Southam Warwickshire Family History Guide
Southam is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Warwickshire.
Parish church: St James
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1539
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1662
Nonconformists include: General Baptist, Independent/Congregational, Presbyterian, Primitive Methodist, and Society of Friends/Quaker.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
SOUTHAM, a small town, a parish, a district, and a division in Warwick. The town stands on a branch of the river Ichene, 2¾ miles NE of Harbury r. station, and 7½ miles ESE of Leamington.
It was known, at Domesday, as Sucham; gave a night’s lodging to Charles I. and his two sons, on the eve of the battle of Edgehill; is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling place; and has a post-office under Rugby, two banking offices, a hotel, several inns, a church, Independent and Methodist chapels, endowed national schools with £61 a year, an eye and ear infirmary, a mineral spring similar to the waters of Leamington, another spring with intensely cold water, a workhouse, town lands £180, a weekly market on Monday, and a fair on the first Monday of every month.
The church is partly decorated English; was repaired and partly rebuilt in 1854; and has a beautiful broach spire.
The parish comprises 2,770 acres. Real property, £9,175. Pop., 1,674. Houses, 253. The manor is divided into 32 shares. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Worcester. Value, £600. Patron, the Crown.
The district contains 19 parishes, and 7 extra-parochial tracts. Acres, 50,409. Poor rates in 1863, £5,490. Pop. in 1851, 10,504; in 1861, 10,392. Houses, 2,279. Marriages in 1863, 59; births, 314, of which 22 were illegitimate; deaths, 190, of which 66 were at ages under 5 years, and 5 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 657; births, 3,457; deaths, 1,959.
The places of worship, in 1851, were 19 of the Church of England, with 4,527 sittings; 3 of Independents, with 469 s.; 5 of Wesleyans, with 699 s.; 4 of Primitive Methodists, with 303 s.; 1 of Moravians, with 70 s.; and 1 undefined, with 70 s.
The schools were 17 public day-schools, with 1,022 scholars; 22 private day-schools, with 425 s.; and 28 Sunday schools, with 1,783 s.
The division is mainly identical with the district, but less extensive; and is part of Knightlow hundred. Acres, 44,730. Pop. in 1851, 9,362. Houses, 2,010.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
SOUTHAM (St. James), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the Southam division of the hundred of Knightlow, S. division of the county of Warwick, 10 miles (E. S. E.) from Warwick, on the road to Banbury, and 84 (N. W.) from London; containing 1670 inhabitants.
This town, anciently called Suthau, is of great antiquity, and possessed a mint. The monks of Coventry had a religious establishment here; and in Bury orchard, near the churchyard, foundations have been discovered, and many skeletons dug up. In an old mansion near the centre of the town, which appears to have been built before Queen Elizabeth’s reign, Charles I. and his two sons are said to have slept, on the night before the battle of Edge-Hill, in which engagement a son of the Earl of Pembroke, who was buried in Southam church, was slain.
The parochial register, under the year 1641, contains an entry of money paid to the royal footman for opening the church doors, which had been locked and sealed by the king’s order, as a punishment to the inhabitants for not ringing the bells on his entering the place.
The town is situated on an eminence rising from the eastern bank of a tributary of the river Leam, and consists of two streets; the houses in general are modern and well built, the inhabitants are adequately supplied with water from springs, and the surrounding scenery is pleasingly diversified. The stream is crossed by a neat stone bridge of two arches, at the lower extremity of the town; and on rising ground on the opposite side, an antique mansion forms a striking contrast with the other buildings.
The market is on Monday, and is well supplied with corn. Fairs are held for cattle and horses on the first Monday in every month: at the June fair is occasionally celebrated the procession of Lady Godiva, in imitation of that at Coventry. The powers of the county debt-court of Southam, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Southam. The parish comprises 2976 acres, whereof two-thirds are arable, and the remainder pasture; the surface is elevated, the soil a fertile clay: limestone of good quality is quarried for building purposes and agriculture.
The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s books at £22. 17. 6., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £534. The church is a handsome structure in the decorated and later English styles, with a tower and fine spire; the chancel has some remarkably good windows in the former, and the clerestory is lighted by windows in the latter, style. The roof of the nave contains some remains of rich ornamental work; an old pulpit from a neighbouring church has been erected, and there is a new and handsomely-carved reading-desk.
The Independents have a place of worship. A free school was founded in 1762, and endowed with land now producing about £60 per annum. The townlands estate produces £178. 15. per annum, for the relief of the poor, and the repair of bridges and highways; and £24. 10., left by the Rev. Henry Edmunds, go to the clothing of ten poor men. An infirmary for curing diseases of the eye and ear, established by Mr. Smith, a resident surgeon, in 1818, under the patronage of the nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood, is supported by subscription.
