WINSHAM, a parish forming one of the four
detached portions which constitute the eastern division
of the hundred of KINGSBURY, county of SOMERSET,
4 miles (Eby S.) from Chard, containing 878
inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the peculiar
jurisdiction of the Consistorial Court of the Dean
and Chapter of Wells, rated in the king's books at
£14. 13. 4., and in the patronage of the Dean of Wells.
The church is an ancient structure, with a tower rising
from the centre. Sir Matthew Holworthy, in 1680,
gave certain premises, producing about £6 per annum,
which is applied towards the instruction of twenty-four
boys and twenty-four girls, in a school erected by subscription
in 1818. A considerable manufacture of
narrow woollen cloth is carried on in the village.