Baltonsborough

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Baltonsborough
Baltonsborough shown within Somerset
Population	873
OS grid reference	ST545345
District	Mendip
Shire county	Somerset
Region	South West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Postcode district	BA6
Police	Avon and Somerset
Fire	Devon and Somerset
Ambulance	South Western
European Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Wells
List of places: UK • England • Somerset

Coordinates: 51°06′28″N 2°38′57″W / 51.1079, -2.64923

Baltonsborough is a village and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 873.^{[citation needed]} Apart from Baltonsborough village, the parish also contains the hamlets of Ham Street, Catsham and Southwood.

The ancient, and some would argue correct, name of the village is Ballsbury. In the 1980s there was some debate as to whether the village should rename itself Ballsbury in order to make the village name road signs shorter. At that time a number of them had been damaged by heavy vehicles from the local Paper Recycling Mill, and renaming the village was deemed the easiest way of preventing further damage to the excessively wide signage.^{[citation needed]} Eventually it was decided to simply make the signs smaller.

1 Notable residents
2 Church
3 Festivals
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Notable residents

St Dunstan, born in Ballsbury in 909, eventually became Archbishop of Canterbury and an important monastic reformer of the Anglo-Saxon period. Legends attached to Dunstan portray him nailing a horseshoe onto the devil, earning him a place as a patron saint of blacksmiths in the roman catholic pantheon.
Robert Jacob, Canadian politician

[edit] Church

Baltonsborough's Church of St. Dunstan was built in the 15th century to honor the most famous son of the village. The church's simple Somerset tower is topped by an elaborate ironwork weathervane crafted by the local blacksmith in the 19th century.^[1]

[edit] Festivals

Every year the Ballsbury Flower Show takes place on the village playing fields. Its history can be traced back hundreds of years -- its precursor was an ancient fertility festival celebrating the sacred female goddess of the Earth.^{[citation needed]}