Crewkerne, Somerset Family History Guide

Crewkerne is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Somerset.

Other places in the parish include: Woolminstone, Laymore, Horn, Hewish, Greenham, Furland, Easthams, Coombe, Clapton, Black Down, and Ash.

Alternative names:

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1558
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1594

Nonconformists include: Bible Christian Methodist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Presbyterian, Society of Friends/Quaker, Strict Baptist, Unitarian, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

CREWKERNE, a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a hundred in Somerset. The town stands in the valley of the river Parret, on the Yeovil and Exeter railway, surrounded by a wide amphitheatre of hills, 2¼ miles N of the boundary with Dorset, and 8½ SW by W of Yeovil. It dates from ancient times; was known to the Saxons as Crocern or Cruaern; is now a busy place; publishes a weekly newspaper; and has a head post-office, a railway station with telegraph, a banking office, two chief inns, a market-house, two churches, four dissenting chapels, a free grammar school, another endowed school, two alms-houses, and other charities with a total of £524. One of the churches succeeded a previous edifice, given by the Conqueror to Caen abbey; and is itself a beautiful cruciform structure of the 15th century, in perpendicular English, with richly-carved doors and windows, and with a lofty central tower, surmounted by turrets. The other church was built in 1853; is also in the English perpendicular style; and consists of nave, north aisle, chancel, and bell-turret. The grammar school was founded in 1499; has an endowed income of £320, with four exhibitions; and had for a pupil Mr. Justice Best, afterwards Lord Wyndford. Markets are held on Saturdays; and a fair on 4 Sept. Manufactures of sail-cloth, webbing, and girths are carried on. The father of Tom Paine, author of the “Rights of Man,” was a native. Pop., 3, 566. Houses, 725. The parish includes also the tythings of Clapton, Coombe, Easthams, Furland, Hewish, Woolminstone, Laymore, Horn, Ash, Greenham, and part of Black Down. Acres, 5, 331. Real property, £22, 025. Pop., 4, 705. Houses, 942. The property is subdivided. The manor belonged, at Domesday, to the Crown; and passed, through the Redvers, the Courtenays, and others, to the Pouletts. Wulfric, the anchorite, who was visited by Henry I. and Stephen, lived in a cell at Hasilborough; and St. Ranns was buried in a chapel on Ranna-hill. The living is a vicarage, united with the p. curacy of Christ Church, in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value, £300. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Winchester.

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

Parish Registers

Crewkerne Marriages 1559-1812

Crewkerne Marriages 1559-1812. Somerset parish registers. V5 – HathiTrust

Parish Records

FamilySearch

Use for:
England, Somerset, Clapton (near Crewkerne)
England, Somerset, Coombe
England, Somerset, Furland
England, Somerset, Hewish
England, Somerset, Woolminstone

Maps

Old maps of Britain and Europe from A Vision of Britain Through Time

Administration

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