Charlton Musgrove is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 1 mile (1.6 km) north east of Wincanton in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 398.[1] The parish includes the hamlets of Barrow, Holbrook, Southmarsh, and part of Shalford.
History
In 1066 the holder of the manor was Godman but passed to Robert FitzGerold by the time of the Domesday Book in 1086.[2] The parish of Charlton Musgrove was part of the Norton FerrisHundred.[3]
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 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 is unusual in having two churches and two centres. The older Church of St Stephen dates from the 13th century. It has been designated as a Grade II* listed building.[5] The second centre is said to have originated when people fled to avoid the plague. The newer centre had no church until 1877 when a chapel of ease at Barrow Lane, dedicated to St John the Baptist,[6] was given by Mrs. Emma Frances Davies (née Leir), the widow of a former rector, daughter of Rev William Leir (1768–1863). It is of stone in a 13th-century style, designed by Charles Edward Davis of Bath, and comprises an apsidal chancel and a nave with a southern bell tower.[2] The Leir family themselves have provided a number of rectors to the parish.
Stavordale Priory, now a private home owned by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, is thought to be linked to the village's Old Church near the altar by a tunnel, perhaps used as a priest's escape route, some two miles in length. The building has 13th-century origins, having been founded by a member of the Lovel family,[7] and was converted around the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, after the Priory merged with Taunton in 1533. The Priory of the Augustinian Order was first mentioned in 1243. The bell tower is known to have existed by 1374, and the church was refitted and rebuilt around 1439. The chantry of Jesus was described as having been "recently completed" in 1526.[8]
^ abcC R J Currie, R W Dunning (Editors), A P Baggs, M C Siraut (1999). "Charlton Musgrove". A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 7: Bruton, Horethorne and Norton Ferris Hundreds. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 9 August 2013. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
