Wiveliscombe, Somerset Family History Guide
Wiveliscombe is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Somerset.
Other places in the parish include: East Whitefield, Croford, Golden Hill, Lambrooke, Langley, Nunnington, Oakhampton, West Town, and West Whitefield.
Alternative names: Wilscombe
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1558
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1598
Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
WIVELISCOMBE-popularly Wilscombe-a small town, a parish, and a subdistrict, in Wellington district, Somerset. The town stands on a low hill, 5½ miles NW of Wellington r. station; is traditionally said to have been built by the Saxons, when driven by the Danes from Castle hill, which had been occupied by the Romans; was given by Edward the Confessor to the cathedral of Wells, and had a palace of the Bishops; is now a seat of petty sessions and a polling place; consists of several streets, with some good modern houses and a number of old ones; and has a post-office under Wellington, Somerset, a banking office two chief inns, a police station, a town hall, a church rebuilt in 1829, Independent and Wesleyan chapels, a national school, a dispensary, charities £100, a very large brewery, a weekly market on Tuesday, great markets on the last Tuesday of Feb. and July, and fairs on 12 May and 25 Sept. The parish includes four hamlets, and comprises 5,984 acres. Real property, £13,958; of which £120 are in gasworks. Pop., 2,735. Houses, 607. The manor belongs to Lord Ashburton. There are slate quarries, and remains of Roman and Danish camps. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value, £300. Patron, the Prebendary of Wiveliscombe.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Parish Records
Sarah Hawkins Genealogy Site – Wiveliscombe Somerset
Somerset Archives & Family History Groups
Weston-super-Mare & District FHS
Somerset Online Parish Clerk Project
Newspaper Archives
Bath Chronicle Newspaper 1770-1800
Forums
Somerset
Roy Parkhouse’s indexed parish register transcriptions
Somerset Pages Parish Register Transcripts
West Somerset Parish Register Transcriptions
Prisoners for Trial at Assizes 1810-1905
Prisoners in Ilchester Gaol 1821-44
Somerset Quarter Sessions 1625-1639
Visitations of Somerset 1531 & 1573
Somerset Historical Directories
Somerset Workhouse Admissions and Discharges
Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills Vol.1
Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills Vol.2
Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills Vol.3
Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills Vol.4
Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills Vol.5
Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills Vol.6
Somerset Medieval Wills 1501-1530
Records for England
Births and Baptism Records
England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
Great Britain, Births and Baptisms, 1571-1977
England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008
United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933
Marriage Records
Great Britain Marriages, 1797-1988
England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005
United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933
Death Records
England Death Records, 1998-2015
England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991
Great Britain Deaths and Burials, 1778-1988
England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007
United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933
England and Wales, National Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1957
England and Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1640-1660
Non-Conformist Records
England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977
Census
England and Wales Census, 1841
England and Wales Census, 1851
England and Wales Census, 1861
England and Wales Census, 1871
England and Wales Census, 1881
England and Wales Census, 1891
England and Wales Census, 1901
England and Wales Census, 1911
Occupations
United Kingdom, Merchant Navy Seamen Records, 1835-1941
War and Conflict
Great Britain, War Office Registers, 1772-1935
United Kingdom, Chelsea Pensioners’ Service Records, 1760-1913
United Kingdom, Royal Hospital Chelsea: Discharge Documents of Pensioners 1760-1887 (WO 122)
United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933
United Kingdom, Militia Service Records, 1806-1915
United Kingdom, World War I Service Records, 1914-1920
United Kingdom, World War I Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps Records, 1917-1920
Newspaper Archives
British Newspaper Archive, Family Notices
British Newspaper Archives, Obituaries
Maps
Old maps of Britain and Europe from A Vision of Britain Through Time
Administration
- County: Somerset
- Civil Registration District: Wellington (Somerset)
- Probate Court: Court of the Peculiar of the Prebend of Wiveliscombe with Fitzhead
- Diocese: Bath and Wells
- Rural Deanery: Pre-1845 – None, Post-1844 – Dunster
- Poor Law Union: Wellington
- Hundred: West Kingsbury
- Province: Canterbury