Walton village in Somerset
Walton village is located in central Somerset near the towns of Glastonbury and Street and is home to about 1400 residents. This is a rural location with little industry or work opportunities within the village so most people work in nearby small towns or commute to larger locations.
The main focal points of Walton are Holy Trinity Church [shown in the illustration] and the Village Hall with its multi use games area. The 'major' businesses in the village are two pubs, [complete with skittle alleys] a garage and a double glazing company. There is also the friendly barber shop, where apart from a haircut you will also be told old and new jokes (mostly old) . Walton also has its own primary school which attracts children from nearby towns and villages because of its excellent reputation. There is also a very popular under fives pre school which runs in the Village Hall. The village has an annual Walton in Bloom competition [judged this year on the first Friday in August] and an annual Harvest Fair and Village fun day [Saturday 13th September this year] as well as many other events throughout the year organized by residents and local groups.
Walton's unique history saw most of the village being auctioned off on 14th July 1939 when the owner of nearly all the properties and surrounding land Lord Bath put the village up for sale. Walton, which was then part of the Longleat Estate, produced an annual income prior to the auction of £3,135 from tenant rents etc. Thirty-four farms and small holdings, forty-one houses and cottages, an inn and a residence called the Old Parsonage, as well as many plots of land, went under the hammer on that day. Walton, when mentioned in the Doomsday Book, recorded less than fifty residents within its area.
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