In order to put the history of Winsham Parish Council into historical perspective it is useful to look back as far as the earliest post-roman communities and the influence of the Saxon invaders and settlers.

Small groups of people, as communities, needed to evolve systems that ensured good order within the group. Following the departure of the Romans in 409 AD, there followed some hundreds years of conflict, with increasingly frequent incursions from the Angles, Saxons, Danes and Vikings.

Eventually, as the Saxons took control, settlements formed, and Winsham is an example of this, as evidenced by its Saxon name.

A mill was probably built at the side of the River Axe, trees were felled, land cleared to grow grain and to graze animals. Simple houses were built. These were agricultural, not pastoral people. Their purpose was to settle, and their need was for a form of self-government. This made necessary a means of establishing a collective opinion to support this. Such a process was also essential to establishing relationships with neighbouring groups, especially in matters relating to their collective security.

Communities formed a ‘township moot’, of which the Parish Council is a direct descendant.
The next level up was the ‘hundred moot’-which can be compared with District Council. On the next level was the ‘shireage moot’, which can be compared to the present County Council. The ‘hundred moot ‘ would send the ‘reeve’, four ‘best men’ and the priest to the ‘shireage moot’.

As a result, from the earliest days, England established a system that did not abrogate power to a favoured few. Every man, except the absolute slave had a voice in common concerns at both local and national level. However the Norman Conquest marked a sharp change towards central government.

At the time of the Norman Conquest the country was already developed into Manors, and held by the Lord from the King .The Normans used this system to inflict their control, but allowed the systems of law and order set up by the Saxons to grow lax. As a result much lawlessness followed. Large portions of the land were let to tenants, who gave services, not money to the Lord. A Manorial Court enforced these services and laid down byelaws. Richard I,  seeing that financial penalties could supplement the exchequer moved the penal system for punishing major crimes into a more centralised judicial system, which , in practical terms, also reduced the power that the Norman descent Manor Lords had over the ordinary people that lived on their estates

The Church was also able to maintain its independence during these early centuries of the development of the English nation.

The parish priest, by means of his status within a powerful church, and his education, was able to withstand encroachments on the rights of the people for whose spiritual care he had responsibility. He would call together his parishioners together in his church, where all, including the lord would meet . The liberties of the people were discussed, with the priest being the champion of the poor.

This practice became known as the ‘vestry meeting’. Civil matters were discussed alongside matters of the church. Parish property was conserved, common lands preserved, charities controlled and byelaws formulated. 

Rural Parishes such as Winsham  evolved in this way, with the opinion leaders of the community working with the Lord of the Manor and the Vicar . By and large it worked. It became a facilitator for central Government. Such Parishes administered the ‘Poor Law’ and founded schools and took care of many other matters of concern to the community. They might not have been strictly democratic in to-days terms, but of course the populations were smaller, poorly educated and communication was slow. However by the late nineteenth century, following the massive expansion in the size of the nation's population and economy arising from the Industrial Revolution,  reform came in the form of the 1894 Local Government Act introduced by Gladstone. Under this legislation, Parish Councils as we know them to-day, were established.

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^{The Parish Council for Winsham met for the first time at 6.00pm on Thursday, 13th December 1894. Col. Cornish Henley, of Leigh House, was duly elected as its first Chairman.
Suggestion for further reading on this subject:-
A History of Local Government of the United Kingdom,
Written by John. J. Clarke. Published by Greenwood Press}

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