Road, Somerset

Description
Road, a village and a parish in Somerset. The village stands on the river Frome, at the boundary with Wilts, 4 miles NNE of Frome station on the G.W.R. It extends beyond the boundary into Wilts, was once a market-town, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Bath; a handsome public hall, a mechanics' institute, and a pleasure fair on the Monday after 9 Sept. The parish comprises 919 acres; population of the civil parish, 470; of the ecclesiastical, 614. There is a parish council consisting of six members. Road Manor and Merfield House are the chief residences. There is a steam laundry at Shawford. The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of Woolverton, in the diocese of Bath and Wells; net value, £340 with residence. The church was built about the beginning of the 15th century, and has a tower, with a railed battlement in one corner, called the King's Chair, and traditionally said to have been mounted by Charles II. for reconnoitring after the battle of Worcester; the building was enlarged and restored in 1874. There are Wesleyan and Baptist chapels.