Long Sutton is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
in
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, England, situated south of
Somerton Somerton may refer to:
Places Australia
* Somerton, New South Wales
* Somerton Park, South Australia, a seaside Adelaide suburb
** Somerton Man, unsolved case of an unidentified man found dead in 1948 on the Somerton Park beach
* Somerton, Victoria ...
in the
South Somerset
South Somerset is a local government district in Somerset, England.
The South Somerset district covers an area of ranging from the borders with Devon, Wiltshire and Dorset to the edge of the Somerset Levels. It has a population of approxim ...
district. The village has a
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
of 833.
The village of Long Sutton has a village green with a
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
tree at each corner and a
chestnut tree in the centre. The Devonshire Arms Hotel is at one end of the green and at the other are the school and Holy Trinity church, dating from 1493. The village is made up of two hamlets, Knole at one end and Upton at the other.
The
Reading to Taunton line
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spellin ...
railway runs under the bridge at Upton and at one time certain trains stopped at Long Sutton and Pitney Halt, as it was called until its closure in the early 1960s. The bridge over the River Yeo is medieval in origin, but was probably reshaped in the 18th century.
History
There is evidence of Roman occupation throughout the parish.
It was recorded in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
as Sutone.
The parish of Long Sutton was part of the
hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...
of
Somerton Somerton may refer to:
Places Australia
* Somerton, New South Wales
* Somerton Park, South Australia, a seaside Adelaide suburb
** Somerton Man, unsolved case of an unidentified man found dead in 1948 on the Somerton Park beach
* Somerton, Victoria ...
.
The manor was given by
King Alfred
Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who ...
to his
Athelney Abbey
Athelney Abbey, established in the county of Somerset, England, was founded by King Alfred in 888, as a religious house for monks of the Order of St. Benedict. It was dedicated to "Our Blessed Saviour, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Egelwine".
...
and was held by the abbey until the
dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. In 1600 it was bought by Sir
John Spencer, who was previously the
Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...
. It was later part of the estates of the
Duke of Devonshire, who dispersed it in 1919.
Until the 20th century agriculture remained the main industry. The population has remained between 800 and 1,000 from about 1800.
Governance
The
parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and
neighbourhood watch
Neighbourhood Watch in the United Kingdom is the largest voluntary crime prevention movement covering England and Wales with upwards of 2.3 million household members. The charity brings neighbors together to create strong, friendly and active comm ...
groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.
The village falls within the
Non-metropolitan district
Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of Districts of England, local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''shi ...
of
South Somerset
South Somerset is a local government district in Somerset, England.
The South Somerset district covers an area of ranging from the borders with Devon, Wiltshire and Dorset to the edge of the Somerset Levels. It has a population of approxim ...
, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the
Local Government Act 1972, having previously been part of
Langport Rural District
Langport was a rural district in Somerset, England, from 1894 to 1974.
It was created in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894.
In 1974 it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 to become part of South Somerset.
The parishes whic ...
.
The district council is responsible for
local planning and
building control
Building automation (BAS), also known as building management system (BMS) or building energy management system (BEMS), is the automatic centralized control of a building's HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, lighting, ...
, local roads,
council housing,
environmental health
Environmental health is the branch of public health concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment affecting human health. In order to effectively control factors that may affect health, the requirements that must be met in ...
,
market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
*Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, an ...
s and fairs,
refuse collection and
recycling
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...
,
cemeteries and
crematoria, leisure services, parks, and
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...
.
Somerset County Council is responsible for running the largest and most expensive local services such as
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
,
social services,
libraries
A library is a collection of Document, materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or electronic media, digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...
, main roads,
public transport
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...
,
policing and
fire service
A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...
s,
trading standards
Trading Standards are the local authority departments with the United Kingdom, formerly known as ''Weights and Measures'', that enforce consumer protection legislation.
Sometimes, the Trading Standards enforcement functions of a local authority a ...
,
waste disposal
Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal.
This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitorin ...
and strategic planning.
The village is in Turn Hill
electoral ward. Long Sutton may be the most populous area of the ward but it stretches west to
Aller. The total population of this ward taken at the
2011 census was 2,830.
It is also part of the
Somerton and Frome county constituency
In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons.
Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called " constitue ...
represented in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
. It elects one
Member of Parliament (MP)
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members often ...
by the
first past the post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...
system of election.
Landmarks
![Longsuttonknolemill](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Longsuttonknolemill.jpg)
Opposite the Quaker Meeting House, known as Quakers' Corner, are two cottages, one thatched. In one of these cottages it is said that Mrs Palmer of
Huntley & Palmers fame made her first biscuits and cakes to help provide for her family. Some of the gravestones mark the resting place of the Palmer family in the grounds of the Friends' Meeting House.
