Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for LANGPORT

LANGPORT, a town, a sub-district, and a district, in Somerset. The town stands on the river Parret, and on the Yeovil branch of the Bristol and Exeter railway, 14 miles E by N of Taunton. It was known at Domesday as Lanporth; was then a royal borough; sent members to parliament in the time of Edward I.; was occupied, for some time in 1644, by the royalists; and, under a charter of James I., is governed by a portreeve, two bailiffs, and other officers. It was anciently much larger than now; and it is said to have been engirt with moated fortifications; but it now shows no trace of having been fortified. It stands partly in Langport-Eastover parish, partly in Huish-Episcopi parish; and is divided into two parts, called Langport-Eastover and Langport-Westover. It is situated mostly on a small ascent, contiguous to a rich plain extending northward, westward, and southward; and it possesses two fine commons and a moor. It consists chiefly of two streets; and the main one is very narrow, but leads up to an extensive and beautiful view. The town has a post-office‡ under Taunton, a railway station with telegraph, a banking office, a good inn, a stone bridge over the Parret, a town-hall and marketplace, a subscription reading-room, a museum, two churches, Independent and Baptist chapels, a free grammar school, and charities £81; is a seat of petty sessions, a seat of county courts, and a polling-place; and publishes a weekly newspaper. The museum is in an old building called the Hanging Chapel, over an archway; so situated there as to appear overhanging or uplifted. The two churches are those of Huish-Episcopi and Langport-Eastover; the former later English, comprising nave, aisles, transept, and chancel, with a very fine tower: the latter Tudor, comprising nave, aisles, transept, chancel, and two chapels, with a tower, and having an ancient stained-glass E window. The grammar school was founded, in 1675, by Thomas Gillett; and has an endowed income of £73 a-year. A lepers' hospital was founded at the town in 1312; and an intention was, for a time, entertained by Henry I. of founding here the abbey which he afterwards founded at Reading. A weekly market is held on Tuesday; cattle markets are held on the second Tuesday of every month; and large markets are held on the second Tuesday of March and December. Considerable transit traffic is carried on, both by the railway and by the river; and there is an iron foundry.

The sub-district contains the parishes of Langport-Eastover, Huish-Episcopi, Muchelney, Kingsbury-Episcopi, Long Sutton, Pitney, High Ham, and Aller. Acres, 21,032. Pop., 7,091. Houses, 1,400. —The district comprehends also the sub-district of Somerton, containing the parishes of Somerton, Compton-Dunden, Kingweston, Barton-St. David, Keinton-Mandeville, Babcary, Charlton-Adam, Charlton-Mackrell, and Kingsdon; and the sub-district of Curry-Rivell, containing the parishes of Curry-Rivell, Drayton, Swell, Fivehead, Curry-Mallett, Beer-Crocombe, Isle-Abbots, Isle-Brewers, South Bradon, Puckington, Barrington, and Earnshill, and the extra-parochial tracts of Nidon, West Moor, and West Sedgemoor. Acres, 59,391. Poor-rates, in 1863, £7,461. Pop. in 1851,18,567; in 1861,18,077. Houses, 3,724. Marriages in 1863,121; births, 529,—of which 44 were illegitimate; deaths, 394,—of which 135 were at ages under 5 years, and 12 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,173; births, 5,743; deaths, 3,422. The places of worship, in 1851, were 30 of the Church of England, with 9,430 sittings; 13 of Independents, with 2,445 s.; 4 of Baptists, with 520 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 260 s.; 6 of Wesleyans, with 969 s.; 7 of Bible Christians, with 736 s.; and 2 undefined, with 320 s. The schools were 27 public day schools, with 1,459 scholars; 45 private day schools, with 738 s.; 41 Sunday schools, with 2,727 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 14 s. The workhouse is in High Ham.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Langport SubD       Langport RegD/PLU       Somerset AncC
Place names: LANGPORT     |     LANPORTH
Place: Langport

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