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| Somerset Record Society | |
|---|---|
| Name | Somerset Record Society |
| Formation | 1902 |
| Type | Text publication society |
| Headquarters | Taunton, Somerset |
| Region served | Somerset |
| Leader title | President |
| Leader name | Lord Lieutenant of Somerset |
Somerset Record Society.
The Somerset Record Society is a county-based text publication society dedicated to the editing and publication of historical records relating to Somerset and its environs, including material tied to Bath, Taunton, Glastonbury Abbey, Wells Cathedral, Bruton, Dunster Castle, and the parishes and manors of Mendip Hills, Quantock Hills, and the Exmoor National Park. Founded in the early twentieth century, the Society has produced editions of charters, court rolls, parish registers, probate inventories, ecclesiastical documents, and local government records that illuminate connections with Anglo-Saxon England, the Norman Conquest, the Anarchy, the Hundred Years' War, the English Reformation, the Civil War and Interregnum, and the Industrial Revolution as experienced in Somerset.
The Society was established in 1902 during a period of renewed interest in county historiography alongside bodies such as the Surrey Archaeological Society, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, and the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. Early patrons and contributors included county historians, archivists, and clergy associated with Taunton Castle Museum, Somerset County Council, and the cathedrals at Wells Cathedral and Bath Abbey. Initial aims mirrored those of the Oxford University Press-era text societies by producing diplomatic and annotated editions of primary sources for local historians and genealogists researching families like the Priors of Bath, the lords of Dunster Castle, and landholders recorded in the Domesday Book for Somerset. Over the twentieth century the Society responded to changes prompted by the establishment of the Public Record Office, reforms at the National Archives, and the professionalization of archivists trained at institutions such as Aberystwyth University and University College London. Prominent editors associated with the Society include county antiquaries and scholars whose work intersected with publications by the Victoria County History, the Royal Historical Society, and learned journals like the Local Population Studies and the English Historical Review.
The Society’s output comprises numbered volumes, occasional monographs, and thematic series. Typical editions include transcriptions of parish registers from Taunton St Mary Magdalene, inventories of Glasgow-connected trade (via Bristol merchants), manorial court rolls for places such as Nempnett Thrubwell and Cheddar, and episcopal visitation records from Wells Cathedral. Other volumes present letters and papers of figures associated with Somerset: landed families such as the Hampdens and Portmans, clergy linked to Glastonbury Abbey and Wells Cathedral, and material relating to events like the Monmouth Rebellion and the Peasant's Revolt. Editions are typically introduced with scholarly apparatus: chronological tables, paleographical notes, indexes, and maps referencing Ordnance Survey sheets. The Society has collaborated on publications with the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, the Victoria County History, and university presses, and its bibliographic reach is reflected in citations within works on medieval English law, early modern parish life, and the history of English agriculture.
The Society operates through an elected council, editorial committees, and volunteer editorial secretaries drawn from academics, archivists, and local historians connected to institutions such as Somerset County Council Archives and Local Studies, The National Archives (UK), and university history departments at University of Bristol, University of Exeter, and Bath Spa University. The office of President has at times been held by the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset; past officers include chairs drawn from the boards of the Somerset Heritage Centre and curators from Taunton Museum. Editorial standards follow guidelines set by learned bodies like the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Archivists to ensure diplomatic fidelity, annotation, and accessibility for researchers working with sources on topics such as manorial law, ecclesiastical administration, and local taxation.
Primary materials edited by the Society derive from repositories across the region: the Somerset Heritage Centre (formerly Somerset Record Office), ecclesiastical archives at Wells Cathedral, private papers at country houses such as Dunster Castle (National Trust), municipal records from Bath and North East Somerset Council, and national repositories including the British Library and the National Archives. Sources span medieval cartularies, Tudor chancery rolls, radiating through to Victorian poor law union records and twentieth-century council minutes. The Society’s editions have made accessible diverse document classes: testa, inquisitions post mortem, subsidy rolls, hearth tax returns, tithe maps, apprenticeship indentures, and probate calendars.
Membership comprises individuals—historians, genealogists, students—and institutional subscribers such as university libraries, county archives, and learned societies. Revenue streams include membership subscriptions, sales of volumes, donations from patrons, and occasional grants from heritage funders and charitable trusts involved with county history projects, similar to funding routes used by the Society of Genealogists and the Royal Historical Society. Volunteer labor by editors and trustees reduces costs, while collaborations with the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society and local councils support distribution and outreach.
The Society’s editions are cited in scholarship on medieval and early modern rural society, local legal history, and ecclesiastical administration, appearing in bibliographies of the Victoria County History, articles in the English Historical Review, and doctoral theses from University of Bristol and University of Exeter. Reviews in regional periodicals and academic journals have praised the Society’s meticulous transcription standards and utility for family historians tracing lineages in parishes like Milverton, Porlock, and Staplegrove. Its work underpins conservation projects at Glastonbury Abbey and informs interpretation at museums such as Museum of Somerset and heritage sites managed by English Heritage and the National Trust.
Category:History of Somerset Category:Text publication societies