The Somerset village of Dinder and its Church of St. Michael.

The sleepy Somerset village of Dinder lies tucked away in the southern foothills of the Mendips.  It is but a short drive off the road between Wells and Shepton Mallet, and this summer I took the opportunity to explore it.  Dinder does not appear to have changed much since members of The Women’s Institute described it 35 years ago.

The Somerset Village Book (Countryside Books, 1988) compiled by The Somerset Federation of Women’s Institutes provides this charming chronicle of the village.

“The little village of Dinder, with its 150 inhabitants, lies in the valley between Wells and Shepton Mallet.  It is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Denrenn, meaning ‘in a valley deep between high hills’ – an apt description because Doulting Water, or River Sheppey, rushes along one boundary, and the Mendip Hills rise steeply on either side.

It has been an agricultural village, and it is known that clothing was made here in the 18^th century when there was a leather mill.  An old forge provided services in the main street, in a house still bearing that name.  Along this street the river has been partially diverted to form a wide leat of running water in which the village people could dip their buckets, and this makes a picturesque foreground for a row of 16^th century gabled cottages and a former public house which still displays the sign of ‘The Dragon on the Wheel’, being the crest of the local squire.  Two farmhouses and the Victorian school building also overlook the water.”

I parked by the village hall at the western end of the village, and walked down to the Church of St. Michael.  The impressive lych-gate is dedicated to Ellen Somerville while inside the lych-gate is a commemorative plaque dedicated to Arthur Fownes Somerville who died on the 21^st November 1942 at the impressive age of 92.  I would find more memorials to members of the Somerville family both in the churchyard and inside the church.

The lych-gate at St. Michaels Church in the Somerset village of Dinder.

The commemorative plaque to Arthur Fownes Somerville.  Note the family crest of 'The Dragon on the Wheel'.

The approach to Dinder’s Church of St. Michael is beautifully described by Arthur Mee in his The King’s England – Somerset (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1968).  He writes:

“We walk up the path to the church with its fine north wall across our view, crowned with a parapet from which friendly gargoyles look down at the top of slender buttresses.  Very dainty is the arcading in the battlements, and charming is the tower with its stair turret to the bells”.

The north wall of the Church of St. Michael in the Somerset village of Dinder.

To the left of the path is the family plot of the Somerville family which includes the grave of James Fownes Somerville, Admiral of the Fleet and Squire of Dinder, of whom I have written previously:

Views from Somerset: Admiral Sir James Somerville, commander of Force H, the squadron which crippled the Bismarck, at rest in a Somerset churchyard in the village of Dinder. (viewfromsomerset.blogspot.com)

 

On the north wall of the nave is a brass plaque commemorating William Charles Croom a 2^nd Lieutenant in the 6^th London Regiment who was killed in action at Messines Ridge on 17th June 1917 when aged 20.  He is also remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium.

Another plaque on the north wall is “in ever grateful memory of the brave men of Dinder who fell in The Great War”.  It lists 6 names.  As well as Lt. William Croom it commemorates the following men:

Private Uriah James Clarke of the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars died on 23^rd March 1918.  He is also remembered on the Poziers Memorial north east of Albert.

Private Gilbert Drew of the 1^st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry who died on the 1^st July 1917 aged 19.  He is at rest in a Commonwealth War Grave in the churchyard.

Private Francis Allen Keevil of “C” Company, 7^th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry died on the 7^th August 1917.  He is remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.  Aged 38, he was the son of Jabez Allen Keevil and Francis Augusta Keevil of Rose Cottage, Dinder.

Private William Robert McCullagh of the 1^st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry died on 29^th March 1918.  He is remembered on the Arras Memorial.

The last name listed on the plaque is that of George Palmer.  There are 24 “George Palmers” recorded on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website as having died in World War One.  Sadly, I cannot find among them anyone connected to Dinder or the County of Somerset.

Another brass plaque on the north wall of the nave is in memory of Lieutenant Colonel Harold Fownes Somerville DSO who served with The Rifle Brigade during the First World War and died aged 65 on the 19^th March 1946, and his son Lieutenant Mark Fownes Somerville DSC who was killed in action on 8^th May 1941 while serving aboard HMS ARK ROYAL.

Mark Somerville was a Fleet Air Arm observer in the Fulmar-equipped 808 Squadron flying from the aircraft carrier HMS ARK ROYAL.  He flew with the squadron’s commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Rupert Claude Tillard DSC.

