Clatworthy is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated from Wellington and four miles (6 km) from Wiveliscombe on the southern slopes of the Brendon Hills and close to the Exmoor National Park.
The Clatworthy Reservoir is run by Wessex Water and has a capacity of 5,364,000 cubic metres, supplying some 200,000 homes. It impounds the head waters of the River Tone and the surrounding area is used for walking and fishing.
History
The name of the village means the "homestead where burdock grows". The name appears in the Doomesday Book, 1086, and is the Norman version of the original Anglo Saxon name which was Clota's Wertig [farm]. The Normans changed the name to clateurde which became clatworthy and in some instances Clotworthy.
The parish of Clatworthy was part of the Williton and Freemanners Hundred.
Just west of the village, at the edge of Exmoor National Park, is the Clatworthy Reservoir, which impounds the headwaters of River Tone and supplies water to some 200,000 homes and businesses, some as far away as Yeovil. An Iron Age enclosure known as Clatworthy Castle was sited on the wooded slopes above the reservoir and there are round barrows in the north of the parish.
It is also part of the Tiverton and Minehead represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Religious sites
The parish Church of St Mary Magdalene has a 12th-century tower. The nave was rebuilt in 1872, while the chancel was rebuilt and the tower altered between 1860 and 1883.