The sleepy Somerset village
of Dinder lies tucked away in the southern foothills of the Mendips. It is but a short drive off the road between
Wells and Shepton Mallet, and this summer I took the opportunity to explore it. Dinder does not appear to have changed much
since members of The Women’s Institute described it 35 years ago.
The Somerset Village Book (Countryside Books, 1988) compiled by The Somerset
Federation of Women’s Institutes provides this charming chronicle of the
village.
“The little village of Dinder, with its 150
inhabitants, lies in the valley between Wells and Shepton Mallet. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book as
Denrenn, meaning ‘in a valley deep between high hills’ – an apt description
because Doulting Water, or River Sheppey, rushes along one boundary, and the
Mendip Hills rise steeply on either side.
It has been an agricultural village, and it is known
that clothing was made here in the 18th century when there was a
leather mill. An old forge provided
services in the main street, in a house still bearing that name. Along this street the river has been
partially diverted to form a wide leat of running water in which the village
people could dip their buckets, and this makes a picturesque foreground for a
row of 16th century gabled cottages and a former public house which
still displays the sign of ‘The Dragon on the Wheel’, being the crest of the
local squire. Two farmhouses and the
Victorian school building also overlook the water.”
I parked by the village hall
at the western end of the village, and walked down to the Church of St. Michael. The impressive lych-gate is dedicated to
Ellen Somerville while inside the lych-gate is a commemorative plaque dedicated
to Arthur Fownes Somerville who died on the 21st November 1942 at
the impressive age of 92. I would find
more memorials to members of the Somerville family both in the churchyard and
inside the church.
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The lych-gate at St. Michaels Church in the Somerset village of Dinder. |
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The commemorative plaque to Arthur Fownes Somerville. Note the family crest of 'The Dragon on the Wheel'. |
The approach to Dinder’s
Church of St. Michael is beautifully described by Arthur Mee in his The King’s England – Somerset (Hodder
and Stoughton Ltd., 1968). He writes:
“We walk up the path to the church with its fine north
wall across our view, crowned with a parapet from which friendly gargoyles look
down at the top of slender buttresses.
Very dainty is the arcading in the battlements, and charming is the
tower with its stair turret to the bells”.
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The north wall of the Church of St. Michael in the Somerset village of Dinder. |
To the left of the path is
the family plot of the Somerville family which includes the grave of James
Fownes Somerville, Admiral of the Fleet and Squire of Dinder, of whom I have
written previously:
Views from Somerset: Admiral Sir James Somerville, commander of Force H, the squadron which crippled the Bismarck, at rest in a Somerset churchyard in the village of Dinder. (viewfromsomerset.blogspot.com)
On the north wall of the nave
is a brass plaque commemorating William Charles Croom a 2nd
Lieutenant in the 6th London Regiment who was killed in action at
Messines Ridge on 17th June 1917 when aged 20. He is also remembered on the Ypres (Menin
Gate) Memorial in Belgium.
Another plaque on the north
wall is “in ever grateful memory of the brave men of Dinder who fell in The
Great War”. It lists 6 names. As well as Lt. William Croom it commemorates
the following men:
Private Uriah James Clarke of
the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars died on 23rd March 1918. He is also remembered on the Poziers Memorial
north east of Albert.
Private Gilbert Drew of the 1st
Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry who died on the 1st July 1917
aged 19. He is at rest in a Commonwealth
War Grave in the churchyard.
Private Francis Allen Keevil
of “C” Company, 7th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry died on the 7th
August 1917. He is remembered on the
Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. Aged 38, he
was the son of Jabez Allen Keevil and Francis Augusta Keevil of Rose Cottage,
Dinder.
Private William Robert
McCullagh of the 1st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry died on 29th
March 1918. He is remembered on the
Arras Memorial.
The last name listed on the
plaque is that of George Palmer. There
are 24 “George Palmers” recorded on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
website as having died in World War One.
Sadly, I cannot find among them anyone connected to Dinder or the County
of Somerset.
Another brass plaque on the
north wall of the nave is in memory of Lieutenant Colonel Harold Fownes
Somerville DSO who served with The Rifle Brigade during the First World War and
died aged 65 on the 19th March 1946, and his son Lieutenant Mark Fownes
Somerville DSC who was killed in action on 8th May 1941 while
serving aboard HMS ARK ROYAL.
Mark Somerville was a Fleet
Air Arm observer in the Fulmar-equipped 808 Squadron flying from the aircraft
carrier HMS ARK ROYAL. He flew with the
squadron’s commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Rupert Claude Tillard DSC.
