Weare

WEARE -  information extracted from Kelly’s 1914 Directory of Somerset

WEARE is a large parish, containing besides the village of its own name, Upper & Lower Weare, the hamlets of Alston Sutton and Brinscombe.  Weare is on the road from Bristol to Bridgwater 3 miles south-west of Axbridge Station on the Cheddar Valley Branch of the Great Western Railway and was formerly a place of considerable note.  Lower Weare was anciently a borough, and from 1304 to 1307 sent two members to Parliament, except in 1306 when only one was returned.  The place was also honoured with many other privileges from the reign of Henry I to that of Edward III.  The river Axe runs through the northern part of the parish, and is crossed by a stone bridge of one arch. 

Badgworth Court is the seat of Miss E Fownes-Luttrell.  Sir Osbert L’Estrange Mordaunt, bart., is the lord of the manor of Lower Weare.  Miss E Fownes-Luttrell and Edward Arney Esq., are the chief landowners.

The soil is various, mostly light, with fine pasturage; and the sub soil is clay.  The acreage is 1,729 acres;  rateable value £3,279.  Population in 1911 was 385 in the civil and 456 in the ecclesiastical parish (which comprises parts of Weare, Chapel Allerton and Mark civil parishes.  Brinscombe, 1½ miles south-east and Alston Sutton are hamlets

WEARE is part of the

·         Wells division of the County [Somerset],

·         Hundred of Bempstone,

·         Axbridge Petty Sessional Division,

·         Axbridge Union,

·         County Court District of Axbridge,

·         Rural deanery of Burnham,

·         Archdeaconry of Wells

• Diocese of Bath & Wells.

THE CHURCH

The Church of St Gregory is a building of local stone in the Perpendicular style, erected at the time of Henry VII consisting of chancel, nave, aisle, south porch, vestry and a fine embattled western tower, with a pierced parapet and four pinnacles, and containing 6 fine-toned bells.  On the exterior of the tower are two canopied niches.  In the Sanctuary is a brass with the effigy of a merchant with a gypcière attached to his girdle, and an inscription to John Bedbere, c. 1500.  The font is Norman; there are fragments of ancient stained glass in one of the windows, one of which bears the initials J.B. and another five wounds, a third the chalice and wafer and in the last a crown with the monogram “I.H.S”.  In the churchyard is an ancient cross, raised on a base of four steps, the total height being about 10 feet,

The church was restored and a north aisle added in 1846, at a cost of £800, and in 1886 a new organ erected at a cost of £250.  During the restoration in 1901 the removal of the plaster from the walls of the Sanctuary brought to light an ancient aumbry and piscina, and on the west side of the chancel arch a way was found to the staircase leading to the rood loft. 

There are sittings for 200 persons.  The register dates from the years 1737 and the list of vicars is kept, dating from 1309.

The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £270, including 37 acres of glebe with residence, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Bristol, and has been held since 1870 by the Rev Frederic Charles Skey, M.A..  of Worcester  College, Oxford.

• Sexton – Henry Banwell

Non-Conformist

There are Baptist and United Methodist Chapels – There is also a Band of Hope of 40 members

THE School

Public Elementary School, Upper Weare (mixed), built in 1840, and rebuilt in 1895, at a cost of £450 for 80 children; average attendance 47. 

• School Mistress – Miss Lydia Jennings

Post

Post & Telegraoh Office  Lower Weare, Letters arrive from Axbridge arrive at about 6.35am. and 3.40pm – Sundays at 7.35am. Letters are dispatched at 9.30am and 7.15pm, Sunday 1.10pm.  The nearest Money Order Office is at Axbridge, 2¼ miles distant.

• Sub-Postmaster – Ernest James Hooper

Private Residents

Founes-Luttrell, Miss E. Badgworth Court, Upper Weare

Skey, Rev. Frederic Charles M.A., The Vicarage

Tilley, Mrs, Upper Weare

Commercial

Allen, Jane & Eva (Misses) shopkeepers, Upper Weare

Allen, Charles, carpenter, Lower Weare

Arney, Arthur, farmer, Upper Weare

Buncombe, Frank Francis, blacksmith, Lower Weare

Burbidge, Alex, butcher, Lower Weare

Burge, George, farmer, Alston Sutton

Caple,  John, The Lamb Inn, Lower Weare

Clapp, Robert, farmer, Alston Sutton

Coles, Alfred, farmer, Lower Weare

Cook, George, dairy farmer, Boxtree Farm, Upper Weare

Court, Albert, farmer, Laburnham Farm

Day, Daniel, farmer, Lower Weare

Day, George Aubrey, brick & tile maker, Lower Weare

Emery, Thomas, cowkeeper, Washbrook

Gadd, Frederick Collins, dairy farmer, Brinscombe farm

Grimstead, Edward, carpenter, Jackett Woods

Ham, Arthur John, farmer, Notting Hill farm

Ham, Frederick Robert, dairy farmer

Ham, Gabriel, farmer, Sparrow Hill farm

Ham, Joseph, dairy farmer, Brinscombe

Ham, Robert, farmer, Elm Tree farm, Lower Weare

Ham, William, farmer, Court Farm

Heal, Sidney James, blacksmith, Lower Weare

Heath, Tom, dairy farmer, Upper Weare

Hicks, Charles, dairy farmer, Alston Sutton

Hicks, James Edward, dairy farmer, Upper Weare

Hicks, William, dairy farmer, Upper Weare

Hooper, Ernest James, butcher, Lower Weare

Hooper, Henry, farmer, Lower Weare

Hooper, Mary, (Mrs), shopkeeper, Lower Weare

James, John, farmer, Washbrook

Parr, William, gardener to Miss E Fownes-Luttrell

Raines, George Henry, farmer, Stream farm, Upper Weare

Redding, Aubrey, farmer, Lower Weare

Redding. Sarah (Mrs), dress maker, Lower Weare

Redding, William, cider dealer, Upper Weare

Reddman Frederick, farmer, Brinscombe

Rendall William Henry, boot repairer, Lower Weare

Skinner, William J. T. horse dealer, Lower Weare

Tilley, Albert, farmer, Upper Weare

Vincent, John Walter, butcher, Lower Weare

White, George Albert, horse trainer, Lower Weare