The Parish, as we know it today, does not share the feudal, manorial system of organisation characteristic of many old Somerset villages. Instead it comprises a collection of small settlements once reliant on woods, pigs, sheep, cattle and some arable crops, depending on the locality. So we have Barton (barley town), or Woodborough and Oakridge (timber), though Winscombe is not, as commonly held, named for ‘wine combe’, but probably the name of an early landowner. Independent in character perhaps, but the area was relatively prosperous.

Today the Parish is made up of Winscombe, Sandford and the surroundings small villages of Barton, Sidcot and Oakridge.