Charlton Musgrove
| Charlton Musgrove | |
| Somerset | |
|---|---|
 St Johns | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST725315 |
| Location: | 51°4’56"N, 2°23’38"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 398 (2011) |
| Post town: | Wincanton |
| Postcode: | BA9 |
| Dialling code: | 01963 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | South Somerset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Somerton and Frome |
Charlton Musgrove is a village in Somerset, a mile north-east of Wincanton. It has a parish population of 398, including the hamlets of Barrow, Holbrook, Southmarsh.
History
The Domesday Book of 1086 records that before ethe Norman Conquest the manor of Charlton was held by Godman, but by 1086 it had passed to Robert FitzGerold.
In 1861 the Dorset Central Railway opened a standard gauge track through the western side of the parish, joining Templecombe with Cole. It was linked to Glastonbury in the following year by the Somerset and Dorset Railway and was double lined in 1887. The line was closed in 1966.[1]
Parish chuch
The village is unusual in having two churches and two centres.
The Church of St Stephen dates from the 13th century. It has been designated as a Grade II* listed building.[2] It is in the original village centre.
The second centre of the village is said to have originated when people fled to avoid the plague. The newer centre had no church until 1877 when a chapel of ease at Barrow Lane, dedicated to St John the Baptist,[3] was given by Mrs. Emma Frances Davies (née Leir), the widow of a former rector, daughter of Rev William Leir (1768–1863). It is of stone in a 13th-century style, designed by Charles Edward Davis of Bath, and comprises an apsidal chancel and a nave with a southern bell tower.[1] The Leir family themselves have provided a number of rectors to the parish.
Stavordale Priory, now a private home owned by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, is thought to be linked to the village's Old Church near the altar by a tunnel, perhaps used as a priest's escape route, some two miles in length. The building has 13th-century origins, having been founded by a member of the Lovel family,[4] and was converted around the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, after the Priory merged with Taunton in 1533. The Priory of the Augustinian Order was first mentioned in 1243. The bell tower is known to have existed by 1374, and the church was refitted and rebuilt around 1439. The chantry of Jesus was described as having been "recently completed" in 1526.[5]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Charlton Musgrove) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 A History of the County of Somerset - Volume 7 : Charlton Musgrove (Victoria County History)@[1]
- ↑ National Heritage List 1346185: Church of Saint Stephen (Grade II* listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1346184: St John's Memorial Chapel (Grade @ listing)
- ↑ Bush, Robin (1994). Somerset: The complete guide. Wimborne, Dorset: Dovecote Press. p. 62. ISBN 1-874336-26-1. https://archive.org/details/somersetcomplete0000bush/page/62.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1176699: Stavordale Priory (Grade @ listing)