Place:


Norton Fitzwarren  Somerset

 

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Norton Fitzwarren like this:

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.

Norton Fitzwarren through time

Norton Fitzwarren is now part of Taunton Deane district. Click here for graphs and data of how Taunton Deane has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Norton Fitzwarren itself, go to Units and Statistics.

How to reference this page:

GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Norton Fitzwarren, in Taunton Deane and Somerset | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.

URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/13117

Date accessed: 28th March 2024


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