Spaxton

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Spaxton
Somerset
St. Margaret's church, Spaxton - geograph.org.uk - 145156.jpg
Church of St Margaret, Spaxton
Location
Grid reference: ST225375
Location: 51°7’55"N, 3°6’32"W
Data
Population: 1,014  (2001)
Post town: Bridgwater
Postcode: TA5
Dialling code: 01278
Local Government
Council: Sedgemoor
Parliamentary
constituency:
Bridgwater & W. Somerset

Spaxton is a small village on the Quantocks in Somerset.

The name of Spaxton is recorded in the Domesday Book as Spacheston of uncertain meaning. For a time the manor was the property of Alfred of Spain.[1]

Near the village is Hawkridge Reservoir which supplies water for Bridgwater, constructed between 1960 and 1962,[2] and also the Ashford Reservoir which was constructed in 1932.

Church

The Church of St Margaret has some parts from the 12th and 13th centuries but is predominantly from the 15th century, and was restored in 1895. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.[3]

Sights of the village

Gothelney Manor Farmhouse at Gothelney Green was built in the 15th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building.[4]

History

The civil parish includes the villages of Aisholt and Charlynch (or Charlinch) where, around 1850 Henry James Prince the founder of the Agapemonites was ordained to the curacy of Charlinch, where he had sole charge in the illness and absence of the rector, the Rev. Samuel Starkey.

The Church of St Mary was the Parish Church with the Church of England, but has now been deconsecrated. It dates from the 11th century with a tower probably of 1867. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.[5] It contains monuments and tablets to the family of Admiral Robert Blake.

During the 19th century, the village was home to the notorious religious cult of the Agapemone.[6]

Outside links

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("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Spaxton)

References

  1. Robinson, Stephen (1992). Somerset Place Names. Wimborne, Dorset: Dovecote Press. ISBN 1-874336-03-2. 
  2. Waite, Vincent (1964). Portrait of the Quantocks. London: Robert Hale. ISBN 0-7091-1158-4. 
  3. National Heritage List 1060186: Church of St Margaret
  4. National Heritage List 1060185: Gothelney Manor Farmhouse
  5. National Heritage List 1178212: Church of St Mary
  6. Quantocks On-Line - Spaxton