Non-conformists, Hilmarton

Non-conformity was commonplace in Hilmarton parish. Hilmarton village, Corton and Clevancy have seen mainly Baptist worship. Goatacre had a substantial community of Quakers followed by Primitive Methodists. There are no records of any chapels at Catcomb although it is documented that some of the parish dissenters lived there. Some of these dissenters included the Wakeham and Bailey families. In 1700, Josiah Wakeham, a yeoman of Catcomb, was fined and 'carried to the County Prison at Fisherton Anger for a contempt in not answering his bill'. Parish registers showed that he did not die in prison but was buried at Goatacre in 1712 a year after his wife Anne died.