Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HENSTRIDGE

HENSTRIDGE, a village and a parish in Wincanton district, Somerset. The village stands adjacent to the Somerset and Dorset railway, near the boundary with Dorset, 6½ miles S of Wincanton; and has a station on the railway, and a post office under Blandford. The parish contains also the hamlets of Yenston, Whitchurch, and Bowden. Acres, 4, 252. Real property, £8, 801. Pop., 1, 173. Houses, 275. The manor belongs to G. W. Digby, Esq. An alien priory, a cell to St. Sever in Normandy, was founded here in the 11th century, by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester. The Virginia inn, at Henstridge-Ash, is said to have been the place where Sir Walter Raleigh first smoked a pipe of tobacco in England; and a tradition is current that the waiter supposing him to be on fire, dashed over him a pail of water. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value, £550.* Patron, the Bishop of Bath and Wells. The church contains an altar tomb of Sir William Carent and his lady, which needs restoration. There are chapels for Independents and Wesleyans, and charities £9.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Henstridge CP/AP       Wincanton RegD/PLU       Somerset AncC
Place: Henstridge

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