Wrington is a village and a civil and ecclesiastical parish on the north slopes of the Mendip Hills in North Somerset, England. Both include nearby Redhill. Wrington lies in the valley of the

Congresbury Yeo The River Yeo (often referred to as the Congresbury Yeo, after the village of Congresbury, through which it flows, to avoid confusion with other similarly named rivers) is a river which flows through North Somerset, England. River course ...

river, about east of Weston-super-Mare and south-east of

Yatton Yatton is a village and civil parish within the unitary authority of North Somerset, which falls within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located south-west of Bristol. Its population in 2011 was 7,552. The parish includes Clave ...

. Its population of 2,633 at the 2011 Census was estimated in 2019 to be 2,759.

History

The village was inhabited in

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

times and there is evidence of

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

occupation as well. Historically it was part of the hundred of Brent-cum-Wrington. Wrington Village Hospital

Wrington Cottage Hospital opened in 1864, initially for 24 patients. The first surgeon was Horace Swete, author of the ''Handy Book of Cottage Hospitals'', to which

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War ...

also referred in 1869. Wrington had a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

between 1901 and 1963, on the Wrington Vale Light Railway that ran from Congresbury to

Blagdon Blagdon is a village and civil parish in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Somerset, within the unitary authority of North Somerset, in England. It is located in the Mendip Hills, a recognised Area of Outstanding Natural ...

Governance

As a parish council, Wrington's sets an annual precept for operating costs and produces annual accounts for public scrutiny. It maintains and repairs parish facilities, under the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

of North Somerset, created in 1996 separately from today's non-metropolitan county and based at Weston-super-Mare. Before 1974 the parish belonged to Axbridge Rural District, then in 1974–1996 to the

Woodspring North Somerset is a unitary district in Somerset, South West England. Whilst its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

of the county of Avon. An

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

bearing the same name includes

Butcombe Butcombe is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. The village is situated just north of Blagdon Lake, in North Somerset. The parish has a population of 218 and mainly consists of family-owned farmland. It no longer has any amenities a ...

as well as Wrington. The ward population at the 2011 census was 2,851. The parish is represented in Parliament by the North Somerset constituency, which elects one member by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

system, currently Liam Fox of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Church

The Church of All Saints has 13th-century foundations. It was remodelled with a west tower added about 1450. Restoration occurred in 1859 and restoration of the tower in 1948. Either side of the door stone are busts of

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism". Considered one of ...

and

Hannah More Hannah More (2 February 1745 – 7 September 1833) was an English religious writer, philanthropist, poet and playwright in the circle of Johnson, Reynolds and Garrick, who wrote on moral and religious subjects. Born in Bristol, she taught at a ...

from the early 19th century. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. ...

has an 1832

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for e ...

Charles Barry Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also respon ...

. The rood screen is from the 16th century. The tall four-stage tower has set-back

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

es crowned by crocketed

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...

s at the top stage, which displays moulded string courses and a trefoil-pierced triangular

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

with

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry wa ...

s and corner pinnacles. The building is Grade I listed as "one of the highest achievements of architectural genius". It dates from 1420 to 1450. The belfry stairs are in the south-east

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * M ...

. The tower stands to the tip of its pinnacles. The 17th-century rectory is Grade II listed. The church's bells ring automatically. Until 2012, they did so every 15 minutes even through the night, but after a noise abatement order was served, it was reduced to hourly at night.

Primary school

The village primary school was opened on 1 May 1857. Its premises are Grade II listed.

Butcombe Brewery

A local institution is the Butcombe

microbrewery Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

, set up in nearby

in 1978 by Simon Whitmore, managing director of Courage Western, made redundant in a restructuring, and his wife Maureen. In 2003 the business was sold to Guy Newell and Paul Horsley and moved to a purpose-built brewery completed in March 2005 on an estate at Wrington. In the same year the brewery set up a joint venture with Thatcher's, a

Long Ashton Long Ashton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It falls within the unitary authority of North Somerset and is one of a number of large villages just outside the boundary of city of Bristol urban area. The parish has a populati ...

Cider Company, to produce a keg cider. Its 2008 output was 24,000 barrels a year through about 450 outlets.

Notable residents

In birth order: * Samuel Crooke (1575–1649), noted preacher and supporter of the Parliamentary cause in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...