The Fairey Fulmar was a two-seat fighter and reconnaissance aircraft powered by a single Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and armed with eight .303 machine guns mounted in the wings.  It was widely used by the Fleet Air Arm in the Mediterranean during the early years of World War Two.  The Fulmar was more than a match for any German and Italian bombers or reconnaissance aircraft it might encounter.  However, it struggled to cope with the enemy single seat fighters it came up against.  Tillard and Somerville destroyed six Italian aircraft while flying the Fulmar, a feat for which they were both awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

On 6^th May 1941 ARK ROYAL left Gibraltar together with the battlecruiser HMS RENOWN, the light cruiser HMS SHEFFIELD and nine destroyers – the famous Force H – to escort a convoy of five ships with vital reinforcements for British forces in Egypt.  Force H’s mission was to take the convoy as far as Malta where ships of Admiral Cunningham’s Mediterranean Fleet would escort it eastward to the port of Alexandria.

The convoy was first attacked by Italian aircraft on the 8^th May.  808 Squadron attempted to intercept a number of torpedo-bombers, but the Fulmars were themselves attacked by Italian fighters.  One Fulmar was shot down, that of Lieutenant Commander Tillard and Lieutenant Somerville. Rupert Tillard’s body came ashore on the Tunisian Coast, and he was subsequently buried in the Commonwealth War Grave cemetery at Enfidaville.  Mark Somerville’s body was never found and he is remembered on the Fleet Air Arm Memorial at Lee-on-Solent as well as in St. Michael’s Church.

The deaths of the two airmen were not in vain as Force H delivered the convoy, without loss, into the protection of the Mediterranean Fleet.  One merchant ship was later sunk by a mine, but 238 tanks and 40 Hurricane fighters arrived safely in Alexandria on 12^th May.  Interestingly, Force H was commanded by Lt. Somerville’s uncle, Admiral Sir James Somerville.

By a remarkable twist of fate another Lieutenant Mark Somerville was killed while serving in the Royal Navy 183 years earlier. A plaque on the north wall of the tower of St. Michael’s begins:

“Sacred to the Memory of Mark Somerville Esq Lieutenant of His Majesty’s Ship The Rochester who unfortunately lost his Life in doing his Duty and exerting himself to save the Lives of his Gallant Countrymen when attacked by the Enemy in St. Cas Bay.  September 11^th 1758 in the 23 Year of his Age”

The plaque must refer to The Battle of St. Cast Bay which took place during The Seven Years War with France.  The war saw Britain launch a series of amphibious assaults against French ports and possessions around the world.  In 1758 a number of these assaults took place on the northern coast of France in order to destroy ports, divert French troops from Germany and stop the activities of French privateers.  The last of these attacks was against Cherbourg when the Royal Navy landed a force of around 10,000 troops and supporting arms.  The attack was initially a great success as the Port of Cherbourg, its docks and ships therein were destroyed and a large amount of war material also destroyed or seized. 

The British force moved on to attack Saint Malo, but found it too well defended and so moved west to St. Cast Bay where it would be embarked from the beaches.

Meanwhile, the French had gathered 9,000 soldiers and militiamen and marched in pursuit.  The bulk of the British force had been taken off the beaches when the French arrived.  Despite covering fire from the British ships in the bay the French overwhelmed the British rear-guard of 1,500 men.

HMS ROCHESTER was a 4^th rate ship of just over 1,000 tons and armed with 50 guns.  Reading between the lines of the plaque it could be assumed that Lieutenant Somerville was killed while attempting to embark men from the beach using ROCHESTER’S ship’s boats.

On the south wall of the nave is a plaque commemorating Pilot Officer Thomas Middlebrook Horsefall, RAFVR, whose aircraft crashed in the village on July 3^rd 1942.   Thomas Horsefall was flying an American Curtiss P40 Tomahawk single engine fighter from No. 41 Operational Training Unit, part of the School of Army Cooperation, based at Oatlands Hill, a satellite station of RAF Old Sarum in Wiltshire.  The P40 was not used by RAF Fighter Command or the USAAF in Northern Europe as its performance did not match that of the latest German fighters, but it was used extensively by British and American front-line squadrons in other theatres of war.

St. Michaels Church also contains some fine stained glass windows, and a highly and beautifully decorated stone pulpit dated 1621. 

Stained glass window in St. Michael's Church, Dinder, Somerset in memory of Emily Somerville "who entered into rest on New Year's Day 1900 aged 81.

