The South Somerset village of Ashill and its Church of St. Mary.

I passed through the South Somerset village of Ashill recently, and stopped to have a quick stroll around.  The village is just a few hundred yards west of the A358 and sits peacefully in the shadow of the Blackdown Hills.

Thirty four years ago Paul Newman described Ashill in his Somerset Villages, (Robert Hale Ltd., 1986):  “The village centre blends brick house with Victorian Gothic and sturdy stone cottages: a tight sociable combination of dwellings served by a primary school and a post office.

Ashill’s church durably combines Norman, Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular work.  Inside snowy whitewash blends with honey Hamstone, creating an effect of delicate austerity.”

I couldn’t see the Post Office, but there is a pub and the school is still there with just beside it the Church of St. Mary with a pair of giant yews in its churchyard.

The Church of St. Mary in the South Somerset village of Ashill.

There is a Commonwealth War Grave sign on the church gate so I walked through to pay my respects.  The grave was that of Driver Charles Frank Donald Ottery of the Royal Army Service Corps who was killed on 29^th September 1941 aged 25.  He was the son of William Baker Ottery and Hannah Jane Ottery of Ashill, and is at rest beside others with the same surname; presumably relatives.