About the Winsham Web Museum
Winsham is a small Parish situated near the boundaries of South
Somerset, Dorset and Devon. About three quarters of its 750 residents live in the
village of Winsham, the rest in the surrounding hamlets of Ammerham, Bridge,
Leigh, Purtington, Street, and Whatley. It sits in a small
sheltered valley formed by the River Axe. Winsham is listed in the Doomsday Book. It has had a school for
nearly three hundred years. |
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Church Street, Winsham
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St Stephen's Church, Winsham
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St Stephen’s church dates from the 14th
Century, and there is evidence to suggest that a Saxon church existed in
Winsham well before that period. The parish also has a long history of
Non-Conformism and the United Reformed Church in Fore Street has a
substantial congregation. |
Despite the existence of Winsham for over a thousand years, it has not
spawned, as far as is known, any particularly famous people. It has not
had any major battles fought over its land, nor
has it been the seedbed of any political ideology. In its very
ordinariness it is similar to many other villages throughout the United
Kingdom.
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It is, and has been, the home of common folk, whose lives have provided the backdrop
to the more ambitious, flamboyant, and clever characters of history whose lives and works more often populate museums
displays and the history books.
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United Reformed Chapel,
Fore Street, Winsham
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The purpose of this museum is to record and
preserve the evidence of these ordinary lives in order to educate and
entertain those that follow. It was launched in 2002,and has attracted
over ten thousand visitors .
Since that time there have been many additions, and at the end of 2007
it has undergone a major refurbishment, and two important new galleries
have been added.
The people of Winsham have created this museum, and in doing so are
pioneers in using the World Wide Web to make available to all a wealth
of information and detail about life in a small community. We hope you
will find it interesting and instructive, and visit us frequently.
If you have information, anecdotes about Winsham, or
photographs, that you would like to see added to the Web Museum contact us.
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