The pulpit in the Church of St. Michael, Dinder, Somerset.

I walked back to the main street and took some more photos of this picturesque and peaceful Mendip village – so peaceful, in fact, that I never saw or met a soul during my visit!

The main street in the Somerset village of Dinder.

 

My thoughts on Will Iredale's 'The Pathfinders', a story of Bomber Command's No.8 Group in World War Two.

Just read The Pathfinders by Will Iredale (W. H. Allen, 2021).  It tells an all-round story of RAF Bomber Command’s No.8 Group during World War ll. The why, how, when, who and where are all meticulously researched. In addition the reader is given a sense of realism by excerpts from diaries and letters from those who were there, and their families. 

The Pathfinders C.O. Air Vice-Marshal Donald Bennett, and his crews, not only had to confront the German flak, nightfighters, and the weather, but also had to deal with sniping and obstruction from senior Bomber Command Officers, and even ‘Bomber’ Harris himself.

The book is an absorbing tribute to the crews, scientists and senior officers who made the war-winning success of No.8 Group, and Bomber Command, possible. 

It does for The Pathfinders what Iredale’s The Kamikaze Hunters (Macmillan, 2015), his previous work, does for the Fleet Air Arm squadrons serving with the British Pacific Fleet.  Both books make extensive use of eyewitness accounts which gives the reader the feel of being in the air, and the action, with them.

Merlins and a Wildcat over Ilminster in South Somerset.

I saw these two Merlin helicopters flying in formation with a Wildcat at midday today over Ilminster in South Somerset. They appeared to be coming from the direction of RNAS Merryfield and were heading to the south-east.

With the background of a clear blue sky they made a nice picture.

Merlins and a Wildcat over Ilminster in South Somerset.

A view of the defence policies of the English Democrats Party.

I reproduce below, copied from the party's website, the defence policies of the English Democrats Party - I hope they don't mind!

All of them are very general and easy to agree with, but the one policy which does catch the eye  advocates the reintroduction of dedicated military hospitals, an eminently sensible idea!

English Democrats Party Defence policy.

3.13 Defence

3.13.1 The English Democrats supports continued membership of NATO as a strictly defensive alliance which does not interfere in the internal affairs of its member states.

3.13.2 Our armed forces should enjoy the highest standards of training and equipment. Their primary role should be as a fighting force. The resources devoted to them should match the commitments they are expected to fulfil.  The main purpose of our armed forces should be to protect our country and the interests of its people.

3.13.4 The English Democrats are opposed to the use of our forces in operations where they are in effect serving as mercenaries of a foreign state.

3.13.5 Members of the armed services who suffer injury in the service of their country should be quickly and properly cared for and compensated. The abolition of the military hospitals was irresponsible and will be reversed. An independent veteran's association should be created to provide better care for, and help with re-settlement of, ex-service personnel into civilian society.

3.13.6 We would retain a nuclear deterrent but explore other means for providing an effective strategic defence.

A view of the defence policies of the Social Democrats Party.

I reproduce below the defence policy pledges of the SDP taken from the Party's website - I hope they don't mind!  

The aim of enlarging the size of the Army and the Navy's surface fleet is especially to my liking - "quantity has a quality all its own" as someone once said!  Be that as it may, support for yet another "rebirth" of the Fleet Air Arm would be welcome.  I believe the country should return to its traditional policy of having a strong navy to protect its merchant shipping routes while avoiding at all costs entangling the Army in overseas expeditions. 

It is surprising that no mention is made of the RAF, but in future I would hope to see priority given to purchasing aircraft which were suitable for seaborne operations. In such circumstances RAF and Fleet Air Arm squadrons would have the flexibility and interchangeability to operate from land or sea as required.

All the policies advocated below are eminently sensible and should appeal to patriotic centrist voters.

POLICY PLEDGES:

• Maintain Britain’s membership of NATO and observe the NATO target of spending a minimum of 2% of GDP on defence.
• Maintain the independence of the British Military and resist any attempt to absorb it into a European Army.
• In keeping with our membership of the UN Security Council, Britain shall play a full part in fully authorised UN peacekeeping missions.
• Maintain and update Britain’s nuclear defence capabilities – essential in a world where unstable regimes have, or are, developing a nuclear capability.
• The size of the British Army will be increased and recruitment shall be put back under Army control.
• Complete the Carrier programme and related air/naval investment to make and keep HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales fully operational.  Aircraft carriers will form an integral part of our ability to protect our Overseas Territories. A larger surface fleet is also necessary to protect the Carriers.
• Learn from the mistakes of recent decades in relation to UK involvement in foreign wars.  Future decisions on defence spending will focus primarily on the defence of British territory.
• Increase spending on Intelligence to combat terrorism and cyber-warfare as a proportion of the overall defence budget and commit to the UK’s continued participation in the ‘five eyes’ security system.
• Build the UK’s own Satellite Navigation system with trusted partners such as Canada and Australia.
• Offer a significantly enhanced deal for our veterans.  Increase housing priority, dedicated medical services, and reduce employers’ National Insurance for employment in the first two years after leaving the armed service, giving businesses a clear incentive to employ veterans.

