The October 1942 German air raid on Seaton in the neighbouring county of Devonshire.

 Almost 80 years ago at lunchtime on 26 October 1942 a lone German Junkers 88 bomber attacked the Devonshire coastal town of Seaton.  The fast twin engine light bomber dropped a stick of bombs achieving a direct hit on Seafield House which stood on the sea front between Sea Hill and Castle Hill, only a short distance from the site of some of Seaton’s wartime coastal defences.  A searchlight emplacement was positioned just 200 yards away below the cliffs, while on the cliff top was a coastal artillery battery which included two 6-pounder Hotchkiss anti-tank guns.

The World War Two searchlight emplacement on the sea front at Seaton in Devonshire.  Its beam could illuminate a target up to five miles out to sea.  A coastal artillery battery was sited on the cliff top above.

Was the German bomber crew aiming for the artillery battery, or was their mission an indiscriminate attack on a seaside resort – one of the later Baedeker raids the Germans carried out in reprisal for RAF Bomber Command’s successful raids on Germany’s Baltic Ports? 

The sea front at Seaton in Devonshire.  The World War Two coastal artillery battery was sited just beyond the thatched structure on the skyline at the extreme left of the picture.

The owner of Seafield House was a retired army officer.  Sadly, Major and Mrs Cartwright were killed along with three others - a young WRNS officer named Dorothy Downes Wilkin whose family lived at nearby Membury, a Miss Florence Sercombe and an elderly lady by the name of Mrs Eleanor Ross.

A young lady of 14 named Muriel Turl, who was “in service” and working in the kitchen when the house was hit, had a remarkable escape.  She was buried in the rubble for four hours until rescued relatively uninjured.  The two other members of the household staff, the cook and the cleaner, had not turned up for work that day – a very fortunate absence!

The Jubilee Clock Tower, erected to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, stood behind and above Seafield House.  It survived the bombing although the clock stopped at 1.20 pm precisely, the time of the raid, eventually being repaired some years later.

Seafield House was not rebuilt or replaced after its destruction.  Today the open space on which it stood allows a clear view from the sea front up to the Jubilee Clock Tower and Seafield Gardens.

The Jubilee Clock Tower at Seaton in Devonshire.  The steps and gardens leading to the Clock Tower occupy the site of Seafield House which was destroyed in the German air-raid of 26 October 1942.

Impressive line-up of speakers at the forthcoming Social Democratic Party conference.

The Social Democratic Party holds its annual conference in London on November 6 and appears to have lined up an excellent group of speakers.  Good to see that, among others, David Starkey is there along with Clair Fox, Rod Little and Patrick O’Flynn. 

The party leader, William Clouston will obviously be speaking – it was interesting, and noteworthy, that he was interviewed on GB News recently.  Perhaps the SDP will undergo a resurgence if such prominence is given to it on a regular basis.

As a supporter of the establishment of a dedicated English Parliament I am pleased to note that the SDP is in favour of such a policy.  It will be fascinating, and significant, if any of the speakers make any observations on the issue.

I will not be voting for any of the establishment parties again as they all appear to be singing from the same woke/PC hymn sheet these days.  Therefore, as I sympathise with practically all of the SDP’s policies I will be voting for them if ever they stand candidates, at whatever level of government, in South Somerset.

Hate your heat pump? Then buy a better one! Letters in The Week on the pros and cons of heat pumps.

The letters below appeared in the October 23 edition of The Week having first been published in The Daily Telegraph.  It appears to me that air-source heat pumps are a waste of money and effort, and ground-source heat pumps are only viable if you have room on your land for 320 feet of trench – fine if you are fortunate enough to own “fields”!

Hate your heat pump?

To The Daily Telegraph.

I’m no expert, but I have had personal experience of a heat pump during the past seven years.  It was sourced and installed by a German company.  Does the Government know how cumbersome they are, and how they dribble water?  Ours is installed outside in our back yard, as there’s no way we could accommodate such a large appliance inside our home.  We have a thriving moss patch around it.

Do ministers know how they guzzle electricity in colder weather in order to function at all, or how loud they are?  I’ve had to apologise to neighbours many times over the years about the noise, which kicks in at the most unexpected and inopportune times.

Maja Dijkstra, Glasgow.

Then buy a better one.

To The Daily Telegraph.

Maja Dijkstra perpetuates the commonly held belief that all heat pumps are air-source, but this is not the case.  I have an excellent ground-source heat pump, which provides abundant hot water and keeps the house warm, with lower bills.  It has done so for 13 years.  Its disadvantages were its cost and the inconvenience of installation: it required two 160 foot trenches to be dug in our fields.  However, if all new houses had to have ground-source heat pump, the expense would be incorporated into the cost of the home, and the work could be done by the builders.  Air-source heat pumps are indeed noisy and don’t work very well when it is really cold.  People buy them because they are cheaper and convenient to install – but these appear to be their only advantages.