The union of Southam embraces 19 parishes or places, and contains a population of 9907. Here is a mineral spring with the same properties as the waters at Leamington; also a spring called Holywell. Francis Holyoake, author of the first collection of English words published in the form of a dictionary, was rector of the parish in the seventeenth century.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Registers
Marriages Out of Parish
| Details | Place of Marriage |
|---|---|
| Thomas Breedon, p. Southam, & Elizabeth Maycock, of F. C. 8 Jan. 1746 | Fenny Compton |
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Directories
Southam Universal British Directory 1791
Southam is a market-town, distant from London eighty-two miles, twelve from Coventry, fourteen from Banbury, ten from Rugby, and ten from Daintry. The market-day is Monday; fairs, the first Monday in Lent, Easter-Monday, Monday before Whitsuntide, and the 10th of July. – The church has a steeple forty-two yards high, five bells, and a clock. – It is seated in fertile soil, and has a considerable market for cattle, though it is but an indifferent town.
The post is despatched to Daintry every morning at six o’clock, and arrives from thence at ten: John Moore, post-master.
The following is a list of the principal inhabitants:
Gentry.
Ashbury Mr. William
Cottrell Mrs.
Pearson Mr. George
Pristedge Mr. Fletcher, Thackstone
Clergy.
Edmunds Rev. Mr. Curate
Sandys Rev. Samuel, Vicar
Physic.
Blundell John, Surgeon
Snow Barnet, Surgeon
Law.
Tomes Edward, Attorney
Traders, &c.
Alford William, Schoolmaster
Alsop Joseph, Baker
Archer Jn. Victualler, (Bull & Butcher)
Arnold Sam. Victualler, (Eagle & Child)
Arnold Nathaniel, Farmer
Bailis William, Currier
Bass William, Parish-clerk
Beeston George, Taylor
Bicknell Thomas, Farmer
Bicknell Abraham, Flax-dresser
Billington Thomas, Cutler
Browning John, Carpenter
Burton Edward, Carpenter
Chambers Henry, Draper
Chatwell John, Carpenter
Clarke George, Mason
Clarke Wm. Victualler, (Black Horse)
Clarke Edward, Brick-maker
Clarke John, Butcher
Cottrell John, Farmer
Dalton William, Farmer
Dews Elizabeth, Victualler
Dixon John, Hair-dresser
Edmunds William, Soap-boiler
Edwards Thomas, Seedsman
Fluendy William, Staymaker
Ganderton James, Cooper and Victualler, (Bell)
Gibbard John, Farmer
Gibbins Mrs. Linen-draper
Goode Charles, Joiner
Goode Samuel, Joiner and Auctioneer
Grant Robert, Farmer
Harper William, Victualler, (Dun Cow)
Harris William, Shoemaker
Hill John, Excise-officer
Holdham Cha. Clock and Watch Maker
Hopper Benjamin, Breeches-maker
Isaac John, Pump-maker
Jinkes James, Hair-dresser
Lucas H, Hatter
Lucas Martin, Hair-dresser
Makepace Francis, Printer
Mander Nathaniel, Huckster
Martin Edward, Carpenter
Mason Chr. Victualler, (Coach & Horses)
Middleton William, Farmer
Moore John, Griffin Inn
Norris William, Grocer
Parris William, Baker
Pratt Samuel, Victualler, (Red Lion)
Pratt Samuel, Sadler
Pratt William, Shoemaker
Reynolds George, Woolcomber
Reynolds Thomas, Carpenter
Smith Mrs. Farmer
Smith William Lilley, Grocer
Southam Jos. Victualler, (King’s Head)
Spencer John, Smith
Squires Thomas, Cork-cutter and Victualler, (Black Dog)
Stewart Sarah, Grocer
Tims John, Carpenter
Tomes Richard, Gardener & Shoemaker
Turner John, Victualler, (Red Lion)
Turner John, Carpenter
Webb Thomas, Smith
Wells Joseph, Farmer
White James, Carpenter
Whitehead James, Master of the Bowling-green
Winkley Luke, sen. Farmer
Winkley Luke, jun. Farmer
Wood Thomas, Farmer
Woolbridge Thomas, Mercer
Worrell William, Plumber
Wright George, Mason
Wright James, Farmer
Wright Joseph, Farmer
Wright William, Victualler, (Crown)
Wright R. Victualler, (Blue Boar)
In the road to Banbury is the seat of Sir Charles Palmer; and in the road to Rugby is the seat of Sir William Wheeler.
Source: Universal British Directory 1791
Administration
- County: Warwickshire
- Civil Registration District: Southam
- Probate Court: Pre-1837 – Court of the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry (Episcopal Consistory), Post-1836 – Court of the Bishop of Worcester (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Worcester
- Rural Deanery: Marton
- Poor Law Union: Southam
- Hundred: Knightlow
- Province: Canterbury