Place:Burnham, Somerset, England

:the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia. Burnham (#B on map) was a large ancient parish, and until the late 19th century included the then hamlet of Highbridge (#H) and rural areas around Edithmead (since 1896 Burnham Without) (#10). In 1894 Highbridge became a separate civil parish, and in 1896 divided again into the new civil parishes of North Highbridge (within Highbridge Urban District) and the more rural Burnham Without. Burnham itself became "Burnham Urban District". Burnham Urban District was created in 1894 and changed its name to "Burnham on Sea Urban District" in 1917. In 1933 it annexed Highbridge Urban District. This combined urban district (Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge) became one civil parish in 1974 following the abolition of urban districts under the Local Government Act 1972. The town now falls within the non-metropolitan district of Sedgemoor, which was formed under the same legislation. (source:Wikipedia, under "Governance". The hamlet of Aston-Morris has been redirected here. Edithmead is in the parish of Burnham Without. Highbridge is covered separately. Huish juxta Highbridge is a specific area in the centre of Highbridge and is discussed in Wikipedia on Highbridge. References to Burnham on Sea have been redirected here.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Burnham from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"BURNHAM, a village, a parish, and a [registration] subdistrict in the [registration] district of Axbridge, Somerset. The village stands on the coast, at the mouth of the rivers Brue and Parret, at the terminus of a short branch railway, in connection with the central Somerset and the Bristol and Exeter railways, 2 miles NW of the Highbridge Junction, and 9 SW by W of Axbridge. It has a post office under Bridgewater, and an hotel; and is frequented as a watering-place. The beach at it is a fine sand; but is left bare, to the breadth of 4 miles, at low water. A project was authorized in August 1860 for constructing a tidal harbour in connection with the branch railway, with the view of traffic by steam-vessels, to the various ports of the Bristol Channel and of South Wales. There is a large monthly market. Two mineral springs, severally saline and sulphurous, are close to the beach; and the two lights, for guiding vessels into the river Parret, 91 and 23 feet high, 1,500 feet asunder, the higher one intermitting, the lower one fixed, are in the neighbourhood. The parish includes also the tything of Huish-juxta-Highbridge, the hamlets of Edithmead and Highbridge, and part of the tything of Aston-Morris. Acres: 4,302; of which 430 are water. Real property: £16,557. Population: 2,252. Houses: 473. The property is much divided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value: £559. Patrons: the Dean and Chapter of Wells. The church is an ancient building, 140 feet in length, with a lofty tower, serving as a landmark; was recently well restored; and contains a magnificent altar piece designed by Inigo Jones. The vicarage of Highbridge is a separate benefice. There are a national school and charities £72. Bishop King was vicar."

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Burnham-on-Sea.

Research Tips

• The Somerset Heritage Centre (incorporating what was formerly the Somerset Record Office and the Somerset Local Studies Library) can be found at its new location at Langford Mead in Taunton. It has an online search facility leading to pages of interest, including maps from the First and Second Ordnance Survey (select "Maps and Postcards" from the list at the left, then enter the parish in the search box).
  The Heritage Centre has an email address: archives@somerset.gov.uk.
• Three maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrate the changes in political boundaries over the period 1830-1945. All have expanding scales and on the second and third this facility is sufficient that individual parishes can be inspected.

• Somerset Hundreds as drawn in 1832. This map was prepared before The Great Reform Act of that year. Note the polling places and representation of the various parts of the county.
• Somerset in 1900, an Ordnance Survey map showing rural districts, the boundaries of the larger towns, the smaller civil parishes of the time, and some hamlets and villages in each parish
• Somerset in 1943, an Ordnance Survey map showing the rural districts after the changes to their structure in the 1930s

• Maps provided by the National Library of Scotland are also very useful. This map is currently set to an area now in the Sedgmoor District as it existed in the late 19th century, but can be moved to anywhere in the county using a variety of background maps. There is a very good search facility.
• A Vision of Britain through Time has a group of pages of statistical facts for almost every parish in the county
• GENUKI gives pointers to other archive sources as well as providing some details on each parish. The emphasis here is on ecclesiastical parishes (useful before 1837)
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 and tables of the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. The compiler has gone to a lot of work to provide this material. Respect his copyright.
• The FamilySearch Wiki for Somerset provides a similar but not identical series of webpages to that provided by GENUKI
• English Jurisdictions, a supplementary website to FamilySearch outlining local parish boundaries in the middle on the 19th century. The information provided is especially useful for establishing the relationship of the ecclesiastical parishes in large towns and cathedral cities.
• The Victoria History of the Counties of England – History of the County of Somerset, produced by The Institute of Historical Research at the University of London is a scholarly website with articles tracing the history of individual parishes which are sorted into their hundreds, the early subdivisions of the county. It traces the ownership of estates and manors, describes the local church in detail, and usually provides a map of each parish. The volumes for Somerset are much more recent than those for other counties. It appears to be a work in progress, only covering about half the county so far. A map of the places covered in the series is given in Volume 6, but 3 more volumes have been published since then. If a parish is included there will be a note in its Research Tips.
• The Somerset and Dorset Family History Society
• The Weston super Mare Family History Society
• The Bristol and Avon Family History Society
• A list of all Somerset parishes with online transcripts of parish registers The size of Somerset makes this a huge project. If it does not yield what you are looking for, try getting in touch with the organizer with patience and politeness.
• Somerset Online Parish Clerk project home page
• A collection of West Somerset Parish Register Transcriptions are online courtesy of Martin Southwood
• The Victoria History of the Counties of England – History of the County of Somerset, produced by The Institute of Historical Research, is not available for this hundred.