Elizabeth Jones, Chard, Somerset.

So it seems we will have to give up our efficient gas boilers and install new systems using an expensive and complicated technology in order to meet the Government’s “ambitious” net-zero-carbon targets. Yet we live on an island made of coal which also contains an abundance of shale gas.  Unfortunately our so-called Conservative Government led by Boris, and his wife, appear to be fully supportive of Greta Thunberg and in step with the eco loons belonging to Extinction Rebellion.

A visit to the village church in Buckland St. Mary high on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset.

The ancient Somerset village of Buckland St. Mary, Buckland means land granted to the thanes by the Saxon Kings, stands 700 feet high on the Blackdown Hills. 

A short drive along narrow country lanes, not far from the A303, brings you into the village and its incongruous, but impressive, Church of St. Mary.  Incongruous because of the small size of the community which it serves, yet impressive enough to be known as the “Cathedral of the Hills”.

The Church of St. Mary in the Somerset village of Buckland St. Mary.

The church was built between 1853 and 1863. It was designed by London architect Benjamin Ferry and paid for by John Edwin Lance.  It is the third church to be built on the site.  Lance, from a well-to-do family, was rector of St. Mary’s from 1832 to 1885.

On arrival John Lance had himself built a new rectory in the style of a Victorian Gothic mansion – today it is known as Buckland House.  When finished the ground floor of the rectory had a hall, library, double drawing room, dining room, parish room, kitchen, larder, pantry, butler’s pantry and bedroom.  The first floor had nine bedrooms, a dressing room, and a linen room with 4 attics above.  The house stood in 37 acres of glebe land and had a staff to match its size and stature.

It was the death of his wife which motivated Lance to have the church rebuilt.  The finished building was described by Pevsner as: “A noble incongruity, due to the rector, the Rev. J. E. Lance.  Large with a substantial s w tower and in a style not at all du pays.  Moreover far too large for a small and scattered congregation.”

The s w tower of St. Mary's church in the Somerset village of Buckland St. Mary.

The war memorial in the churchyard of St. Mary's, Buckland St. Mary, Somerset.

Sadly a carter was killed during the construction of the church.  He was carting materiel when his horses ran away; the wagon overturned and the man was crushed to death beneath the stones.  The story is on a stone in the churchyard with this quaint warning: “May all carters who read this take warning and never get in their wagon”.  I could not find the stone on my stroll around the church, but I am sure to visit Buckland St. Mary again and will have another look.

However, I did come across the grave of Lt. Col. John Conrad Pringle, Royal Engineers, who died in 1952 aged 71, and that of his wife Ethel Gladys who was over 100 years old when she died in 1991.  Perhaps the fresh air on the Blackdowns accounted for the lady’s longevity?

The grave of Lt. Col. and Mrs John Conrad Pringle in the churchyard of  St. Mary's in the Somerset village of Buckland St. Mary.

A stroll around the Somerset village of Stoke St. Mary and its Church of St. Mary.

The village of Stoke St. Mary in Somerset lies comfortably sheltered in the shadow of the northern slopes of the Blackdown Hills.

Agriculture was once the main provider of work in the village, but now it is primarily a dormitory village for the county town of Taunton which is only 2 miles away to the north-west.

Sadly the last pub in the village, the Half Moon Inn, is closed and up for sale. It is a fine red-brick building and was formerly a manse. When I strolled by on the road through the village it was looking rather forlorn with its outside seating area showing signs of neglect.

Stoke St. Mary's only pub, the Half Moon Inn, was closed when I passed by in September 2021.

By contrast the unpretentious village Church of St. Mary has a very well cared for graveyard.  Pevsner kindly describes St. Mary’s as having a: “Good two-staged C13 w tower.  One w lancet and an uncommonly vigorously moulded tower arch.  The chancel arch also has shafts and capitals of the C13.”

The Church of St. Mary in the Somerset village of Stoke St. Mary.

In the churchyard is the devotedly tended Commonwealth War Grave of Sapper Alexander James Bussell, Royal Engineers, who died on 21 March 1947, aged 27.  He was the son of Samuel and Helen Bussell of Stoke St. Mary, and the husband of Gladys Hazel Bussell of Taunton.  The touching inscription on the gravestone, not visible in the photo, reads “THOUGHTS DRIFT BACK TO BYGONE DAYS LIFE MOVES ON BUT MEMORY STAYS”.

The Commonwealth War Grave of Sapper Alexander James Bussell, Royal Engineers.