William Densley

  Noted events in his life were:

• source. Matthew Anderson @ genes

• fact. [Full Credit to David Densley for this part of the tree.ftw]

Despite being the home of the Guttenberg Bible the United Kingdom


Hearth Tax, 1670 listed Edward Densly in Holcombe
Hearth Tax, 1674 listed Edward Densly in Holcombe

Hearth Tax returns for the year 1670 shows "William Densly....Holcombe
and Elizabeth Denslie...Kilmersdon "
Hearth Tax returns for the year 1674 shows no reference to William but
does refer to Elizabeth Denslie, widow, Kilmersdon.
The distance between Holcombe and Kilmersdon is approximately 2 miles.

On the arrival of the Saxons, many important struggles with the Romanis
Britons took place in this county, and it was not till 577 that Cealwin
of Wessex succeeded in capturing the town of Bath. Seventy years later
(658) the entire county became subject to the Saxons, who named it
Sumersætas; and Cenwalch, having gained a signal victory over the Brito
at Penzelwood, near Wincanton, incorporated it with Wessex. It suffered
severely from the incursions of the Danes, who found a secure anchorage
for their vessels in the broad estuary of the Severn; but after a
long-protracted struggle, they were defeated with great slaughter at the
mouth of the Parret, in 845, and again, some thirty years later, at the
battle of Edington, near Westbury, when their leader, Guthrum, consented
to be baptised at Alre, now Aller.

In 1016, a great battle was fought between Canute and Edmund Ironsid
Penzelwood; and in 1013 Sweyn received the submission of all the W.
country at Bath. At the Norman conquest, Sir William Mohun obtained a
grant of a large portion of this county with the title of Earl of
Somerset, which descended to his posterity till the reign of Henry VI.,
when it was raised to a dukedom, but was confiscated by Edward IV. in
1472, who attainted the duke for his fidelity to the late king. After
having been successively revived in favour of the third son of Henry
VII., and of an illegitimate son of Henry VIII., the title was finally
conferred in 1546 on Edward Seymour, the Lord Protector, whose
descendants still enjoy it. In the civil war of Charles I., several
engagements took place, as the fight of Aller Moor, the battle of
Lansdown Hill in 1643, and the siege of Taunton. In 1685, this county w
the principal scene of the ill-fated Duke of Monmouth's attempt to seize
the crown, for participation in which 239 persons were afterwards
executed by order of Judge Jeffreys.

Few counties in England exhibit a greater variety of soil and surface
than Somerset. The north-eastern district, in which the city of Bath is
situated, abounds in rocks, and is intersected by the Mendip hills, a
lofty mineral tract, through which, on the N. side, the Avon makes its
way sluggishly to the estuary of the Severn; while on the S., numerous
rivulets steal their way into the centre of the county, and there form
marshes and fens: Towards the W. and N.W., from Taunton to Bridgwater
Bay, is a low range called the Quantock hills. The Mendip and Quantock
hills naturally divide the county into three parts, the northern,
central, and south-western. The northern generally consists of extensive
levels, which are in some parts liable to inundation by the sea, and
presents a variety of meadows, relieved by hills of considerable
altitude, intersected by fertile and well-cultivated valleys. Over 3,000
acres on the S. border of this district are drained into the river Yeo,
and are 5 feet below the level of spring tide at high-water within the
embankment through which the river flows; and another tract of 4,000
acres are protected from inundation by a wall of masonry 10½ feet above
the level of the land.

The western coalfield of England lies almost wholly in Somersetshire, a
is extensively worked at Keynsham, Bedminster, Frome, and Nailsea.
Thirty-five collieries are under inspection, and though the seams are
comparatively thin, they will not soon be exhausted.

William married Elizabeth. (Elizabeth was born circa 1630.)