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.

Morley Havelock Neale C.B.E. Trawler owner, naturalist and “guerrilla” of Chaffcombe, South Somerset.

In my last blogpost I wrote of Sgt Richard Morley Neale whose epitaph included a poignant verse which starts with the line saying “Now every bird he loved by wood and wave”. 

I could understand the meaning of “by wood”, but was intrigued by “and wave”.  Sgt Neale’s grave is close by that of his father, Morley Havelock Neale, and, following a little research into the Neale family the significance of “and wave “becomes clear.

The Neales were a family of prominent trawler owners based in South Wales.  Morley Neale was made 62nd President of The Cardiff Naturalists’ Society in 1934/35.  His father, Joshua John Neale had been the Society’s 28th and 45th president. 

J. J. Neale leased Grassholm and Skomer, islands off the south-west coast of Pembroke shire, for ten years in order to protect and conserve them as habitats for sea birds.  Grassholm is now known for its huge colony of northern gannets, while Skomer is home to Puffins, Manx Shearwaters, Razorbills, Gannets and Fulmars.  The two islands are now in the care of the R.S.P.B.

The words “by wood and wave” on Sgt Richard Neale’s grave are thus explained.

Morley Neale was made a C.B.E. in 1952 and is listed as Member, Scientific Fishery Research Committees of The Development Commission.  The Development Commission was a permanent Royal commission set-up under the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act 1909 to advise and administer the Development Fund voted annually by Parliament to benefit the rural economy of England.  The Development Commission and its successors are now part of Natural England.

He was also a member of the Marine Biological Association of the U.K.  Its council report for 1965/66 reported his death stating: “Morley Neale had been a member of the Council on a number of occasions, a Vice-President of the Association since 1951, and by a gift he made in 1958, founded the Morley Neale Fund for “the benefit of the Plymouth Laboratory staff and ship’s crews”.

Sometime before the start of the Second World War, Morley Neale moved with his family from South Wales to Chaffcombe House in the South Somerset village of Chaffcombe. 

In the late summer of 1940 it looked as if a German invasion of southern England was imminent with the British Army racing against time to reorganise and rebuild its forces.  Desperate measures were undertaken including the formation of local civilian Auxiliary Units whose task it would be to cause mayhem and destruction in the rear of German forces which had broken through British defences following an invasion.  The idea for these Auxiliary Units came from the great difficulty the British military had in dealing with Boer guerrilla units during the Boer War and Irish Republican Army methods in the years before the Irish Free State came into being.  In both cases armed civilians with local knowledge using guerrilla tactics proved hard to combat.

Wearing the uniform of the Home Guard, Auxiliary Units were made up of 6 or 8 man patrols based in an underground bunker usually concealed in woods.  The men would ideally be farm workers, gamekeepers, woodsmen or gardeners who knew their locality well and were comfortable in a rural environment.  They were expected to do as much damage to the Germans as possible, but their life expectancy was measured in days rather than weeks.

As a naturalist Morley Neale was an ideal candidate to be such a “guerrilla”, and so joined the 8 strong Chard Patrol of the Auxiliary Unit based on Snowdon Hill just west of the town.  He was a member of the patrol from September 1940, when the Auxiliary Units began forming, until 1944 when they were stood down.

Morley Havelock Neale died aged 82 on 28th May 1965 and is buried alongside others of his family in the churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels in Chaffcombe.

 

Sources:

Cardiff Naturalists’ Society.

British Resistance Archive.

A visit to Natural England's Barrington Hill National Nature Reserve in South Somerset.

I put some fuel in the car on July 16^th  - the first time since March - and decided to take a run over to Natural England’s Barrington Hill National Nature Reserve.  The entrance to the reserve is on a country road around half way between the South Somerset villages of Horton and Bickenhall – about 4 miles north-west of Ilminster.

There is only enough space for about 3 cars at the entrance to the reserve which is set back off the road, but luckily I found no-one around.  It was a very hot sunny afternoon with a slight breeze so it wasn’t too difficult walking up the quite steep slope to the highest point on the reserve.  The going was firm underfoot – no mud!

