An expedition to Hinton St. George, a village in South Somerset.

On a recent visit to Merriott in South Somerset I noticed a signpost for Hinton St. George so one day at the end of June I decided on a trip there to take some photos of the church and village.  I took a route through the very narrow country lanes from Kingstone, south east of Ilminster.  However, my navigation went awry driving through steep, deep cut lanes, but I found myself at Dinnington and then followed the Fosse Way to Lopen where I turned right onto the road to Merriott.  On the outskirts of Merriott the signpost for Hinton St. George – the one I had noticed previously - directed me along a gently rising country lane to the centre of the village.

The village cross at Hinton St. George in South Somerset.

Maxwell Fraser, writing of Hinton St. George in his Somerset (Great Western Railway Company, 1934.), informs us that: “It was the ancient seat of the Poulett family, who settled there in the reign of Henry I, and whose magnificent tombs enrich Hinton church.  It was one of the Pouletts who became the keeper of Mary Queen of Scots during her imprisonment. There is a fine cross in the centre of the village and a delightful old house known as The Priory.”

Amias Poulett, “the keeper of Mary Queen of Scots”, was ordered to treat her with severity, but instead, while declaring he would kill her rather than let her escape, paid the expenses of her large household from his own pocket.*

Paul Newman in his Somerset Villages (Robert Hale Ltd., 1986) writes of a seventeenth century Poulett:  “John Poulett (d.1649) was a fervent Royalist, in many ways an intemperate and self-seeking man, who was heavily fined for his allegiance after the triumph of Cromwell’s army.  The fact that he was the brother-in-law of the immensely effective Parliamentarian commander General Fairfax might have proven a mitigating circumstance.”

The Pouletts, originally from Pawlett near Bridgwater, held the estate at Hinton until 1968 when the 8th and last Earl Poulett  (b.1909 d.1973) sold up and moved to Jersey.

The Priory, Hinton St. George, South Somerset.

I parked the car opposite The Priory and walked the short distance to St. George's Church where I took some photos and had a look for the three Commonwealth War Graves which are listed as being in the churchyard.  I did find one headstone which looked very much like a CWGC one, but the inscription was, unfortunately, practically indecipherable.

St. George’s Church is described by Arthur Mee in his Somerset, The King’s England (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1968) as having: “. . . a fine tall tower with pinnacles and pierced battlements, and a window on every side to let out the sound of the bells.  The porch has a ribbed stone roof and an old traceried door, and ancient timbers make the panelled roofs of the nave and south aisle.”

The Church of St. George in the South Somerset village of Hinton St. George.

The war memorial is just inside the gates to the east of the church.  It commemorates 18 men from the First World War including Captain William John Lydston, the 7th Earl Poulett, who served for 3 years in the Royal Artillery, and later in the Anti-Aircraft Corps, but died in the 1918 influenza epidemic at the age of 34.*

There is only one name on the memorial remembered from World War Two; that of  Lt. Col. William Murray Leggatt who served in the Royal Artillery and spent most of the war in North Africa. He was awarded the D.S.O. for his part in the Second Battle of El Alamein where he commanded the 11^th Regiment (HAC) Royal Horse Artillery.  When his health began to fail he was posted home to England in May 1944 and given another command, that of 3^rd Royal Artillery Reserve Regiment.  In April 1945 he was sent on sick leave. On the 13th of August 1946, aged 45, he died of a heart attack in the Cavalry Club, Piccadilly.

The war memorial in the South Somerset village of Hinton St. George.

*Robert Dunning Somerset Families (Somerset Books, 2002)