Wiveliscombe

Wiveliscombe is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 9 mi west of Taunton. 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.

History
Settlement in the neighbourhood is of long standing. The Neolithic hillfort at King's Castle is 1 km east of the town. North west of the town is Clatworthy Camp, an Iron Age hillfort. Nearby is Elworthy Barrows, an unfinished Iron Age hillfort, rather than Bronze Age barrows. A rectangular enclosure south of Manor Farm is the remains of a Roman fort; in the 18th century, vestiges of its 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 Book of 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, the foundations of which were found in 2021.

The parish of Wiveliscombe was part of the Hundred of Kingsbury.

Wiveliscombe Town Hall was built in 1840 by Somerset surveyor Richard Carver for Lord Ashburton. It housed a fish market, a butchers' market and a pig market, with an assembly room above them. It is a Grade II listed building. By 2010, plans were drawn up for the creation there of an arts, media, cultural and heritage venue. The Abbotsfield cottages were built by businessman Lukey Collard in the 1870s; they became a Grade II listed building in 1975.

In 2010 a new 10 Parishes Centre was announced to provide a new community facility alongside the Children's Centre being built at Croft Way.

Governance
The town council (which is a 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 town 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 town 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.

For local government purposes, since 1 April 2023, the town comes under the unitary authority of Somerset Council. Prior to this, it was part of the non-metropolitan district of Somerset West and Taunton (formed on 1 April 2019) and, before this, the district of Taunton Deane (established under the Local Government Act 1972). From 1894-1974, for local government purposes, Wiveliscombe was part of Wellington Rural District.

There is an electoral ward named 'Wiveliscombe and West Deane'. This extends in a southerly direction from Wiveliscombe to Stawley. The total population of the ward as at the 2011 census was 3,900.

It is also part of the Taunton Deane county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Geography
Wiveliscombe is a former borough, market and cloth making town, 5 mi from the border between Devon and Somerset. It is situated at the foot of the Brendon Hills and acts as a gateway to Exmoor. At an altitude of 126 m Wiveliscombe is the highest town in Somerset after Dulverton.

The town used to have a station on the Devon and Somerset Railway which closed in 1966. Clatworthy Reservoir is nearby.

Demography
The town's population in 1777 was 1,533. While the modern population of 2,893 is small for a town, its shops and services meet the needs of a much larger population, spread through the western fifth of Taunton Deane, in scattered farms and villages. A survey in 1997 revealed that there were at least 300 businesses within a 5 mi radius of the town; 14 of these were trading internationally and a further 20 nationally. Wiveliscombe is also home to three breweries, Cotleigh Brewery (but closed in 2021), Exmoor Ales and Black Bear Brewery. It is also one of the first towns in the UK to set up a completely free goods and services exchange forum for the local ten parishes area.

The community radio station 10Radio is based in the town, serving the community of the ten parishes from which its name is derived. 105.3FM in the local area and via the internet.

Churches
The previous parish church was valued in 1292 at 12 marks. The present church, dedicated to St Andrew, is a grade II* listed building. It was built in 1827-9; the architect was Richard Carver who had it built from red sandstone with Hamstone dressings. Its octagonal font originated in the 14th century, and in the churchyard is a 14th-century sandstone cross.

The oldest place of worship in Wiveliscombe is the Congregational Chapel in Silver Street, built in 1708 as the Independent Chapel. It joined the Congregational Union of England and Wales in 1838, and is now used by the Wiveliscombe Evangelical Congregational Church. This chapel was built because the Independent Meeting House (built in 1689 after the Act of Toleration) had become too small. This earlier Meeting House was demolished sometime after the First World War, when North Street Motors was built on the site. This has now closed, and the premises are currently being used as a garden shop.

Media
Television signals are received from either the Stockland Hill or Mendip TV transmitters. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Somerset on 95.5 FM, Heart West on 96.5 FM, Greatest Hits Radio South West (formerly The Breeze (Bridgwater & West Somerset) on 107.4 FM, and 10Radio, a community based station which broadcast on 105.3 FM and also online. Local newspapers are Somerset County Gazette and West Somerset Free Press.

Education
Wiveliscombe Primary School serves most of the surrounding villages. Kingsmead School, for pupils aged 11 to 16, houses a Theatre and Sports Hall and a youth club complementing the town's Recreation Ground where the Tennis, Rugby, Cricket and Football Clubs have their bases.