Bradford on Tone

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 50.9990
longitude= -3.1799
official_name= Bradford on Tone
population = 606cite web |url=http://www.somerset.gov.uk/somerset/statistics/contents/population/estimates/2002mye/ |title=2002 population estimates |accessdate=2007-12-06 |format= |work=Somerset County Council ]
shire_district= Taunton Deane
shire_county = Somerset
region= South West England
Ambulance= South Western
constituency_westminster= Taunton
post_town= TAUNTON|postcode_district = TA4
postcode_area= TA |dial_code= 01823
os_grid_reference= ST173228

Bradford on Tone is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated on the River Tone four miles south west of Taunton in the Taunton Deane district. The village has a population of 606.

The name "Bradford" is undoubtably English: it shows the village to have stood in Saxon days near a "broad ford", or passage way across the River Tone. The 14th century bridge over the Tone [ [http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/default.aspx?pid=2&id=270946 Images of England: Bradford Bridge] ] is said to have been 'built by the monks', though it is not known which particular monks did the work.In the 1830s the Grand Western Canal was under construction which included the construction of a bridge at Trefusis Farm. [cite web | title=Bridge over Grand Western Canal at Trefusis Farm, Bradford on Tone | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=270944 | accessdate=2007-12-06]

The village is centred around the meeting of three roads: two of these come from the A38, the main road between the towns of Taunton and Wellington, while the third leads North to the nearby village of Oake. Around this junction are situated the local pub The White Horse, a war memorial, the Church (of St Giles), the Village Hall and some older residential buildings. To the East of the village centre is Bradford Court, which has recently been converted from a dwelling to a home for juvenile delinquents.Bradford church was most fortunate in not being stripped of its bells at the Dissolution during Henry VIII's reign. The bells date from between 1450 and 1871. The church is dedicated to St Giles but it does not seem to have always been called this for in an old will it is referred to as St Mary's. Most likely the change was made some time after the Reformation.

References

External links

* [http://www.bradfordontone.co.uk Village web site]