National Gazetteer (1868) - Winscombe

"WINSCOMBE, a parish in the hundred of Winterstoke, county Somerset, 2 miles N.W. of Axbridge, and 5 from Banwell railway station. The village is situated on the north-eastern slope of the Mendip hills, and on the road from Bristol to Bridgwater. It includes the hamlets of Woodborough, Barton, and Sandford, at which last place calamine is found. There are limestone quarries and limekilns. The soil in the valley is a light loam resting on clay, but in other parts the soil is clayey, upon a subsoil of limestone. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Bath and Wells, value £200, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Wells. The church is dedicated to St. James. The Wesleyans, Baptists, and Society of Friends have chapels. There are National schools for both sexes, also a large school belonging to the Society of Friends at Sidcot, partly endowed by Symons Cardinbrook in 1761. The charities produce about £15 per annum, chiefly the school endowment. A fair is held on the first Monday in May for cattle. The Dean and Chapter of Wells are lords of the manor."

"WOODBOROUGH, a hamlet in the parish of Winscombe, county Somerset, 2 miles N.W. of Axbridge."