, was rector of Wrington for almost 50 years. * Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset (c. 1585/6 – 1645), politician and courtier. * Francis Roberts (1607–1675), Puritan, librarian, scholar, and rector of Wrington from 1650 until his death *

(1632–1704), philosopher, was born in Wrington. * John Rogers (1679–1729), controversialist and cleric, rector of Wrington * Samuel Wathen (c. 1720–1787), physician to

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, wife of

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

, died in Wrington." * Henry Walton Smith (1738–1792), bookseller and newsagent, founder of the business that became

W. H. Smith WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and m ...

, was brought up in Wrington. *

(1745–1833), who worked to improve conditions for miners and farmworkers in the Mendip Hills, bought a house in Paradise, near Cowslip Green, where she lived with her sister Martha until 1828. She spent her last five years in

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People * Clifton (surname) * Clifton (given name) Places Australia *Clifton, Queensland, a town ** Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong * Clifton, Western Australia Canada * Clifton, Nova Sc ...

. She is buried at All Saints' Church, the family tomb being Grade II listed. *

Samuel Budgett Samuel Budgett (27 July 1794 – 29 April 1851) was an English merchant. Rising from humble origins, Budgett built up a wholesale grocery business called H.H. & S. Budgett, based in Kingswood Bristol, covering a large area of Southern and We ...

(1794–1851), wholesale grocer, Wesleyan Methodist, philanthropist and subject of a popular biography, was born in Wrington. * William Talbot Aveline (1822–1903), geologist and archaeologist, was brought up in Wrington. * George Howell (5 October 1833 – 16 September 1911), a prominent trade unionist and reform campaigner, was born in Wrington. * Henry Herbert Wills (1856–1922) who resided at Barley Wood, was a member of the

WD & HO Wills W.D. & H.O. Wills was a British tobacco manufacturing company formed in Bristol, England. It was the first British company to mass-produce cigarettes, and one of the founding companies of Imperial Tobacco along with John Player & Sons. The co ...

tobacco family and a board member of the

Imperial Tobacco Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Mo ...

Company, which took it over. * Dame Mary Monica Cunliffe Wills (c. 1861–1931) resided at Wrington. She was knighted for her philanthropy. * Walford Davies (1869–1941), composer,

Master of the King's Musick Master of the King's Music (or Master of the Queen's Music, or earlier Master of the King's Musick) is a post in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom. The holder of the post originally served the monarch of England, directing the court orche ...

, died at Wrington. * Howard Alexander Bell (1888–1974), pioneer of reservoir fly-fishing nymph techniques and artificial flies, lived in Wrington from 1935 to 1974. * Frank Cousins (1904–1986), national trade union leader and Labour politician, lived in Ropers Lane in the 1970s. *

John Pilkington Hudson John Pilkington Hudson, (24 July 1910 – 6 December 2007) was an English horticultural scientist who did pioneer work on long-distance transportability of what became known as the kiwifruit. He was also a celebrated bomb disposal expert. Backgr ...

(1910–2007), horticultural scientist and bomb disposal expert, retired to the Spinney, Ladywell, Wrington, where he and his wife created a notable garden.ODNB entr
Retrieved 24 July 2011. Subscription required.

Sports

Wrington Redhill AFC plays at the recreation ground in Wrington. It has a first team, reserve team and A team. The first team plays in the Erra

Somerset County League The Somerset County League is a football competition based in England. The Premier Division sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System. It is a feeder to the Western League Division One and has promoted a club in seven of the l ...

in the premier division, the reserve in Weston super Mare and District League Division 1, and A team in the W&D division 4. The club badge is a gold rampant dragon (wyvern), matching the emblem on the unofficial Flag of Somerset. The club colours are green and black. Wrington has two senior cricket teams. The first XI is in the North Somerset Cricket League Saturday Division 1, the second in Saturday Division 3. The club's limited overs team finished as runners-up in the league's Butcombe Brewery KO Cup. The club also has youth in the North Somerset Youth Cricket Leagues at the under 17, 15, 13 and 11 levels. The facilities and pitch have been improved in the last few years. Additionally, it now has two nets for training sessions for all ages and levels.

References

External links

Wrington C of E Primary SchoolWrington village website
* {{Authority control Villages in North Somerset Civil parishes in Somerset