Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BURRINGTON

BURRINGTON, a village and a parish in Axbridge district, Somerset. The village stands amid romantic scenery, at the northern skirt of the highest part of the Mendip hills, 5 miles NE by N of Axbridge, and 5½ SE of Yatton r. station; and has a post office, of the name of Burrington, Somerset. The parish comprises 2,009 acres. Real property, £2,455. Pop., 477. Houses, 106. The property is divided among a few. A romantic rocky hollow leads from the village up the Mendips; and is flanked by ribbed masses of mountain limestone. A descending cavern, at the side of this, about a ¼ of a mile from the village, was discovered in 1795 to contain about fifty human skeletons, supposed to have been entombed here by the ancient Britons; and discovered afterwards to contain bones of horses, sheep, and other animals, supposed to have taken refuge in it after it ceased to be a place of sepulture. An earthwork, called Burrington Ham, occurs on a hill further up; and is Thought to have been a scene of Druidical rites. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value, £147.* Patrons, the Inhabitants. The church is later English, and was restored in 1856. There are a national school and charities £18.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Burrington CP/Ch       Axbridge RegD/PLU       Somerset AncC
Place: Burrington

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