Blackford

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

BLACKFORD is an ecclesiastical parish, formed October 11^th1844, out of the parish of Wedmore.   4 miles north of Edington Junction (Somerset & Dorset Railway), 6 miles south-west from Cheddar Station on the Cheddar Valley Branch of the Great Western Railway, 8 miles south of Axbridge and 6 east from Highbridge.

The manor anciently belonged to the Bishop of Bath and Wells who built  a house there in the 13^th century,  most of which remains.  A free chapel was founded here prior to 1408 under the jurisdiction of the Bishop: This chapel was however  suppressed in 1548 and the manor ceded to the Duke of Somerset.  The manor is now the property of the feoffees of Bruton Hospital; Hugh SEXEY, Esq., who was auditor to Queen Elizabeth and King James, being Lord of the Manor, gave it with other splendid properties, A.D. 1617 to found an establishment at Bruton for the education of 12 boys, and for the maintenance of 14 old men and 14 old women.

In the parish is a mineral spring, noted for its curative effects in some diseases of the eyes.  The land is mostly used for grazing.

The population in 1911 was 500.  WEST STOUGHTON, 1 mile north, and WESTHAM, 1 mile south are hamlets

BLACKFORD is part of the

•         Wells division of the County [Somerset],
•          Hundred of Bempstone,
•          Axbridge Petty Sessional Division,
•          Axbridge Poor Law Union,
•          County Court District of Axbridge,
•          Rural deanery of Burnham,
•          Archdeaconry of Wells,
•          Diocese of Bath & Wells.

THE CHURCH

The Church of the Holy Trinity, erected in 1823, is an octagonal building of local stone, with western porch, and a belfry containing a clock and one bell:  a new organ was built in 1890  at a cost of £100: the church was thoroughly restored and reseated in 1895 at a cost of £400, and affords seating for 175 persons.  The Register dates from 1824.

The living is a vicarage, gross yearly value £275, with residence, in the gift of the Vicar of Wedmore, and held since 1912 by the Rev. Samuel James SWAINSON M. A.  of Queens College, Oxford, and B. A. of London University

Sexton:            Edward HARVEY

THE School

Public Elementary School, erected in 1877, enlarged in 1907, for 176 children; average attendance 110;

School Master – James MERRIMAN

SEXEY’s SCHOOL – founded in 1897 out of the old endowment of Sexey’s Hospital, at Bruton, with aid from Somerset County Council, intended to provide a good secondary and commercial education for both boys and girls; the premises, built in 1899, at a cost of £6,000, contains spacious  class rooms, & are available for 40 boys as boarders and 90 day pupils, besides a detached house, standing in its own grounds, for 25 girl boarders;  There are now about 120 pupils, one third of whom are boarders.

Chairman of Managers – Mr W. G. BURROUGH, Wedmore

Head Master – Edward Henry SMITH,  A. C. P.

Clerk – Albert TUCKER, Wedmore

Teachers – 5 assistant masters and 5 assistant mistresses

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE SCHOOL – A school was instituted in 1912 for the purpose of teaching scientific Dairy and General Farming to senior pupils

Post

Money Order & Telegraph OFFICE – Letters through Cheddar delivered at 7.20 a.m.  & 5.30 p.m. ;  Sundays, 8.20  a.m. ; dispatched at 7.20 p.m. Sundays  10.35 a.m.

Sub-Postmistress - Mrs Emily ROGERS

Wall Letter Box, West Stoughton, cleared at 9.45 a.m. & 6.15 p.m. week days only.

BLACKFORD

Private Residents

DUCKETT – Francis, The Elms

RICE – Miss

SMITH – Edward Henry (Head Master Sexey’s School)

SWAINSON – Rev Samuel James M.A. (vicar) Vicarage 

Commercial

CHAMPENEY – Alfred, farmer

CHAMPENEY – Francis, farmer

COMER – Edward, farmer

DUCKETT – Edward George, farmer, Manor House

DUCKETT – Francis, auctioneer, valuer, house & estate agent, fire, life & livestock insurance

DUCKETT – George, farmer, Sexey’s farm.

DUCKETT – George Wookey, farmer, The Grove

DUCKETT – Herbert Ernest, famer, Sunnydell

DUCKETT – Walter, farmer

FEAR – Fred, tailor

HEMBURY – William, carpenter & Wheelwright

HOLE – Walter George, farmer

ISGAR – Albert, farmer

KING – Emma (Miss) shopkeeper

LEE – Herbert, farmer

METHUEN – Robert, butcher

POLE – Harry, carpenter

PUDDY – Charles, beer retailer

PUDDY – George, cattle dealer

PUDDY – Walter, bill poster

REDMAN – George farmer, Holly Tree

ROGERS – George Henry, shopkeeper and Post Office

SWEET – Henry Arthur, shopkeeper

TINCKNELL – Henry, baker

TUCKER – Charles Henry, farmer

TUCKER – Thomas (Mrs) , shopkeeper

TUCKER – William, farmer

VOWLES – Frederick, butcher

WALL – Arthur, blacksmith & job master

WALL – John, thatcher

WALL – Mark, stone mason

WALL – Sidney, farmer

WESTHAM

CHAMPENEY – William, dairy farmer

COURT – Edward, baker & farmer, Manor farm

FISHER - Sam, farmer

STAR – George, dairy farmer

TIDBALL – Philip, dairy farmer

WALL – David, dairy farmer

WEST STOUGHTON

(Letters through Wedmore, Cheddar)

BISHOP – William, farmer

HARVEY – boot and shoe maker

HOLE – James Augustus, farmer

ISGAR – Robert, farmer

MILLARD – Henry, farmer

MILLARD – Robert, (Mrs), farmer

PHELPS – Edwin, farmer

POPLE – Frank, farmer

PUDDY – Robert, pig dealer

SPARKES – William, baker

TINNEY – Samuel, farmer

TUCKER – Charles, farmer

VOWLES – William, farmer

WALL – George, farmer