comprehensive index, their full exploitation is impossible. An index has been produced to the Taunton Courier for the limited period 1808-1831 for Taunton and area, including Wellington. There is an index on microfiche to the Sherborne Mercury, 1737-1740. Fuller coverage of Somerset newspapers are held on microfilm by the Somerset Studies Library, and generally researchers will be directed there. |
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| All these books are available on request for consultation at the Somerset Record Office. | |||||||||
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A J Coulthard and M Watts, Windmills of Somerset
(1978) J H Harvey's Sources for the History of Houses (1974) David T. Hawkings (ed.) Index of Somerset Estate Duty Office Wills 1812-1857 David T. Hawkings (ed.), Index of Somerset Estate Duty Office Wills and Letters of Administration 1805-1811 D Iredale's Discovering Your Old House (1977) Sir Mervyn Medlycott, Bt, Somerset Wills Index: Printed & Manuscript Copies N Pevsner, The Buildings of England, (the two Somerset volumes were published in 1958) Derek Shorrocks, Your Somerset House (revised ed. 1998) B Short and M Reed, 'An Edwardian land survey: the Finance (1909-10) Act 1910 records' Journal of the Society of Archivists, vol. 8, no. 2 (October 1986) Somerset Vernacular Buildings Research Group have published in depth guides to the following villages Long Load and Knole, Long Sutton (1982), West and Middle Chinnock (1984), Alford and Lovington (1986), Batcombe (1988), Chiselborough (1993), Haselbury Plucknett (1994), and Shapwick (1996) Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society have published some architectural descriptions in its series of Parish Surveys, of which five have been published (Wambrook, Luxborough, Carhampton, Whitestaunton and Minehead Without) Adrian J. Webb (ed.), Index of Somerset Probate Inventories (includes information on inventories in the Somerset Record Office and elsewhere) |
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| Appendix A: Tithe Map exceptions | |||||||||
| The following six groups contain all those parishes that do not conform to the normal pattern. | |||||||||
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| 1. Parishes for which no tithe maps were produced and for which there are no available alternative sources | |||||||||
| The three city parishes of Bath (St James, St Michael, SS Peter and Paul), Exmoor, Rodden, Witham Friary and its detached member, Charterhouse on Mendip. The Somerset Record Office, however, possesses an 1812 map of Witham Friary with reference book of 1845-6 (DD/X/MGR) and an 1842 map of Charterhouse on Mendip (DD/STL) without reference book. | |||||||||
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| 2. Parishes where only limited areas are mapped | |||||||||
| Bruton (635 acres), Hinton Charterhouse (68 acres), Lilstock (54 acres), Pitcombe (8 acres). | |||||||||
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| 3. Parishes where urban areas are excluded or, if mapped, are unnumbered and, therefore, omitted from the apportionment | |||||||||
| Bathwick, Beckington, Bridgwater, Chard, Easton-in-Gordano (part of Pill), Frome, Ilchester, Lyncombe and Widcombe, Shepton Mallet, Taunton (St Mary and St James), Walcot, Wells and Yeovil. For Bridgwater there exists a C20 redrawing of a copy of a plan purporting to be a borough tithe map of c. 1806; corporation-owned properties are described in an existing survey of 1836. | |||||||||
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| 4. Parishes where all tithes had been merged under an earlier enclosure award and for which no tithe maps were produced or, if produced, covered only small areas | |||||||||
| Charlton Adam, Charlton Mackrell, Churchstanton, Huish Episcopi, Keinton Mandeville, West Lydford, Middlezoy and Pitney. For all these the enclosure maps and awards, which date between 1799 and 1826 and which cover the whole parish in each case, should be consulted in preference to the tithe map. Pitney has the added bonus of having also a complete tithe map, but of exceptionally late date (1876). | |||||||||
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| 5. Parishes for which urban or other areas are missing from the diocesan copy, but which are shown on alternative maps using the same reference numbers | |||||||||
| Lyng (1833), Norton St Philip (parish copy of tithe map). | |||||||||
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| 6. Parishes for which only outline maps, lacking the normal detail, were prepared | |||||||||