Although not especially high the nature reserve has some pleasing views in an arc from the north-east to the south-west.  I think I could make out the church towers in the villages of Ashill and Broadway, and the field patterns on Herne Hill south of Ilminster.  I will have to take some bearings and check the OS map next time I visit.

The view to the south-east from Barrington Hill Nature Reserve in South Somerset.

The view to the south west from Barrington Hill Nature Reserve in South Somerset.

Lots of common knapweed on Barrington Hill Nature Reserve in South Somerset.

Windmill Hill as seen from Barrington Hill Nature Reserve in South Somerset.

The view to the north-east from Barrington Hill Nature Reserve in South Somerset. The church tower in the village of Ashill is just visible on the skyline to the right.

Puckington and its Church of St. Andrew. A South Somerset village having "an old world look".

The charmingly named South Somerset village of Puckington straddles the B3168, or The Curry Road, between Ilminster and Curry Rivel.  Puckington appears in the Domesday Book as Pochintone.  However it appears to be derived from puc and tun; puc being the Old English word for Hobgoblin and tun meaning enclosure, farm or smallholding.  One could say that Puckington was once The Hobgoblin’s farmstead!

The South Somerset village of Puckington viewed from the south. The tower of St. Andrew's Church can be seen above the treetops in the centre of the photo.

Kelly’s Directory of Somerset (1914) tells us:

“Puckington is a village and parish, on the River Ile and on the road from Langport to Chard, 3 miles north-east of Ilminster Station on the Chard branch of the Great Western railway and 7 miles south west from Langport.”

Today the railway to Ilminster and Chard is no more, a victim of the Beeching cuts, and the River Ile is more commonly spelt Isle.

Kelly’s also informs us that:

“Viscount Portman is Lord of the Manor and chief landowner.  The soil is partly sand and partly sand and clay, and the subsoil is limestone.  The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, beans and roots.  The acreage is 774; rateable value £1,001; the population in 1911 was 136.”

The Portman family also held estates around Durston and Hestercombe, including Hestercombe House, but by 1976 the family had disposed of their land in Somerset and the 9th Viscount Portman had moved to Portman Square in London.

Puckington, with its thatched cottages, farmhouses, and Church of St. Andrew is described by Arthur Mee in his The King’s England – Somerset (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. 1968) as having “. . . an old world look, especially about its 15th century church, with a chancel 200 years older in which is still the original piscina and the triple sedilia added when the church was 100 years old.  In the sanctuary are two old carved chairs.  The font has the Norman mason’s cable moulding around it, and in the tower is still a bell which rang out before the Reformation.”

Church of St. Andrew in the village of Puckington, South Somerset. 

I came across this interesting tomb in the churchyard at Puckington in July 2015, but could not decipher the inscription.

The Church was restored in 1857 and again in 1910, when a new organ was provided.

Stooks near Sea in South Somerset.

These days it is not often one sees stooks in the English countryside, but I took this photo near the hamlet of Sea in South Somerset on August 2nd.

Stooks near the hamlet of Sea in South Somerset.

Tatworth Park / Snowdon Grange housing development on the fringe of Chard in South Somerset. More fields and hedgerows lost!

Work has started on the Tatworth Park housing development on the edge of Chard on fields between Tatworth Road (A358) and Forton Road (B3162) in South Somerset.  Another few acres of agricultural land together with hundreds of yards of hedgerow have been sacrificed to provide homes for England’s burgeoning population.

I took some photos of the changing landscape, just after the bulldozers moved in.

Update March 2021.

I see that the developers have changed the name of the housing development from Tatworth Park to Snowdon Grange.  I suspect they thought the original name sounded a bit down market?!

Tatworth Park housing development underway.  The view from the A358 on the southern fringe of Chard in South Somerset in July 2019.

The Tatworth Park housing development underway on the outskirts of Chard in South Somerset.  The view looking east from the A358 on 23 July 2019.

Scenes in South Somerset the day after the summer solstice.

A bucolic scene in South Somerset the day after the summer solstice.

