Blackford, Somerset

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 51.0348
longitude= -2.4874
official_name= Blackford
population =
shire_district= South Somerset
shire_county = Somerset
region= South West England
Ambulance= South Western
constituency_westminster= Somerton and Frome
post_town= YEOVIL
postcode_district = BA22
postcode_area= BA
dial_code= 01963
os_grid_reference= ST659262

Blackford is a village in Somerset, England, situated beside the A303 road, four miles south west of Wincanton in the South Somerset district. There are 2 other villages called Blackford in Somerset - one is a village near Wedmore and secondly a tiny hamlet between Porlock and Minehead.

It is part of the civil parish of Compton Pauncefoot and Blackford. The combined parish has approximately 130 residents and around 35 houses in each village. The civil parish is in the 'Blackmore Vale' ward of South Somerset District Council and Somerset County Council.

Blackford is designated as a 'Conservation Area'.

The village has a 'Reading Room' which was given to the church in 1912 by Miss Emily Senior who sold the land it stands on to the Fidelity Trust Ltd. for £25. It is now leased to the 'Blackford Reading Room Trust' to be used as a village hall. Following a program of works in the 1990's and as part of a Millennium project with the aid of lottery and other grants the hall has been completely refurbished.

The Church of St Michael has 11th or 12th origins, and has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building. The church is part of the the Camelot Group of Parishes in the Diocese of Bath & Wells. [cite web | title= Church of St Michael | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=263347 | accessdate=2007-10-30]

The village has a number of notable buildings including:East Hall Farm, West Hall Farm, The Old Rectory, Manor Farm, Belstone Cottage, Chapel Cottage, Old Beams. The telephone box is the iconic K6 Telephone Kiosk and was listed Grade II by English Heritage in July 2008 following a local campaign. There are approximately 2500 listed telephone boxes in the country.

Baron Blackford, of Compton Pauncefoot in the County of Somerset, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1935 for the barrister William James Peake Mason. He had already been created a Baronet, of Compton Pauncefoot in the County Somerset, in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom in 1918. The titles became extinct in 1988 on the death of his great-grandson, the fourth Baron.

References

External links

* [http://www.communigate.co.uk/twc/blackford/index.phtml Blackford village website]
* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=18759 Blackford at British History Online]
* [http://www.camelotparishes.org.uk/ Camelot Group of Parishes website]