Cannington, Somerset

Description
Cannington, a village, a parish, and a hundred in Somersetshire. The village stands 2 miles SSW of a bend of the river Parret, and 3 1/2 NW by W of Bridgewater railway Station. It dates from ancient times, was known to the Saxons as Caninganmaersees, had a Benedictine nunnery, founded in the time of King Stephen by Robert de Courcy, and is supposed to have been the birthplace of the Fair Rosamond of ballad notoriety. The parish includes also the hamlets of Edstock and Beer, and impinges some distance on the Parret. Post, money order, and telegraph office under Bridgewater. Acreage, 4076; population, 1147. Cannington House is the seat of the Clifford family; Brymore, the seat of the Bonverie family. Kit Hill in the vicinity has an altitude of 1067 feet. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells; value, £240, in the gift of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. The church was part of the Benedictine nunnery, is Later English and fine, and contains tombs of the Cliffords. It was restored in 1885. There are a Roman Catholic chapel, a Congregational chapel, and almshouses.