Editing Crewkerne (section)

==History==
[[File:Will of Alfred the Great (New Minster Liber Vitae) - BL Stowe MS 944, f 30v.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Will of [[Alfred the Great]], AD 873–888, mentions land at ''Crucern'' (11th-century copy, [[British Library]] Stowe MS 944, ff. 29v–33r)<ref>Charter [http://www.esawyer.org.uk/charter/1507.html S 1507] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304201924/http://www.esawyer.org.uk/charter/1507.html |date=4 March 2016 }} at the Electronic Sawyer</ref>]]
The name Crewkerne is thought to be derived from ''Cruc-aera''; from the [[British language (Celtic)|British]] ''cruc'' – a spur of a hill, and the [[Old English]] ''aera'' – a house, especially a storehouse.<ref name="havinden">{{cite book|last=Havinden|first=Michael|title=The Somerset Landscape|publisher=Hodder and Stoughton|location=London|series=The making of the English landscape|year=1981|isbn=0-340-20116-9|page=84}}</ref> The town was known as ''Crocern'', or ''Cruaern'' in the 899 will of [[Alfred the Great]] when he left it to his younger son [[Æthelweard (son of Alfred)|Æthelweard]], and by 1066 the manor was held by [[Edith Swanneck]], mistress of [[Harold Godwinson|King Harold]].<ref name="richardson">{{cite web|last=Richardson |first=Miranda |title=Crewkerne |url=http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/hes/downloads/EUS_CrewkerneText.pdf |work=Somerset Extensive Urban Survey |publisher=Somerset County Council |access-date=22 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717061802/http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/hes/downloads/EUS_CrewkerneText.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2011 }}</ref> After the [[Norman Conquest]] the [[Domesday Survey]] of 1086 shows the so-named manor was feudally royal, a possession of [[William the Conqueror]], and the church estate was given to the [[Abbaye-aux-Hommes]] in [[Caen]], [[Normandy]].<ref name="richardson"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Crewkerne|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Crewkerne/Gaz1868.html|work=National Gazetteer (1868) |publisher=GenUKI|access-date=22 May 2010}}</ref>

In 1499, [[John de Combe]], a [[precentor]] of [[Exeter Cathedral]] and former [[vicar]] of Crewkerne, founded [[Crewkerne Grammar School]]. The school survived until 1904.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=168-ddcgs&cid=-1#-1 | title = Crewkerne Grammar School | work = The National Archives | publisher = Government of the United Kingdom | access-date = 2012-03-08}}</ref>

The parish was part of the [[Hundred (county subdivision)|hundred]] of [[Crewkerne (hundred)|Crewkerne]].<ref name=genuki>{{cite web|title=Somerset Hundreds|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/|publisher=GENUKI|access-date=8 October 2011}}</ref>

[[Crewkerne Castle]] was possibly a [[Norman architecture|Norman]] [[motte and bailey|motte]] castle on a mound to the north-west of the town, which is known as Castle Hill.<ref>Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, ''The David & Charles Book of Castles'', David & Charles, 1980. {{ISBN|0-7153-7976-3}}</ref> The town grew up in the late [[mediaeval]] period around the [[textile]] industry,<ref name="dunning"/> its wealth preserved in its fifteenth century [[parish church]]. It later prospered as a [[coaching inn|coaching]] stop in the [[Georgian period]].<ref name="dunning"/>

The Manor Farmhouse in Henley was built from [[hamstone]] in the early 17th century, but possibly incorporates medieval fragments. The building is designated by [[English Heritage]] as a Grade II* [[listed building]].<ref>{{NHLE | desc=Henley Manor Farmhouse | num=1175987 | access-date=2 February 2008}}</ref> During the 18th and 19th centuries the main industry was cloth making, including webbing,<ref name="dunning">{{cite book |last=Dunning |first=Robert |title=Somerset and Avon |year=1980 | page=70 |publisher=John Bartholomew and Son |location=Edinburgh |isbn=0-7028-8380-8 }}</ref> and sails for the [[Royal Navy]].<ref name="curio">{{cite book |title=Curiosities of Somerset |last=Leete-Hodge |first=Lornie |year=1985 |publisher=Bossiney Books |location=Bodmin |isbn=0-906456-98-3 |page=96 }}</ref>