Wiveliscombe | |
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Court House, Wiveliscombe, built by the Hancock family (a local brewing family) in 1881 |
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Wiveliscombe shown within Somerset | |
Population | 2,893 (2011) |
OS grid reference | ST080279 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | TAUNTON |
Postcode district | TA4 |
Dialling code | 01984 |
Police | Avon and Somerset |
Fire | Devon and Somerset |
Ambulance | South Western |
EU Parliament | South West England |
UK Parliament | |
Wiveliscombe (/wɪvɛˈliskəm/) is a small town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 9 miles (14 km) west of Taunton in the Taunton Deane district. The town has a population of 2,893.The Square, fronted by several listed structures, held the former market. The parish includes the nearby hamlet of Maundown.
Settlement in the neighborhood is of long standing. The Neolithic hillfort at King's Castle is 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) east of the town. North west of the town is Clatworthy Camp, an Iron Age hill fort. Nearby is Elworthy Barrows, an unfinished Iron Age hill fort, rather than Bronze Age barrows. A rectangular enclosure south of Manor Farm is the remains of a Roman fort; in the 18th century its vestiges of fortifications and foundations were identified as being of Roman origin, and it was locally called "the Castle". In the 18th century a hoard of about 1600 Roman coins of third and fourth century dates was uncovered.
The Anglo-Saxon settlement, the combe or valley of a certain Wifele, was mentioned in the Domesday survey (1086), when it was quite large, consisting of twenty-seven households, with an annual value to the lord, the Bishop of Wells St Andrew, of £25. During the Middle Ages the bishops maintained a residence here.