An agrarian scene in South Somerset the day after the summer solstice.

Somerset landscapes and skyscapes on the day of the Autumnal Equinox.

After several days of very wet and windy weather the sky cleared on the afternoon of Sunday 23rd of September, the day of the Autumnal Equinox.  I decided to take advantage of the much better weather and have a wander with my camera for a couple of hours.  The landscapes and skyscapes below are the result.

The view to the west from Beacon Hill, Ilminster, South Somerset.

Agrarian landscape west of Seavington St. Mary in South Somerset.

Fields on the northern slopes of Pretwood Hill, near Ilminster in South Somerset.

The view toward Castle Neroche on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset, from the western slopes of Beacon Hill, Ilminster.

Heavy horses in action at Yesterday's Farming event on the Dillington Park Estate, South Somerset.

Last Sunday I decided to visit the Dillington Park Estate where the South Somerset Agricultural Preservation Club was staging its Yesterday’s Farming event.  Fortunately there has been very little rain recently so the stubble field on which the event took place was baked dry – firm going underfoot!

On entering the site, adjacent to the picturesque park, the first event I came across was a ploughing display by teams of heavy horses.  I stayed for a good while viewing these magnificent creatures in action - and took photos.  It was spellbinding to watch them at work and see ploughing as it would have been before the tractor. 

A team of heavy horses in action at the Yesterday's Farming event on the Dillington Park Estate, South Somerset.

 

Sam and Tilly at the Yesterday's Farming event on the Dillington Park Estate, South Somerset.

Heavy horses at the South Somerset Agricultural Preservation Club's Yesterday's Farming event on August 19th at the Dillington Park Estate in South Somerset.

Angel and Lad at the Yesterday's Farming event on Lord Cameron's Dillington Park Estate in South Somerset.

I could not fathom from the Programme who the owners and handlers of these teams were, but their horses were beautifully presented and a credit to them.

Bees in decline? Not in my South Somerset garden!

I have read numerous articles this year reporting that bees are in decline, yet in this particular corner of South Somerset there does not appear to be a noticeable reduction in their numbers.  The lavenders in my garden seem to be a particular favourite for bees, as they have been in previous years.  Even though the flowers on some of the lavenders seem to be fading they are still attracting pollinators.  Yesterday evening at 8pm the bees were still busy, so I took some photos with a clear blue sky as background.  

A bee among the lavender on the evening of 23rd July.

A bee working on the lavender on the evening of 23rd July.

I remember watching a TV programme some years ago on which someone who grew lavender as a crop said: “They don’t like to get their feet wet”.  Those in my garden certainly haven’t got their feet wet this summer!  My south facing hillside garden usually gets a battering from rain and constant wind, the wind sometimes subsiding to a breeze, but for the last couple of months it has had a real scorching.  In such conditions I had one lavender plant six years ago whereas now I have five; all survive and prosper.

Returning to the bees, The Royal Horticultural Society website informs us that: “There are often more pollinators in our nation’s gardens than in surrounding agricultural land.”  The website is very informative and gives advice on how to help our indispensable little friends.*   

*    https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=528

A field of rapeseed near The Seavingtons in South Somerset.

I thought this bright yellow field of rapeseed under a clear blue afternoon sky made for a pleasing photo.  I came across it on the 15th of May while driving home from a visit to King Alfred's Tower on the Stourhead Estate.

A field of rapeseed near The Seavingtons in South Somerset.

Farm animal welfare. Government moves on live exports positive, but more needs to be done.

The National Farmers’ Union estimates that in 2017 20,000 live sheep, but no live cattle, were exported to the European Union.  However, British Veterinary Association President John Fishwick has said: “Animals should be transported on the hook, as meat, not on the hoof, as live animals”.  Therefore the statement from Michael Gove that the Government is considering a ban on the live export of animals is welcome.

