Bleadon, Somerset : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Shaftesbury. You may be able to find further references to Shaftesbury in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
SHAFTESBURY a town, three parishes, a sub-district, and a district Imperial
Shaftesbury (or Shaston) municipal borough and market town Bartholomew
SHASTON (East and West) a division Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Shaftesbury within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Camden Dorset and Somerset 3
Daniel Defoe Letter 3, Part 2: Salisbury and Dorset 3
Daniel Defoe Letter 4, Part 2: Somerset and Wiltshire 2
Celia Fiennes Wiltshire and Dorset 1
John Wesley 1771-3: Windsor Park; Wesley as Art Critic; Glasgow and Perth; Preaches to 30,000 People 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Cann 0 3
Alcester 0 2
Motcombe 0 2
Melbury Abbas 0 2
Donhead St Mary 0 2
Compton Abbas 0 3
Semley 0 2
Fontmell Magna 0 2
Sedgehill 0 2
Margaret Marsh 0 2
Stour Provost 0 2
East Stour 0 3
Donhead 0 1
East Orchard 0 2
Donhead St Andrew 0 2
Todber 0 2
Redland 0 2
Sutton Waldron 0 2
Ashmore 0 2
West Orchard 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Shaftesbury. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
CAER PALLADWR John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
SCAEFTESBYRIG John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
SCEAFTESBURYG William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
SCEPTESBERIE John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
SEPTONIA William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
SHAFTESBURY John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
SHAFTESBURY OR SHASTON John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
SHAFTSBURY William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
SHASTON John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
SHASTON EAST AND WEST John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.