Uphill Somerset Family History Guide

Uphill is an Ancient Parish in the county of Somerset. 

Parish church: St. Nicholas

Parish registers begin:

  • Parish registers: 1696
  • Bishop’s Transcripts: 1598

Nonconformists include: Baptist and Wesleyan Methodist.

Adjacent Parishes

Historical Descriptions

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

UPHILL, a parish, with a village, in Axbridge district, Somerset; on the coast at the month of the river Exe, and on the Bristol and Exeter railway, 2½ miles S of Weston-super-Mare. It has a post-office under Weston-super-Mare. Acres, 1,697; of which 620 are water. Real property, £3,175. Pop., 447. Houses, 85. The manor, with U. Castle, belongs to T. T. Knyfton, Esq. U. House is the seat of the Rev. W. R. Crotch. Axium is supposed to have been a Roman settlement; was the shipping-place of mining produce from the Mendip hills; and was, for some time, the residence of the historian Gildas. U. cavern is a bone cave; was discovered in 1826; and was then replete with remains of sheep, oxen, pigs, horses, elephants, rhinoceroses, bears, and hyænas. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value, £300. Patron, T. Bennett, Esq. The old church crowns a hill, commanding an extensive view, serves as a notable landmark; shows almost every style, from Norman to late perpendicular; and is crumbling to. decay. The new church was built in 1843, and is in the later English style. There are a Wesleyan chapel and a parochial school.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

UPHILL (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Axbridge, hundred of Winterstoke, E. division of Somerset, 8 miles (N. W. by W.) from Axbridge; containing 400 inhabitants. The parish comprises 1036a. 1r. 12p., and is bounded on the south by the river Axe, which falls into the Bristol Channel at the village. Its proximity to Weston-Super-Mare, a fashionable bathing-place, has induced capitalists to purchase a considerable portion of land in it with a view to erect houses. Stone is quarried for building and for the roads. The Bristol and Exeter railway passes through the parish. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king’s books at £11. 7.; net income, £184; patron, John Fisher, Esq.: there is a glebe of about 30 acres. The old church, with its central tower, occupies the summit of a lofty eminence south of the village; a new church has been erected by subscription. Here is a place of worship for Baptists. A cave was discovered at Uphill a few years since, similar to the caves in the same ridge of hills, at Burrington and Banwell.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Administration

  • County: Somerset
  • Civil Registration District: Axbridge
  • Probate Court: Court of the Bishop (Consistory) of the Archdeaconry of Wells
  • Diocese: Bath and Wells
  • Rural Deanery: Axbridge
  • Poor Law Union: Axbridge
  • Hundred: Winterstoke
  • Province: Canterbury