Sock Dennis
{{Short description|Former civil parish in Somerset, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox UK place
| official_name = Sock Dennis
| civil_parish = Ilchester
| civil_parish1 = Tintinhull
| country = England
| region = South West England
| coordinates = {{coord|50.9895|-2.6903|region:GB_type:city|display=title}}
| os_grid_reference =
| post_town =
| postcode_area =
| postcode_district =
| dial_code =
| unitary_england = Somerset
| lieutenancy_england = Somerset
| hide_services = Yes
| population =
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| static_image = Sock Dennis Farm.jpg
| static_image_caption = Sock Dennis Farm
| website =
}}
Sock Dennis is a former civil parish, now in the parish of Ilchester and Tintinhull, in Somerset, England.
History
In the Domesday Book of 1086 the manor of Sock Dennis was in the possession of Robert, Count of Mortain. From the mid-13th century it was described as a manor, but by the end of the 18th century it was "an obliterated place". The place name derives from "Sock", probably an area of marsh or streams, and the family name of the successors of William the Dane, a 12th-century owner.{{cite web |url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/53044 |title=Deserted medieval village, Sock Dennis Farm, Sock Dennis |accessdate=6 January 2008 |work=Somerset Historic Environment Record }} The family of Dennis was apparently of Danish origin,See for example Fuller's "Worthies", quoted by the Duchess of Cleveland's Battle Abbey Roll and was recorded in early Norman charters in French as le Deneys, meaning "The Dane", which was frequently Latinised by scribes as Dacus, being the adjectival form of Dacia, the mediaeval Latin for Denmark, thus "Danish".
There is an area of well-preserved ridge and furrow earthworks over three fields to the east of Sock Dennis.{{cite web |url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/11679 |title=Ridge and furrow at Sock Dennis, Ilchester |accessdate=6 January 2008 |work=Somerset Historic Environment Record }}
There was a church in the village of Sock Dennis in 1286. It was a daughter church of Yeovil. In 1297 the church was worth £7 15s. The church had disappeared by 1575. A doorway, probably of the early 16th century, and perhaps forming part of the fabric of the church, is incorporated in one of the buildings of Sock Dennis farm,{{cite web |url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/53117 |title=St John the Baptist church, Sock Dennis Farm |accessdate=6 January 2008 |work=Somerset Historic Environment Record }} which is all that now remains of the village.
In 1861 Sock Dennis's total population was 26. In 1901 it was 22. By 1951 the population was 23.{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10441559/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Sock Dennis CP/AP/ExP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=18 May 2024}}
After the church in Sock Dennis was destroyed, and the place was almost depopulated, it lost its parochial rights.{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51304&strquery=Stock-Dennis#s8 |title=Stock-Dennis |accessdate=6 January 2008 |work=British History Online }} In 1884 it was reduced, in order to enlarge the parish of Tintinhull. On 1 April 1957 the parish was abolished and {{convert|401|acre|km2}} with a population of 11 people transferred to Ilchester parish and {{convert|287|acre|km2}} and 12 people transferred to Tintinhull parish.{{cite web |url=http://vision.edina.ac.uk/relationships.jsp;jsessionid=1B23A1C50A55CABC780A731634B90FEC?u_id=10441559 |title=Sock Dennis |accessdate=6 January 2008 |work=A vision of Britain through time }}