Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset Family History Guide

Norton Fitzwarren is an Ancient Parish in the county of Somerset.

Other places in the parish include: Langford and Vanhampton.

Alternative names:

Parish church: All Saints

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1556
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1594

Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

NORTON-FITZWARREN, a village and a parish in Taunton district, Somerset. The village stands near the river Tone, the Bristol and Exeter railway, and the Taunton and Watchet railway, 2½ miles W N W of Taunton; is a pleasant place; and has a post-office under Taunton. The parish contains the tythings of Langford and Vanhampton, and comprises 1, 307 acres. Real property, £3, 521. Pop., 634. Houses, 131. The property is divided among a few. The manor, with the Manor-House on a commanding site, belongs to N. Welman, Esq. Montys Court is the residence of Lady Slade; Norton Court, of the Hewetts; and Way House of Major A. Jones. A curious earthwork is on a hill above the church; comprises 13 acres, engirt by ditch and double rampart; is locally fabled to have been the haunt of a prodigious serpent, which long devastated the surrounding country; and was thought by the Rev. Mr. Warre, in an account of it to the Somerset Archæological Society, to be the site of an ancient British town. The present village may not improbably be traceable to an ancient British origin; and, at least, has an ancient importance assigned to it by an old local rhyme, which says,

When Taunton was a furzy down,
Norton was a market town.

The living is a rectory in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value, £490. Patron, Mrs. Mary Hewett. The church is early English; comprises nave, aisles, chancel, and chapel with a tower; and has an E memorial window. The nave and the N aisle were rebuilt in 1853; and the chancel was restored, and the chapel built, in 1865. There are an Independent 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

NORTON-FITZWARREN (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Taunton, hundred of Taunton and Taunton-Dean, W. division of Somerset, 2¾ miles (W. N. W.) from Taunton; containing 606 inhabitants. It comprises 1257 acres. The canal from Taunton to Tiverton passes through. The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s books at £20. 10. 10., and in the gift of Charles Welman, Esq., lord of the manor: the tithes have been commuted for £283, and the glebe comprises 7½ acres. The church is an ancient structure; the chancel is separated from the nave by a richly-carved screen. On an eminence above the church are traces of a circular encampment.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Parish Records

Sarah Hawkins Genealogy Site – Norton Fitzwarren Somerset

Maps

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

Administration

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

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

Parish Records

Somerset Archives & Family History Groups

Newspaper Archives

Forums

Somerset

Maps

Administration