WIVELISCOMBE, a market-town and parish,
forming, with the parishes of Ash-Priors, Bishop's Lydiard,
and Fitzhead, one of the two unconnected portions
which constitute the western division of the
hundred of KINGSBURY, county of SOMERSET, 28 miles
(W.) from Somerton, and 155 (W. by S.) from London,
containing 2791 inhabitants. This place is of considerable
antiquity, but its origin and etymology cannot
be traced with certainty. Conjecture has deduced the
latter from the Saxon Willi, or Vili, signifying many,
and Combe, a deep ravine, or dell, of which there are
several in the immediate environs. The town occupies
a gentle eminence, in an extensive valley enclosed by
lofty hills, which suddenly break into deep ravines; the
houses are in general neat and well, built, and, by the
recent removal of several of the more ancient, the streets
have been widened, and the general appearance of the
town greatly improved. The inhabitants are supplied
with water conveyed by pipes from, a spring on Mawndown,
a hill about a mile distant. A considerable
woollen manufacture is carried on, but not to so great
an extent as formerly: the articles consist chiefly of
slave clothing for the West India markets, swan-skins
for the Newfoundland fishery, and blankets for the home
trade: the number of persons regularly employed varies
from eight hundred to a thousand. The diversion of
the mail-road through this town has materially contributed
to promote its various interests. The markets
are on Tuesday and Saturday; the former is the principal,
and a great deal of business is transacted in corn,
&c. A great market for prime oxen, of the North Devon
breed, considered to be the largest in the West of
England, is held on the last Tuesday in February. Fairs
are, May 12th for oxen and other cattle, and September
25th for sheep. The town is under the superintendence
of a bailiff and portreeve, with ale-tasters and other
officers, all of whom are chosen at a court leet held'
annually. It is said to have been, formerly a parlia-
mentary borough, and that it was relieved from the
elective franchise on petition.;
The living is a vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction
and patronage of the Prebendary of Wiveliscombe in
the Cathedral Church of Wells, rated in the king's
books at £27. 0. 10. The church, dedicated to St.
Andrew, has been recently erected, at an expense of
£6000, raised on the security of the parish rates, to
be paid off in twenty years, aided by a general subscription,
and a grant of £500 from the Incorporated Society
for the building and enlargement of churches and
chapels: it is a very handsome edifice, in the ancient
style of English architecture, and contains five hundred
and fifty-eight sittings, of which four hundred and
fifty-seven are free. There is a place of worship for
Independents. An infirmary was established, in 1S04,
through the exertions of the medical men of the town
and neighbourhood. In this parish are two ancient
encampments j the one on an eminence at a place
called Castle, of a circular form and very perfect; the
other at Courtneys, square and evidently of Roman
origin. Here also are some remains of an old episcopal
palace, particularly an archway leading into the workhouse,
and the kitchen, which is nearly entire. In
digging for the foundation of the new church, it was discovered
that the tower of the former had been erected
upon the foundations of a more ancient building j a
variety of Roman and Saxon coins was also found,
together with some Nuremberg counters, used by the
monks in their calculations on the Abacus.