Epitaphs of interest. At rest in the Churchyard of Christ Church, Redhill, North Somerset is C.T.D. "Sox" Hosegood FRAeS.

 The epitaph on his gravestone includes the description “A good egg”.

Charles Thomas Dennehy “Sox” Hosegood FRAeS is best remembered for his career in aviation.  He joined the Royal Navy just after the outbreak of World War Two and gained his Fleet Air Arm wings in July 1940.  Late in the war he was one of the first six Naval Pilots sent to America to convert to helicopters on the Sikorsky R4.  In March 1945 Hosegood became the Navy test pilot at the Joint Service Helicopter Test Unit of the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE) at Beulieu.  He left the Navy in November 1946.

In 1952 Hosegood became Chief Test Pilot of the Bristol Aeroplane Company’s Helicopter Division.  He worked on the Bristol Sycamore, the first British helicopter to gain its Certificate of Airworthiness.  He made the initial flights of the Bristol Belvedere and saw it into service with the RAF.

After Westland took over Bristol’s Helicopter Division in 1963 Hosegood joined the South Western Electricity Board to set up their Helicopter Unit for power line inspection duties.  He managed the Helicopter Unit for 20 years up to his retirement by which time it had expanded to cover power line inspections for 4 neighbouring Boards.

He is buried in the churchyard of Christ Church in the village of Redhill, North Somerset.

Source:

https://www.aerosociety.com/news/obituary-charles-thomas-dennehy-sox-hosegood/

The Social Democratic Party, seemingly a patriotic party with a social conscience believing in a nation-state independent of the EU.

I just came across the Social Democratic Party website and had a look at their policy pages.  Among the policies listed the call for an English Parliament caught my eye.  On the same “Constitution” page was advocated the abolition of the House of Lords, proportional representation and a statement saying “No public sector employee should be paid more than the Prime Minister”.  Any English patriot should be delighted with such policies!


Reading further I was delighted to find that on animal welfare the SDP calls for a ban on non-stun slaughter “as requested by the British Veterinary Association and the RSPCA”.


The SDP advocate a cap on net AND gross immigration while current arbitrary spending on Foreign Aid would be scrapped - a common sense approach to both issues.


On land the railways would be re-nationalised and funding for regional and rural bus travel would be increased.  Meanwhile at sea the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers appear to have top priority with regard to defence spending.


The Social Democratic Party seem to me to be a patriotic community-centric party with a social conscience which believes not in nationalism, but nationhood with the nation state being independent of the European Union.


I will seriously consider voting for them if given the chance, and if I was not too old I might even be tempted to join them!

St. Mary's Church in Ilminster, South Somerset, flying the flag for Armed Forces Day.

The Church of St. Mary, known as The Minster, in the ancient market town of Ilminster, South Somerset, flying the flag for Armed Forces Day.

St. Mary's Church in Ilminster, South Somerset, flying the flag for Armed Forces Day.

Built of Ham stone and standing on a slope in the centre of the town, it dates from the fifteenth century.  Rather surprisingly this fine looking church only receives 3 stars in Simon Jenkins’ England’s Thousand Best Churches (Penguin Books, 2009).  However, Pevsner describes it as: ". . . impressive, large, and consistently designed . . .".

Admiral Sir James Somerville, commander of Force H, the squadron which crippled the Bismarck, at rest in a Somerset churchyard in the village of Dinder.

In the shadow of Somerset’s Mendip Hills, just north of the A371 between Wells and Shepton Mallet, is the little village of Dinder.  Within the village is Dinder House, formerly a manor house dating from the twelfth century, rebuilt by the Somervilles in 1801.  It remained their family home up until the death of Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Somerville on this day in 1949.   

