Wedmore, Somerset

Description
Wedmore, a village and a parish in Somerset. The village stands on a rising-ground 3 miles from Draycott station on the G.W.R., and 5 S of Axbridge. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Weston-super-Mare. It is nominally a borough governed by a portreeve, and has two annual fairs. Acreage of the civil parish, 10,280; population, 2891; of the ecclesiastical, 1801. For parish council purposes it is divided into three wards, and has a council of twelve members. The manor belonged formerly to the Dean of Wells, and belongs now to the Baileys. Much Cheddar cheese is made. A pot of Anglo-Danish coins was found in the churchyard in 1851. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells; gross value, £310. Patron, the Bishop of Bath and Wells. The church is ancient, cruciform, and has been restored. In 1890 a handsome west window was erected in memory of King Alfred, Wedmore being near the historic spot where he and a few faithful followers harassed the victorious Danes. Eleven chapels were anciently in different parts. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels, a reading-room, and charities.