Parish Council
Upcoming Events
The Annual Parish Meeting will be held on Wednesday 22 May in the Tithe Barn at 7.00pm. It will be followed by the Annual meeting of the Fitzhead Parish Council. Members of the public are welcome.
The Annual Parish Meeting will be held on Wednesday 22 May in the Tithe Barn at 7.00pm. It will be followed by the Annual meeting of the Fitzhead Parish Council. Members of the public are welcome.
The earliest known history of the Fitzhead area dates back to Neolithic times (around 4000 BC) and evidence of occupation has been found from the Stone Age, the Bronze and Iron Ages through to Roman times.
After the Romans left the Saxons founded Wiveliscombe and Fitzhead, and in 1049 Edward the Confessor granted the Manor and the ancient Hundred of Kingsbury to Gisa, Bishop of Wells, last of the Saxon Bishops.
The Bishop retained these lands after the Norman conquest in 1066, and in 1085/6 Wiveliscombe & Fitzhead is listed in the Domesday Book. It was originally Fyfhide which means five hides - a hide being 100 acres.
The churchyard has a 14th century cross. It was restored in 1908. The lantern consists of a four-sided sculpture; a carving of the Crucifixion, a seated figure of the Virgin and Child, a figure of St James (Patron Saint of the church) the Great and the figure of a bishop.
Fitzhead has been a farming village for centuries. The 15th Lord Sommerville introduced Merino Sheep from Spain and invented the double furrow plough. He established farms at Dean Farm and Manor Farm to test the most profitable ways of farming and cultivating the soil.
In the past the village had its own smithy and a forge, and red sandstone and limestone were quarried. It also had a school (dating back to 1787), a shop, a butcher’s, an old Post Office, a Petrol Station, 3 shoemakers, and at one time there appear to have been about 7 pubs in Fitzhead!