PETHERTON (NORTH), a parish in the northern
division of the hundred of PETHERTON, county of SOMERSET,
3 miles (S. by W.) from Bridg-water, containing
3091 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the
archdeaconry of Taunton, and diocese of Bath and
Wells, rated in the king's books at £27. 7. Uv and in
the patronage of the Rev. W. George. The church, dedicated
to St. Mary, is a fine structure with a lofty tower,
in the later English style. The navigable river Parrot
and the Bridg-water and Taunton canal, pass through
the parish, which is one of the most extensive in the
county. The village, which consists of one well-built;
street on the turnpike-road from Bridg-water to Taunton,
had formerly a large market, principally for corn,
which has long been disused; but two considerable
fairs are still held for cattle and pedlary, on May 1st
and the Monday before November 13th. The prin-i
cipal bequests for the education of children are a
house and land, the gift of Dorothy Cheek, in
1687, for teaching six or more; the sum of £500, by
Sir Thomas Wroth, in 1721, and a rent-charge of £S,
by Thomas Bacon; the two latter produce an income
of about £41 a year, for which twenty boys are
clothed and instructed in a school-room erected by the
late John Slade, Esq.