Closworth 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 ...

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, south of

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somerset's southern border with ...

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, on the border with

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

. The village has a population of 220. The parish includes the villages of Pendomer and Sutton Bingham, the location for Sutton Bingham Manor, Sutton Bingham

Sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...

Club (SBSC) and Sutton Bingham and District Canoe Club (SBDCC). It sits on a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

of the same name owned by

Wessex Water Wessex Water Services Limited, known as Wessex Water, is a water supply and sewerage utility company serving an area of South West England, covering 10,000 square kilometres including Bristol, most of Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire and parts o ...

. It has an approximate population of 25.

History

The village was named ''Clovesuurda'' meaning "''homestead above the valley''" 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 ...

of 1086, when it was the property of Robert, Count of Mortain. His son gave it to the newly formed priory at Montacute in 1102. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the estate was bought by the Portmans of

Orchard Portman Orchard Portman is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 150. The parish includes the hamlet of Thurlbear and the nearby Thurlb ...

who retained it into the 20th century. The parish 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 Houndsborough.

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 ...

, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, having previously been part of

Yeovil Rural District Yeovil 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 when it became part of South Somerset. The parishes ...

. 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 Local Education Authority, education, social services, library, libraries, main roads, public transport, police, policing and fire services, Trading Standards, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning. It is also part of the Yeovil (UK Parliament constituency), Yeovil county constituency represented in the British House of Commons, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament, Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election, and was part of the South West England (European Parliament constituency), South West England constituency of the European Parliament prior to Brexit, Britain leaving the European Union in January 2020, which elected seven Members of the European Parliament, MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.

Geography

The geology of the area is Cornbrash, the name applied to the uppermost member of the Bathonian stage of the Jurassic formation. The name was adopted by William Smith (geologist), William Smith for a thin band of shelly limestone which, in the south of England, breaks up in the manner indicated. The Cornbrash is a very fossiliferous formation; the fauna indicates a transition from the Lower to the Middle Oolites, though it is probably more nearly related to that of the beds above than to those below.

Churches

The Church of All Saints, Closworth, Church of All Saints in Closworth village has 13th-century origins and is designated as a Grade II* listed building. The Norman architecture, Norman Church of All Saints, Sutton Bingham, Church of All Saints in Sutton Bingham dates from the 12th and 13th centuries and has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The Church of St Roch, Pendomer, Church of Saint Roch in Pendomer is 14th-century.

Bellfounders

For nearly 200 years Closworth had a Bellfounding, bell-foundry. Master bell-founders at Closworth included William Purdue I (active 1572-84), Thomas Purdue (active 1647-1691), Thomas Knight (active 1692-1714), William Knight (active 1709-47), William Elery (active 1732-57), Thomas Roskelly (active 1750-68), Richard Rock (active 1753-67) and James Smith (active 1762-67).

References

External links

* {{South Somerset Villages in South Somerset Civil parishes in Somerset