Midsomer Norton, Somerset

Description
Midsomer Norton, a village and a parish in Somerset, The village stands in a valley between two branches of the rivulet Somer, with a station on the Somerset and Dorset railway, 137 miles from London, and 10 SW of Bath, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office. It is a pleasant place, has a bank, a concert or drill hall capable of holding 1400 persons, a handsome market-hall and some good shops; carries on a trade in mailing, brewing, and the manufacture of boots and shoes, and a considerable trade in coals. It has a cattle fair on 25 and a pleasure fail-on 26 April. The parish contains also the hamlets of Clap-ton, Downside, Welton, and Clandown. Acreage, 3970; population of the civil parish, 5041; of the ecclesiastical, 3305. The manor of Midsomer Norton and Welton belongs to the Duchy of Cornwall. Norton Hill and Norton House are chief residences. Coal is largely worked. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells; value, £290 with residence. Patron, Christ Church, Oxford. The church was rebuilt in 1830; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a tower; has, in a niche of the tower, a statue of Charles II.; and contains a fine monument to Major Savage and several mural tablets. The building was restored in, 1878. The vicarages of Downside and Clandown are separate benefices. There are Wesleyan chapels in Midsomer Norton village, Downside, Clapton, and Clandown; Primitive Methodist chapels at Midsomer Norton and Clandown;. a Roman Catholic college, with attached chapel, in Downside; an endowed school and a reading-room and library in the Midsomer Norton village. The Midsomer Norton Wesleyan chapel was built in 1859, and is a handsome edifice in the Decorated English style. The Roman Catholic college was established in 1814, and has averagely about sixty students; the chapel attached to it is a fine structure in the Pointed style; and a large observatory belonging to it, on a neighbouring hill, was built in 1861. See DOWNSIDE.