Winsford

"WINSFORD, a parish in the hundred of Williton, county Somerset, 5 miles N.W. of Dulverton, and 14 S. of Minehead. It is situated on the road from Tiverton to Exmoor, near the river Exe, which forms its boundary for several miles. At Winsford Common is a hollow in form of a punchbowl, where the Tiverton hounds and Dulverton harriers meet. The soil is clay and loam on a subsoil of rock shillet. There are stone quarries, and abundance of iron-ore, which was formerly wrought to a great extent. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Bath and Wells, value £360, with 90 acres of glebe in the gift of Emanuel College, Cambridge. The church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, was partially restored in 1858. The register dates from 1660. The Wesleyans have a chapel. There are schools, partly supported by Sir T. Dyke Acland, who is lord of the manor, and, with the Earl of Carnarvon, chief landowner. The charities produce about £16 per annum." From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson © 2003