Baltonsborough

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Baltonsborough
latitude= 51.1079
longitude= -2.64923
civil_parish=
population = 873cite web|url=http://www.somerset.gov.uk/media/58A/F5/Mendip_Parishes_01.pdf|title=Parish Population Statistics|work=ONS Census 2001|publisher=Somerset County Council|accessdate=2008-07-03]
shire_district= Mendip
shire_county = Somerset
region= South West England
constituency_westminster= Wells
post_town=
postcode_district=BA6
postcode_area=BA
dial_code=
os_grid_reference= ST545345

Baltonsborough is a village and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 873. Apart from Baltonsborough village, the parish also contains the hamlets of Ham Street, Catsham and Southwood.

The ancient, and some would argue correct, name of the village is Ballsbury. In the 1980s there was some debate as to whether the village should rename itself Ballsbury in order to make the village name road signs shorter. At that time a number of them had been damaged by heavy vehicles from the local Paper Recycling Mill, and renaming the village was deemed the easiest way of preventing further damage to the excessively wide signage.Fact|date=June 2008 Eventually it was decided to simply make the signs smaller.

Notable residents

* St Dunstan, born in Ballsbury in 909, eventually became Archbishop of Canterbury and an important monastic reformer of the Anglo-Saxon period. Legends attached to Dunstan portray him nailing a horseshoe onto the devil, earning him a place as a patron saint of blacksmiths in the roman catholic pantheon.
* Robert Jacob, Canadian politician

Church

Baltonsborough's Church of St. Dunstan was built in the 15th century to honor the most famous son of the village. The church's simple Somerset tower is topped by an elaborate ironwork weathervane crafted by the local blacksmith in the 19th century. [cite book |title= The Buildings of England, South and West Somerset|first=Niklaus|last=Pevsner|year= 2003|publisher= Yale University Press|isbn= 0300096445]

Festivals

Every year the Ballsbury Flower Show takes place on the village playing fields. Its history can be traced back hundreds of years -- its precursor was an ancient fertility festival celebrating the sacred female goddess of the Earth.Fact|date=June 2008

References

External links

* [http://www.baltonsborough.org.uk www.baltonsborough.org.uk]