Frome St John the Baptist, Somerset Genealogy

England Somerset



Parish History
Frome St John the Baptist is an Ancient parish and the first church on the site was founded in 685 AD by St Adhelm with subsequent medieval replacement subjected to restorations.

The parish comprises by estimation 7092½ acres, of which 1497a. 3r. 34p. are arable, 5058a. 1r. 19p. pasture, and 536a. 29p. woodland. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £22; patron and impropriator, the Marquess of Bath: the great tithes have been commuted for £538. 13. 6., and the vicarial for £600. 15.; the glebe comprises 87½ acres, with a house. The parochial church is a spacious structure, consisting of a nave, north and south aisles, chancel, and four sepulchral chapels, with a tower surmounted by a spire, and a north and south porch; a new western front and other embellishments were added about 30 years ago, from a design by the late Sir Jeffrey Wyatville. The interior contains many interesting monuments; and in the churchyard is the grave of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells, who died in 1711, at Longleat House, and was buried here.

From: 'Froggatt - Fulbrook', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 269-272. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50974 Date accessed: 13 March 2011.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Somerset Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.