Be that as it may, in September of last year Farmers Weekly reported that, according to the British Veterinary Association, animal welfare standards are being unnecessarily lowered by a sharp rise in the slaughter of non-stunned animals. Gudrun Ravetz, BVA Senior Vice President, was quoted as saying: “This huge increase in the number of sheep, goats and poultry that are not stunned or not stunned effectively before slaughter is a grave concern to our profession.”  She went on to say that the number of halal slaughters had outstripped demand from the religious sector and is being sold to the general public unlabelled.

Obviously Michael Gove is moving in the right direction on farm animal welfare, but he should go further and ensure farm animals are effectively stunned before slaughter.  If he does not, at the very least he should ensure that religiously slaughtered meat is labelled as such.  When buying meat products consumers may wish to consider how it was prepared, and make an informed choice in the same way as they are able to do regarding organic food.

In a field in Dorsetshire during April.

Incidentally, as far as I am aware, the only party manifesto calling for an end both to farm animals being exported live and being religiously slaughtered is that of Anne Marie Waters’ For Britain Movement.  I somehow doubt that the Conservative or any other ‘liberal’ establishment party has the inclination or will to go that far.  

A view of the Dorsetshire countryside in April.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England suggests that England's small farms are disappearing.

A report by The Campaign to Protect Rural England suggests that almost a third of England's small farms have disappeared between 2005 and 2015 and could all but disappear from the English countryside by the middle of the century.

In my view it is largely the efforts of our farmers that have formed, preserved and maintained the beautiful and productive English countryside.  Unstinting support should be given to our farming and rural communities with particular attention paid to smaller farms to ensure their survival.  


Here is the press release from the CPRE introducing their report:

'A new report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) today illustrates that England is rapidly losing its network of smaller farms, and the diversity in food and landscape they provide.
CPRE’s Uncertain Harvest uses official statistics from the UK and Europe to demonstrate that smaller farms in England are in steep decline [1]. Overall, a fifth of English farms have disappeared in the past 10 years, but the rate is fastest amongst the smallest farms. Almost a third of farms under 50 hectares disappeared between 2005 and 2015 [2].
Should these trends continue, CPRE suggests that farms under 50 hectares could all but disappear from the English countryside by the middle of the century.
CPRE believes that a mix of farm sizes and enterprises is crucial to maintaining England’s world-renowned landscapes and diversity of food. As part of this mix, smaller farms are vital to the countryside as they sustain rural communities through jobs and protect distinctive local character. In their diversity of approaches, they create greater diversity in food production and conservation, both of which shape rural heritage and rural economies.
Competition and market pressures have put great strain on smaller farms, with supermarkets controlling 90% of the retail market and forcing down prices [3]. During this time, smaller farms have also faced an inequitable funding model through the Common Agricultural Policy.
Following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, the Government has pledged to pursue a new funding settlement that rewards farmers for public goods and environmental benefits rather than the size of land holdings [4]. The future structure of public funding will likely determine the future of many smaller and struggling farms.
Graeme Willis, food and farming campaigner at the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), said:
“There is a silent crisis in the farming sector. Smaller farms struggle to compete in the current market and, if the current trends continue, they could all but disappear from the English countryside by the middle of the century.
“While it is not a case of small versus big, smaller farms are vital to the diversity of our rural communities and our beautiful landscapes. Michael Gove has made positive statements about moving towards rewards for public goods and environmental benefits. We must use this platform to help all farms become economically and environmentally sustainable.
“To help smaller farmers succeed, the Government must research the health of the farming sector and assess the impact of any new funding model. Public finance should be designed with tapering to support all farmers for providing public benefits, and smaller farmers should be given a strong voice in the distribution of local funding. We must also make sure markets are fair and support our farmers. We all want a diverse, thriving countryside and wonderful food. Smaller farms are integral to both.”
To tackle the stark decline in smaller farms, CPRE recommends that the Government undertake research to assess the current health of the farming sector, especially in respect of the market, and to work out how any new funding models can help farms of all sizes prove economically and environmentally sustainable. Any regional-based funding must ensure small farmers have a strong voice to determine share and distribution, and assist new and young farmers across the sector.'

A view of the Somerset countryside from Wavering Down looking toward Glastonbury Tor.