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Name | Radstock |
Type | Ancient parish, Civil parish, Urban district |
Coordinates | 51.3°N 2.467°W |
Located in | Somerset, England |
See also | Kilmersdon Hundred, Somerset, England | hundred in which Radstock was located | | Norton Radstock, Somerset, England | urban district Norton Radstock, Somerset, England|urban district with varying names in which Radstock situated 1933-2011 | | Wansdyke, Avon, England | district in which Radstock located 1974-1996 | | Bath and North East Somerset, Somerset, England | unitary authority which took over from Avon on its abolition in 1996 |
- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Radstock is a town in Somerset, England,9 miles (14 km) southwest of Bath, and 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Frome. It is within the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset and had a population of 5,620 according to the 2011 Census. Since 2011 Radstock has been a town council in its own right.
Radstock has been settled since the Iron Age, and its importance grew after the construction of the Fosse Way, a Roman road. The growth of the town occurred after 1763, when coal was discovered in the area. Large numbers of mines opened during the 19th century including several owned by the Waldegrave family, who had been Lords of the Manor since the English Civil War. Admiral Lord Radstock, brother of George, fourth Earl Waldegrave, took the town's name as his title when created a Baron.
Coal mining became the principal economic activity of Radstock in the early 19th century, despite the complex geology and narrow seams which made coal extraction difficult. Tonnage increased through the century, reaching a peak around 1901, when there were 79 separate collieries and annual production was 1,250,000 tons per annum. However, due to local geological difficulties and manpower shortages output declined and the number of pits reduced from 30 at the beginning of the 20th century to 14 by the mid-thirties; the last two pits, Kilmersdon and Writhlington, closed in September 1973. The Great Western Railway and the Somerset and Dorset Railway both established stations and marshalling yards in the town. The last passenger train services to Radstock closed in 1966. Manufacturing industries such as printing, binding and packaging provide some local employment. In recent years, Radstock has increasingly become a commuter town for the nearby cities of Bath and Bristol.
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Radstock is home to the Radstock Museum which is housed in a former market hall, and has a range of exhibits which offer an insight into northeast Somerset life since the 19th century. Many of the exhibits relate to local geology and the now disused Somerset coalfield and geology.
Governance
Radstock was made an urban district in 1894 and was also a civil parish in its own right until 1933, and since 2011 has been a parish again. In 1933 Radstock joined up with its neighbouring urban district, Midsomer Norton, to form a larger urban district which was named Norton Radstock (or sometimes Radstock Norton).
In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, all urban and rural districts across England were abolished and counties were reorganized into metropolitan and non-metropolitan districts. In addition, this area of Somerset with the city of Bristol and part of Gloucestershire were declared a new county named Avon. Like other counties, it had non-metropolitan districts covering the more non-urban areas. The area directly south of Bristol and east to the border with Wiltshire was placed in the Wansdyke District, while the section west to the Bristol Channel was placed in the Woodspring District. The county of Avon only lasted until 1996. When it was abolished a slight restructuring of non-metropolitan districts occurred to allow those parts of Avon to return to Somerset and Gloucestershire. Radstock is now governed by the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset.
On a more local level in 1974 Radstock became part of the Norton Radstock civil parish which was larger than formerly with the addition of some nearby parishes from Frome Rural District. In 2011, Radstock split off from the Norton Radstock civil parish and became a town council in its own right.
Research Tips
- The Radstock GENUKI page gives dates of availability of parish records (births, marriages and deaths) and Poor Law Unions.
- 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
Categories: Somerset, England | Radstock, Somerset, England | Kilmersdon Hundred, Somerset, England | Norton Radstock, Somerset, England | Wansdyke District, Avon, England | Bath and North East Somerset District, Somerset, England
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