Wincanton in 1841
Wincanton or Wincaunton is in the hundred of Norton Ferris, 111 miles west by south of London by Andover and Amesbury, and 35 miles east of Taunton by Langport and Ilchester. Some Roman antiquities have been found in and near the town. It is called Wincaleton in Domesday, a name embodying that of the river Cale, an affluent of the Dorsetshire Stour, on which it stands. The town consists of four principal streets, through one of which the road from London to Exeter by Ilchester and Honiton runs : the houses are commonly well built and regular, which is partly owing to their having been rebuilt after an extensive conflagration in 1747. The church is a tolerably large and plain building, consisting of nave, chancel, side aisles, and western tower. There are meeting-houses for Independents and Baptists.
The area of the parish is 3,860 acres ; the population in 1831 was 2,123. Dowlas and bed-ticking are made, but not to the same extent as formerly. The market is on Wednesday, and there are two yearly fairs. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Wells, in the diocese of Bath and Wells, of the clear yearly value of £123. There were in the parish, in 1833, eleven day or boarding schools, with 100 boys and 94 girls ; and three Sunday-schools, with 150 boys and 155 girls. |