Local directories first appeared in the latter half of the 18th century but were intended for business purposes and therefore restricted to London and other large cities. Various county directories were published in the first part of the 19th century, which covered rural areas but these tended to be little more than a description of the parishes.

Several large firms such as Pigot, White, Harrison Harrod, Kelly and Morris later began to produce county directories – some were called Post Office Directories – which covered all parishes and listed a limited number of inhabitants, divided into two sections Court and Commercial. Of these firms only Kelly lasted for any length of time. Such was the appeal of their directories that updated editions were published approximately every four years. A great deal of information about parishes and the services available was also included and this too was regularly updated. Tradesmen paid for advertisements to be placed in directories and these often included pictures of their vehicles and factories or the products they made or sold, which are fascinating to see a hundred years later. 

The Court section covered the gentry and more prosperous middle class householders. The Commercial section included businesses, farmers, innkeepers and a whole variety of self-employed tradesmen and craftsmen. However, it was not necessarily comprehensive and some of the latter might be omitted. The ordinary miner or labourer did not merit a mention. Because of the time taken to gather information directories were generally six months out of date as soon as they were published. One should also bear in mind that, with an interval of four years between editions, it was possible for someone to arrive in and leave a parish without coming to the attention of the directory compiler. Needless to say “typos” were not uncommon. 

Nevertheless, the information contained in directories is enormously useful in tracking the movement of families and witnessing the growth and development of the parish in terms of the services available, new trades springing up as a result of electricity, the bicycle and motor car and disappearance of other trades. Telephone numbers appeared for the first time in the 1923 directory. As more and more private individuals acquired a telephone, Kelly only showed business numbers in the parish section from 1927 onwards; readers being referred to a general list of Private Residents at the back of the directory for individuals’ telephone numbers. Many of the early telephone subscribers have retained their original numbers to this day, albeit with more and more numbers placed on the front. Thus with the passage of time Temple Cloud 18 became 218, 2218, 52218 and 452218. 

Articles/Transcriptions
Click to view/download the documents (in pdf format)

High Littleton Directories

This file contains the High Littleton entries from the following directories:

Somersetshire Delineated - C & J Greenwood, 1822

A General Directory of Somerset - William Bragg, 1840

Harrison Harrod & Co's Bristol Post Office Directory with the counties of Glos. & Somerset, 1859

Kelly's Post Office Directory of Somersetshire 1861 & 1866

Morris & Co’s Commercial Directory & Gazeteeer of Somersetshire with Bristol 1872

Kelly’s Post Office Directory of Somersetshire and Bristol 1875

Kelly’s Directory of Somersetshire with the City of Bristol 1883, 1889 and 1894

Kelly’s Directory of Somersetshire 1897, 1902, 1906, 1910, 1914, 1919, 1923, 1927, 1931, 1935 and 1939