The South Somerset market town of Ilminster. How its population grew and grew, and is set to grow further.

The 1930 edition of The Automobile Association Handbook informs us that the population of Ilminster was then 2,367.  This year South Somerset District Council has released plans which requires the town to have an additional 839 homes by the year 2036. A conservative estimate of 3 residents per home would see an increase in population of 2,517, which will be greater than the entire population of the town in 1930! 

The following makes interesting reading.

Year       Ilminster Population.

1930      2,367.

1981      3,722.

2001      4,573.

2011      5,808.

2021      ????? It will be interesting to see what that year's Census reveals?!

2036       Easily above 10,000 I suspect.

I forecast the population of this small market town will be 5 times bigger in 2030 than it was in 1930!!

Note. The figures for 1981,2001 and 2011 are taken from the Census.

Lieutenant A. H. Tett, a Canadian who served in The Boer War and The Great War. At rest at St. John and All Saints Church in the Somerset village of Kingstone.

Arthur Hopkins Tett, born on the 22 August 1882, was from Kingston, Ontario. A banker by profession he married Bessie Bruce Tett and they had one son, John Kearns Tett.

Arthur Tett served as a Lieutenant with the 3^rd Canadian Mounted Rifles during the Boer War in South Africa.

He volunteered for service in World War One and, again holding the rank of Lieutenant, embarked from Halifax in Canada on 29 April 1917 and arrived in England on 7 May 1917 thereupon being assigned to the 5^th Canadian Reserve Battalion based at West Sandling in Kent.

On 29 July Lieutenant Tett was admitted to the Westcliff Canadian Eye and Ear Hospital in Folkestone with a breathing problem caused by polypi in his left nostril, a condition which had originally occurred in Ontario 2 years earlier.  The polypi were removed under local anaesthetic and having been given the all clear he was subsequently discharged on the 18 August with 2 weeks convalescent leave.

While on leave he was admitted to Taunton Military Hospital where he died of Pneumococcal Meningitis on 26 August 1917. He is at rest in the churchyard of St. John and All Saints in the South Somerset village of Kingstone near Ilminster.

 Lt. Arthur Hopkins Tett from Kingston, Ontario, Canada at rest in the churchyard of St. John and All Saints in the South Somerset village of Kingstone. 

John Kearns Tett, son of the above, joined the RCAF in July 1940, subsequently becoming a Pilot Officer.  In April 1941 he joined 103 Squadron RAF equipped with the Vickers Wellington bomber.  The squadron was serving in No.1 Group of Bomber Command flying from RAF Newton near Nottingham.  While returning from a raid on Hamburg in July 1941 Tett’s Wellington was forced to ditch in the North Sea.  He and his crew spent 13 hours in a dinghy until rescued.  Tett was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 22 June 1943 and in due course repatriated to Canada.

John Tett re-joined the RCAF in 1952 with the rank of Wing Commander charged with establishing the development of fitness, sport and recreation within the service.  After a successful career he left the RCAF in 1965 and became Director of Parks and Recreation for the principality of Kingston.  Sadly, he drowned in August 1974 when his canoe overturned during a storm on Devil Lake in Frontenac Provincial Park north of Kingston.

The Church of St. John and All Saints in the South Somerset village of Kingstone.

Also in the churchyard at Kingstone is a memorial stone commemorating Squadron Leader Sinclair ‘Tif’ O’Connor Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Force Cross, Air Force Medal, who served with RAF Bomber Command’s 49 Squadron during Operation Grapple – the testing of hydrogen bombs.

On 11 September 1958, while holding the rank of Flight Lieutenant, he was pilot and captain of the Vickers Valiant jet bomber (XD827) which dropped a hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island in the Pacific during Operation Grapple Z.

The memorial stone records Sinclair O’Connor’s birth on 26-5-1922 and death on 21-3-2013.

The memorial stone commemorating Sinclair O'Connor DFC, AFC, AFM in the churchyard of St. John and All Saints in the South Somerset village of Kingstone.   

A stroll to the Beacon on Beacon Hill near Ilminster, South Somerset.

On July 9 the weather was quite calm, not too hot, a bit cloudy, but with plenty of blue sky, so I decided on a walk with my camera up to the top of  the 332 feet high Beacon Hill to the Beacon.  I strolled up Dillington Park Drive on the eastern fringe of the ancient market town of Ilminster to the gate overlooking Dillington House.  The house dates from the sixteenth century and was the home of Lord North, the Prime Minister who was in office when Britain “lost” America.

Turning left from the gate onto Beacon Hill, I followed the hedgerow north, west and then south until I came upon the Beacon at the junction of Old Road and the footpath which takes you west to New Road, the B3168, the road from Ilminster to Curry Rivel.  Old Road is now just a track, very narrow and rutted in places on the southern side of the hill, but was once the route north from Ilminster.

The fields immediately around the Beacon are all planted with maize this year – at the moment the crop is about thigh high.

Maize growing on Beacon Hill near Ilminster, South Somerset.

The Beacon on Beacon Hill near Ilminster, South Somerset.

Overgrown Old Road leading south from the Beacon into Ilminster. 

Old Road leading north at the Beacon on Beacon Hill near Ilminster in South Somerset

 

The footpath leading west from the Beacon to New Road/B3168 in Ilminster. South Somerset.

I continued along the footpath toward New Road until I came to a bench which has fine views looking down on Ilminster and its Church of St. Mary.  Gazing over the town to the south one can see Herne Hill and Pretwood Hill, while Windwhistle Ridge is on the skyline to the south east.

Looking down on Ilminster in South Somerset from Beacon Hill.

The view south east from Beacon Hill above Ilminster in South Somerset looking across the Shudrick Valley toward Windwhistle Ridge on the skyline.

After taking a rest and enjoying the view I retraced my steps.  Just north of the Beacon I could see all the way to the Mendips and the transmitter on Pen Hill.  I could also easily see the tower of St. Andrew’s Church at Curry Rivel.

The view toward The Mendips from Beacon Hill near Ilminster in South Somerset. The transmitter on Pen Hill is visible on the skyline to the right.