The village was called Blachedon in the 1086 Domesday Book and the name comes from the Old English bloec and dun meaning 'the black or bleak down'.

There were lead and silver workings in Charterhouse, about a mile and a half uphill to the south, so it is likely that the wealthier supervisors had their houses away from the toxic smoke in the village.

[5] Blagdon is believed to have been the caput of the feudal barony held by Serlo de Burci (died c. 1086), who is recorded as holding the manor in the Domesday Book of 1086.

In 1154 Robert FitzMartin gave St Andrews Church and other land from around the East End of the village to Stanley Abbey in Wiltshire.

James Audley thus in 1342 inherited his childless aunt Eleanor's moieties of the two baronies of Barnstaple and Blagdon, thus giving him possession of the whole of each.

[8][9] In the late eighteenth century, the famous writer and educational pioneer Hannah More, shocked at the poverty and ignorance to be found in Mendip villages, was active establishing schools in the area.

[10] About this time she wrote to William Wilberforce, the anti-slavery campaigner, about her school, "Several of the grown-up youths had been tried at the last assizes; three were children of a person lately condemned to be hanged — many thieves!

Of this banditti we have enlisted one hundred and seventy; and when the clergyman, a hard man, who is also the magistrate, saw these creatures kneeling around us, whom he had seldom seen but to commit or punish in some way, he burst into tears".

[11] However, Mr Bere, the curate referred to in this letter, soon became implacably opposed to the school and after years of pressure it was forced to close.

Nevertheless, the furore created made the "Blagdon Controversy" a milestone of national importance in the development of education for the labouring classes.

The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, such as the village hall or community centre, playing fields and playgrounds, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning.

Blagdon and Churchill Ward is represented by one councillor - currently Cllr Patrick Keating [14]- on the unitary authority of North Somerset which was created in 1996, as established by the Local Government Act 1992.

The new road serving the housing is named Baynard Close after the Lord of the Manor of Blagdon who founded the forerunner of the current village school in 1687.

[1] The 2021 census puts the population at 1,184 a slight increase over the previous 10 years[20] Blagdon is served by several bus services going to Bristol, Cheddar, Wells and Weston-super-Mare.