Somerset

Somerset Towns & Parishes

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Nearby places

Burnham on Sea

"BURNHAM ON SEA, a parish in the hundred of Bempstone, in the county of Somerset, 8 miles to the S.W. of Axbridge. Bridgwater is its post town It is situated on the coast of Bridgwater Bay, near the mouth of the river Bruo, and is connected with the Bristol and Exeter railway by a short branch line from Highbridge. The parish, which is very extensive, comprising an area of 4,302 acres, includes the hamlet of Edithmead, and the tything of Huish-juxta-Highbridge, with parts of the tything of Aston Morris, and of the hamlet of Highbridge. It is mentioned in the will of Alfred the Great, who is said to have been wrecked on the Gore, a dangerous sandbank at the entrance of the river Parret. Hero is a good sandy beach, and two lighthouses for guiding vessels over the bar at the mouth of the Parret. They stand about 500 yards apart, and have elevations of about 90 feet and 23 feet respectively." From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson © 2003

Archives and Libraries

• Details of Somerset Record Office holdings relating to this parish.

Bibliography

• Edithmead is a small hamlet near Burnham-on-Sea. It is the subject of a book by Phyllis Wyatt: "A Somerset Childhood" published in 1989 by The Dovecote Press Ltd, Stanbridge, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 4JD. ISBN 0 946159726. "A delightful and often moving portrait of growing up in rural Somerset between the two wars"

Church Records

• Mike Durtnall's website includes some church register transcripts for this parish.

Gazetteers

• The section of The National Gazetteer (1868) relating to this parish - transcribed by Colin Hinson.

Maps

• The Ordnance Survey 1:10560 County Series 2nd edition (c.1900) map of the area provided by Somerset Record Office.

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