Sir James Fownes Somerville was born in Weybridge, Surrey, on 17 July 1882, the second son of Arthur Fownes Somerville of Dinder and his wife Ellen, daughter of William Stanley Sharland, of North Norfolk, Tasmania.  The Somervilles were related to that great naval family, the Hoods.

Somerville joined the RN in 1897 and became a lieutenant in 1904. He qualified in the vital new field of wireless telegraphy in 1907.

He was fleet wireless officer during the Gallipoli campaign where his outstanding work in ship to shore communications brought him the award of the DSO.

In 1921 Somerville was promoted to captain and commanded the battleships HMS BENBOW, HMS BARHAM and HMS WARSPITE.  Following the mutiny by seamen in ships of the Atlantic Fleet at Invergordon on 15 and 16 September 1931, Somerville and Captain James Tovey, another future admiral, undertook an enquiry to establish its causes.   

During the Spanish Civil War Somerville spent two years as senior British naval officer off the Spanish Mediterranean Coast.  In 1937 he was promoted to vice-admiral and subsequently became Commander-in-Chief East Indies in October 1938.  However, in July 1939 he was forced to retire with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis, a diagnosis he contested.

The outbreak of World War Two soon saw Somerville back in the service of his country.  After overseeing the development of naval radar and its rapid installation aboard ships he gave valuable assistance to Admiral Ramsay who oversaw the Dunkirk Evacuation.

After the defeat of France Somerville took command of Force H, a squadron based at Gibraltar to act as gatekeeper to the Mediterranean and operate in the Central Atlantic as necessary.  He then commanded what was, in my opinion, one of the most inglorious and mistaken actions ever undertaken by the Royal Navy.   Somerville was tasked with arranging, either by negotiation or force, the demobilisation of major units of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir near Oran in French Algeria.  When talks failed Somerville, with the insistence of Churchill, ordered his ships to open fire on the anchored French warships.  The bombardment resulted in the deaths of 1,297 French servicemen, the sinking of one capital ship and heavy damage to another.  Somerville himself described it as a “filthy job”.

Many senior officers in the Royal Navy thought at the time, and after the war, that the order from Churchill and the War Cabinet to open fire on erstwhile allies was wrong.  Stephen Roskill in his Churchill and the Admirals (Pen & Sword Books Ltd. 2013) writes:  

“While working on my war history I had many interviews and much correspondence with Cunningham, Somerville and North, the three admirals concerned in the attack on Oran and related plans.  None of them ever budged from the view that, given more time for negotiation, the tragedy could have been averted.  On 9 January 1950 Cunningham wrote to Admiral Lord Fraser, then First Sea Lord, that 90 per cent of senior naval officers, including myself, thought Oran a ghastly error and still do.”

In May 1941 Force H was called on to help the Home Fleet in the hunt for the BISMARCK.  Somerville’s masterly handling of his squadron led to HMS ARK ROYAL’s Swordfish aircraft crippling the BISMARCK with torpedoes thus allowing Admiral Sir John Tovey’s battleships to catch and sink her.

In 1940 and 1941 Somerville’s ships regularly and successfully supported vital convoys to Malta, but after flying off reinforcements of aircraft to that besieged island HMS ARK ROYAL was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine  U81 on 13 November 1941.

Following Japan’s entry into the war Somerville was sent to the Far East in February 1942 to command a reformed Eastern Fleet.  Many of his ships were obsolete and his fleet was in no condition to confront the powerful Japanese carrier group which forayed into the Indian Ocean in the spring of 1942.  All Somerville could do was to retreat out of range of the Japanese until they withdrew to the Pacific for their next confrontation with the American Navy.

It was not until the spring of 1944 that Somerville was able to undertake offensive operations.  By this time his fleet had been reinforced by more modern units including the aircraft carrier HMS ILLUSTRIOUS and, operating alongside the American carrier USS SARATOGA, air strikes were launched against Japanese oil installations on Sumatra and Java.

In August 1944 Somerville left the Eastern Fleet to take up the post of Head of the British Admiralty delegation in Washington, a position he held from October 1944 to December 1945.  He made a great success of this mission and even became friends with the blunt and short-tempered Admiral Ernest J. King, the anglophobic American chief of naval operations.

On leaving the Royal Navy in 1946 he retired to Dinder House becoming Lord Lieutenant of Somerset.  He died in Dinder on 19 March 1949 of a coronary thrombosis and is buried there in the village churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels.   His wife Mary, whom he married in January 1913, predeceased him in August 1945.

Sources.

