Long Load was recorded as ‘Lade’ in the late 12th century and ‘La Lade’ in 1285 meaning The watercourse or drainage channel from the
Old English ‘lād’ or The long route (from) where goods were carried from the Old English and . It has also been suggested that the name derives from O.E.
lad meaning a water-course. Long Load's association with the river is long standing. A bridge over the river is known to have existed by 1335, while by 1448 there were wharves for the loading and unloading of cargoes from boats using the river. The river was the subject of the abortive
Ivelchester and Langport Navigation in 1795, and although the works were never completed, traffic on the river was sufficient for the coal merchants Stukey and Bagehot to establish a coal yard near the bridge by 1824. Water levels were improved by work on the river below
Langport, and the 1841 census records that a salt house had been constructed. By then, 88 households lived in Long Load, including a boatman called William Gillett and his family, while another boatman lived near the bridge. Cargoes arriving at the wharves included slates, bricks, tiles and coal, while the main export was timber. The parish was created from the northern parts of the
Martock parish in 1895, and was originally 'called Lade', or 'La Lade' taken from the
Saxon word
lade, meaning
water course. ==Governance==