The Fairey Fulmar was a
two-seat fighter and reconnaissance aircraft powered by a single Rolls-Royce
Merlin engine and armed with eight .303 machine guns mounted in the wings. It was widely used by the Fleet Air Arm in
the Mediterranean during the early years of World War Two. The Fulmar was more than a match for any
German and Italian bombers or reconnaissance aircraft it might encounter. However, it struggled to cope with the enemy
single seat fighters it came up against.
Tillard and Somerville destroyed six Italian aircraft while flying the
Fulmar, a feat for which they were both awarded the Distinguished Service
Cross.
On 6th May 1941
ARK ROYAL left Gibraltar together with the battlecruiser HMS RENOWN, the light
cruiser HMS SHEFFIELD and nine destroyers – the famous Force H – to escort a
convoy of five ships with vital reinforcements for British forces in
Egypt. Force H’s mission was to take the
convoy as far as Malta where ships of Admiral Cunningham’s Mediterranean Fleet would
escort it eastward to the port of Alexandria.
The convoy was first attacked
by Italian aircraft on the 8th May.
808 Squadron attempted to intercept a number of torpedo-bombers, but the
Fulmars were themselves attacked by Italian fighters. One Fulmar was shot down, that of Lieutenant
Commander Tillard and Lieutenant Somerville. Rupert Tillard’s body came ashore
on the Tunisian Coast, and he was subsequently buried in the Commonwealth War
Grave cemetery at Enfidaville. Mark
Somerville’s body was never found and he is remembered on the Fleet Air Arm
Memorial at Lee-on-Solent as well as in St. Michael’s Church.
The deaths of the two airmen
were not in vain as Force H delivered the convoy, without loss, into the
protection of the Mediterranean Fleet.
One merchant ship was later sunk by a mine, but 238 tanks and 40
Hurricane fighters arrived safely in Alexandria on 12th May. Interestingly, Force H was commanded by Lt.
Somerville’s uncle, Admiral Sir James Somerville.
By a remarkable twist of fate
another Lieutenant Mark Somerville was killed while serving in the Royal Navy
183 years earlier. A plaque on the north wall of the tower of St. Michael’s
begins:
“Sacred to the Memory of Mark Somerville Esq
Lieutenant of His Majesty’s Ship The Rochester who unfortunately lost his Life
in doing his Duty and exerting himself to save the Lives of his Gallant
Countrymen when attacked by the Enemy in St. Cas Bay. September 11th 1758 in the 23 Year
of his Age”
The plaque must refer to The
Battle of St. Cast Bay which took place during The Seven Years War with
France. The war saw Britain launch a
series of amphibious assaults against French ports and possessions around the
world. In 1758 a number of these
assaults took place on the northern coast of France in order to destroy ports,
divert French troops from Germany and stop the activities of French
privateers. The last of these attacks
was against Cherbourg when the Royal Navy landed a force of around 10,000
troops and supporting arms. The attack
was initially a great success as the Port of Cherbourg, its docks and ships
therein were destroyed and a large amount of war material also destroyed or
seized.
The British force moved on to
attack Saint Malo, but found it too well defended and so moved west to St. Cast
Bay where it would be embarked from the beaches.
Meanwhile, the French had
gathered 9,000 soldiers and militiamen and marched in pursuit. The bulk of the British force had been taken
off the beaches when the French arrived.
Despite covering fire from the British ships in the bay the French overwhelmed
the British rear-guard of 1,500 men.
HMS ROCHESTER was a 4th
rate ship of just over 1,000 tons and armed with 50 guns. Reading between the lines of the plaque it
could be assumed that Lieutenant Somerville was killed while attempting to
embark men from the beach using ROCHESTER’S ship’s boats.
On the south wall of the nave
is a plaque commemorating Pilot Officer Thomas Middlebrook Horsefall, RAFVR,
whose aircraft crashed in the village on July 3rd 1942. Thomas Horsefall was flying an American
Curtiss P40 Tomahawk single engine fighter from No. 41 Operational Training
Unit, part of the School of Army Cooperation, based at Oatlands Hill, a
satellite station of RAF Old Sarum in Wiltshire. The P40 was not used by RAF Fighter Command
or the USAAF in Northern Europe as its performance did not match that of the
latest German fighters, but it was used extensively by British and American front-line squadrons in other theatres of war.
St. Michaels Church also
contains some fine stained glass windows, and a highly and beautifully decorated
stone pulpit dated 1621.
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Stained glass window in St. Michael's Church, Dinder, Somerset in memory of Emily Somerville "who entered into rest on New Year's Day 1900 aged 81. |
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The pulpit in the Church of St. Michael, Dinder, Somerset. |
I walked back to the main
street and took some more photos of this picturesque and peaceful Mendip
village – so peaceful, in fact, that I never saw or met a soul during my visit!
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The main street in the Somerset village of Dinder. |