Compton Bishop, Somerset Genealogy

England Somerset

Parish History
COMPTON-BISHOP (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Axbridge, hundred of Winterstoke, E. division of Somerset, 2¼ miles (W. N. W.) from Axbridge; containing 802 inhabitants. It is intersected by the Bristol and Exeter road and the river Axe, and comprises 2535a. 2r. 30p., of which 775 acres are common or waste, and 50 road and water: there is a good supply of excellent limestone in the hills. The village is situated in a hollow, under the southern declivity of the Mendip range, presenting a very picturesque appearance: the village of Cross, in the parish, has a General Post-Office. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £11; patron, the Prebendary of Compton-Bishop in the Cathedral of Wells: the great tithes have been commuted for £71. 2., and the vicarial for £203. 17.; the rectorial glebe contains 82½ acres, and the vicar's nearly 7 acres, with a glebe-house. The church has a handsome stone pulpit, and the exterior arch of the porch is in the Norman style: in the churchyard is an ancient cross. A little to the south-west of Compton is a spacious natural cave, entered by a perpendicular shaft; and proceeding by a difficult winding passage, a still more extensive cavern opens to the sight: from the roof, which expands into a kind of arch, hung formerly some beautiful stalactites; and various incrustations, assuming the most fantastic shapes, lay scattered about; but all have been defaced or removed by visiters.From: 'Comberton - Compton-Dando', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 672-675. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50892&amp;amp;strquery=compton dando Date accessed: 06 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.