Blagdon

"BLAGDON, a parish in the hundred of Winterstoke, in the county of Somerset, 6 miles to the N.E. of Axbridge. Bristol is its post town. It is situated on the northern slope of the Mendip hills. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Bath and Wells, of the value of £512, in the patronage of W. Fripp, Esq. The church, rebuilt some years ago, is dedicated to St. Andrew. The Wesleyans have a chapel here. The rectory of Blagdon was once held by John Langhorne, D.D., joint author with his brother, William Langhorne, of the translation of Plutarch's Lives. He died here, and was interred in the churchyard in 1779. Here is a free school, endowed by Thomas Raynard in 1687, with a revenue of about £18 per annum, and a bequest by John Leman, for the poor, the produce of which is about £13 a year. A National school has recently been built on the top of the Mendip hills, with residence for a mistress, in which Divine service is performed on Sunday evenings." From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson © 2003