The Manor House, on the green, probably dates from the late 15th century. Court House on Langport road is from a similar period.
Knole has a
waterwheel dating from 1879, having been moved from a site higher upstream where it was first recorded in 1479–80. The wheel is in diameter and in width and was cast by ‘The Somerset Wheel & Wagon Co, Engineers & Millwrights, Martock’.
Religious sites
Holy Trinity church
Holy Trinity church dates from 1493. An earlier church would have stood on this site from the 9th century or earlier. The current church was built of local
lias
Lias may refer to:
Geology
* Lias Formation, a geologic formation in France
*Lias Group, a lithostratigraphic unit in western Europe
* Early Jurassic, an epoch
People
* Godfrey Lias, British author
* Mohd Shamsudin Lias (born 1953), Malaysian ...
stone cut and squared, with
hamstone
Hamstone is the name given to a honey-coloured building stone from Ham Hill, Somerset, England. It is a well-cemented medium to coarse grained limestone characterised by marked bedding planes of clay inclusions and less well-cemented material ...
dressings. It has stone slate roofs between stepped coped gabled with
finials to the
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ov ...
and north porch. Internally, the chancel has a ceiled wagon-roof, with moulded ribs and plaster panels. The tower exhibits the tracery typical of
Somerset towers
The Somerset towers are a collection of distinctive, mostly spireless Gothic church towers in the county of Somerset in south west England.
Description
Newspaper columnist and editor Simon Jenkins has cited the towers as one of England's finest ...
. The under-tower space has a
lierne vault
In Gothic architecture, a lierne is a tertiary rib connecting one rib to another, as opposed to connecting to a springer, or to the central boss. The resulting construction is called a lierne vault or stellar vault (named after the star shape ge ...
, and a 15th-century octagonal
font with
quatrefoil panels. The building has been designated by
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
as a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
The tower has a ring of six bells, the tenor weighing .
The coloured timber
pulpit, with a fly approach stair, dates from 1455–58 and is older than the church itself. It has 20th-century wood figures in the statue niches.
It bears the initials identified as those of Abbot
John Petherton of
Athelney
Athelney is a village located between the villages of Burrowbridge and East Lyng in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. The name is believed to be derived from the Old English '' æþeling'' meaning "prince" + -''ey'' meaning "isle". T ...
and vicar William Singleton.
The wood screen is also ornately carved and dates from the late 15th century. Memorials in the church include a tablet to Elizabeth Banbury, died 1716, with Corinthian columns and
entablature, side and bottom swags, as well as a number of 16th- and 17th-century Keinton stone slabs in the floor.
Quaker Meeting House
The parish was a centre of
Quaker worship from 1662, and there was a licensed meeting-house by 1669.
The present Quaker Meeting House was built in
Queen Anne style and finished in 1717, with a bequest from William Steele. It is still used for worship by the Quakers. It was closed briefly in 1793 and 1798, but prospered after the closure of the Somerton meeting house in 1828. There is a mounting block outside the building, which worshippers used to mount and dismount their horses. Worshippers came from as far away as
Street, nearly seven miles away.
Culture
Punkie Night originated many years ago and was started by farm labourers to light their way home after work. An alternative explanation of the term is that it is derived from pumpkin or punk, meaning tinder. It is now the "children's night" and held on the nearest night to
Halloween. The children carry their "punkies" made from either
mangolds,
turnips
The turnip or white turnip (''Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''rapa'') is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, fleshy taproot. The word ''turnip'' is a compound of ''turn'' as in turned/rounded on a lathe and ' ...
, or
marrows, which are hollowed out and faces or animals carved on them. They are lit with a candle inside similar to the modern Halloween custom.
Notable residents
*
George Palmer, founder of
Huntley and Palmers
Huntley & Palmers is a British company of biscuit makers originally based in Reading, Berkshire. Formed by Joseph Huntley in 1822, the company became one of the world's first global brands (chiefly led by George Palmer who joined in 1841) and ra ...
biscuits, was born in the village.
* 2004 Children's Champion Award winner Doreen Roberts MBE foster mother to over 300 children.
*
Antony Jay
Sir Antony Rupert Jay, (20 April 1930 – 21 August 2016) was an English writer, broadcaster, producer and director. With Jonathan Lynn, he co-wrote the British political comedies '' Yes Minister'' and ''Yes, Prime Minister'' (1980–88). He al ...
CVO Writer, broadcast, director and actor. Famous for co-authorship of political television comedy ''
Yes Minister
''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes fr ...
'' and ''
Yes Prime Minister''.
References
External links
Long Sutton parish website
{{South Somerset
Villages in South Somerset
Civil parishes in Somerset