| Closworth, Corton Denham, Orchard Portman, Puckington, Pylle, Staple Fitzpaine, Thurlbear (all Portman owned or dominated) and Ashington, East Cranmore and Goathill. In the case of Thurlbear and Staple Fitzpaine this short-coming is counteracted by the existence of parish maps of 1828 and 1829 respectively. | |||||||||
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| Appendix B: Estate Maps held at the Somerset Record Office | |||||||||
| Pre-1800 estate maps covering the whole or virtually the whole parish exist as follows | |||||||||
| Chapel Allerton 1787, Berrow 1773, Biddisham 1787, Bleadon 1658, Buckland Dinham 1737, Burnett 1736, Cameley 1766, 1794, Castle Cary and Ansford c. 1650-70, Charterhouse on Mendip 1761, Chelwood 1766, Chewton Mendip 1740, Chillington 1796, Chilthorne Domer 1766, Clatworthy 1780, Compton Dando 1758, Crewkerne 1772, Cudworth 1798, Dinnington 1796, Dodington 1764, Donyatt c. 1750, Dunkerton c. 1763, East Quantoxhead 1687, Edington 1794, Emborough ?1764, Englishcombe 1792, Evercreech 1775, Farmborough 1759, Farrington Gurney 1795, Goathurst 1756, Greinton 1742, High Littleton 1799, Hinton St George 1796, Kingstone 1796, Laverton 1794, Lilstock 1764, Lopen 1774, 1796, Lyncombe and Widcombe 1799, Marksbury 1759, Middlezoy 1787, Midsomer Norton 1789, Milborne Port 1782, Misterton 1700, Nettlecombe 1796, North Curry 1787, Pawlett 1658, Pendomer 1797, Portishead 1740, Publow 1776, Queen Camel 1795, Radstock 1759, Shapwick 1754, Shepton Beauchamp 1755, Stockland Bristol 1741, Stocklinch Magdalen ?1792, Stoke Lane c. 1760, Stoke St Gregory 1787, Stoke sub Hamdon 1776, 1799, Ston Easton ?1779, Nether Stowey c. 1750, Stratton on the Fosse 1772, Sutton Bingham 1699, Thornfalcon 1780, Timsbury 1784, Treborough 1780, Walton in Gordano 1783, Wedmore 1791, West Hatch 1787, Weston in Gordano 1741, Wick St Lawrence 1738, Winscombe and Shipham 1792, Woolavington c. 1775. | |||||||||
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| Appendix C Major deposits of family and estate papers | |||||||||
| The following are the major deposits of estate and family records held: | |||||||||
| Acland-Hood of Fairfield and Butleigh Wootton (DD\AH); Church Commissioners (estates of Bishop, Chapter, Dean, Vicars Choral, Archdeacon of Wells, Prebends, etc., in many parishes) (DD\CC); Combe of Earnshill (DD\CM); Dickinson of Kingweston (DD\DN); Grenville of Butleigh (DD\BR\ho); Harbin of Newton Surmaville (DD\HN); Helyar of East Coker (HLM and DD\WHh); Henley of Winsham (DD\TOR); Hippisley of Ston Easton (DD\HI); Hylton of Ammerdown (DD\HY); Kemeys-Tynte of Goathurst (DD\RN); Luttrell of Dunster (DD\L); Medlycott of Milborne Port (DD\MDL); Merchant Venturers of Bristol (DD\MVB); Mildmay of Queen Camel (DD\MI); Phelips of Montacute (DD\PH); Popham of Hunstrete (DD\PO); Portman of Orchard Portman (DD\PM); Poulett of Hinton St George (DD\PT); Sanford of Nynehead (DD\SF); Sexey's Hospital (DD\SE); Strachey of Sutton Court (DD\SH); Trollope-Bellew (Carew) of Crowcombe (DD\TB); Tudway of Wells (DD\TD); Vaughan-Lee of Dillington (DD\CA); Waldegrave of Chewton Mendip (DD\WG); Warre of Hestercombe (DD\GC); Wolseley (Trevelyan) of Nettlecombe (DD\WO); Wyndham of Orchard Wyndham (DD\WY). | |||||||||
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| The following have not deposited their records at the Somerset Record Office | |||||||||
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Horner of Mells. The Duchy of Cornwall also
retains records of its Somerset properties with those of all its other
estates in the Duchy Office in London. The location of the family seat is the determining factor in deciding where the whole family archive should be held. For example, Somerset holds records of Devon, Dorset and Wiltshire properties. For properties in Bath and Bristol or their immediate environs searchers should also consult Bath & North East Somerset Record Office, The Guildhall, Bath, BA1 5AW; or Bristol City Record Office, 'B' Bond Warehouse, Smeaton Road, Bristol, BS1 6XN, and the Bath Reference Library, 18 Queen Square, Bath, BA1 2HN. Editions of Kelly's Directory of Somerset, published at intervals between 1861-1939, usually name lords of manors and principal landowners under each parish where these can be identified and this information can often provide a useful clue to a likely record office deposit. Editions from c.1900 are the most useful in that they will list the estates before many were broken up. If all local enquiries fail, the Historical Manuscripts Commission, Quality House, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1HP, through its National Register of Archives may be able to supply a lead from its nationwide indexes of manorial and estate records. |
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