Beckington

"BECKINGTON, a parish in the hundred of Frome, in the county of Somerset, 3 miles to the N.E. of Frome. Bath is its post town. It lies on the confines of Wiltshire, on the banks of the river Frome, and includes the hamlet of Rudge. This place was formerly the seat of a considerable cloth manufacture, and woollens axe still made to a small extent. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Bath and Wells, of the value, with the rectory of Sanderwick, which is annexed to it, of £540, in the patronage of the Rev. S. L. Sainsbury. The church is dedicated to St. Gregory. It contains a monumental brass of the year 1475, an ancient font, and the monument to Samuel Daniel, poet and historian, who succeeded Spenser as poet-laureate in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and died in this village in 1619. Here also are interred the remains of Alexander Huish, one of the editors of the Polyglot Bible, who held the rectory of Beckington, and died in 1688. This was the birthplace of Thomas Beckington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, who died in 1645. The Wesleyans and Baptists have chapels in the village, and there are National and Sunday schools. The parochial charities amount to £23 a year." From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson © 2003