Churchill and the Admirals, Stephen Roskill (Pen & Sword Books Ltd. 2013)

Oxford Dictionary of National Biographies.

https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/36191

French Rafale jet fighters of the Aeronavale over South Somerset.

July 7 saw the annual Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Yeovilton International Air Day in Somerset.  The evening before, as I was about to watch the World Cup,  I heard a roar of jet engines, so dashed out into the courtyard to see what was overhead.  Approaching from the southwest was a formation of five aircraft; two were Rafale Ms of the French Aeronavale, two others I could not identify and, bringing up the rear of the formation, another Aeronavale jet in the shape of a Falcon 50M.  The five jets disappeared from view, but a short while later the two Rafales returned and spent the next twenty minutes or so circling low over South Somerset in the general area of RNAS Merryfield.  I grabbed my camera and managed to get some shots of them. 

Presumably they were rehearsing their routine for the International Air Day when, according to the organisers information, after a "thunderous formation take-off the display showcases both present day frontline naval tactics and the exceptional performance capabilities of the fast, powerful and agile Rafale M." 

French Rafale jet fighters of the Aeronavale over South Somerset on July 6th.

French Navy Rafale M jet fighter over South Somerset on the evening of July 6th.

A Rafale M of the Aeronavale over South Somerset on July 6th.

A stroll along the bank of the River Parrett at Langport in Somerset.

The River Parrett at Langport in Somerset.

It was a nice summer’s afternoon with a gentle breeze so my wife and I decided to drive up to Langport and have stroll along the bank of the River Parrett.  The “Curry Road” was closed for roadworks so a detour up the A358 to the A378 was required.  Nevertheless, it was a very pleasant drive as the road gently twisted and turned up and down toward Wrantage, past Swell Wood and on through Curry Rivel.

In Langport we left the car in the spacious car park just off Bow Street, a very convenient place to stop if you are taking a walk alongside the Parrett or exploring the town.  A few steps took us to the riverside footpath where there are numerous benches for those who wish to just sit and enjoy a view of the river and low-lying fields on the far bank.  Swallows or Martins were skilfully swooping low over the water, but as we strolled along something a lot more sinister passed overhead; a RAF Tornado with its landing gear down - presumably heading for nearby RNAS Yeovilton. 

A Royal Air Force Tornado, with landing gear down, above the River Parrett at Langport in Somerset. 

As we continued along the riverbank my wife spotted the tower of All Saints Church rising above the treetops and suggested it would make a pleasant photo set against the clear blue sky.

The tower of All Saints Church in Langport, Somerset.  Viewed from the footpath alongside the River Parrett.

The River Parrett enters Bridgwater Bay at Burnham-on-Sea 37 miles from its source which is 4 miles southeast of Crewkerne in Somerset near the Dorsetshire village of Chedington.  Today the Parrett is peaceful and undisturbed yet in the mid-nineteenth century, when waterborne trade was at its peak, Langport’s quays and warehouses dealt with 55,000 tons of cargo annually.  Barges and canal boats of 15 to 20 tons capacity carried their loads to Langport where they were either transhipped to smaller barges of 5 to 10 tons to carry those cargoes continuing upriver, or stored for distribution by packhorse or wagon.

The town’s fifteenth century Great Bow Bridge, with its low arches, also restricted the size of vessels proceeding to the narrower upper reaches of the Parrett and its tributaries.  In 1840 the bridge was replaced thus facilitating an increase in trade and prosperity, but the coming of the railway in the form of the Taunton to Yeovil branch line, which opened in 1853, began the inevitable decline of river-borne cargoes.  

A view across the River Parrett, near Westover Pumping Station, at Langport in Somerset.

   

Now that the quays and warehouses are no more, an apt description of Langport is given by Ralph Whitlock in his Somerset (B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1975).  He compares the town to an elderly man who, after an exciting and eventful life, has settled down to a humdrum retirement in a terraced house.  Unfortunately for his peace it is too near a busy main road.

Be that as it may, once we had negotiated the confines of Bow Street and parked the car my wife and I enjoyed our stroll along the bank of the River Parrett.  No doubt we will return to explore Langport further.

Tintinhull Garden, near Yeovil, in South Somerset.

The National Trust’s Tintinhull Garden is east of Yeovil and just a mile or so south of the A303 in Somerset.  Tintinhull is well signposted and the Garden is easy to find just off the centre of the village; its small, but adequate car park only a few yards beyond the Crown and Victoria pub.

The National Trust's Tintinhull House, near Yeovil, in South Somerset.

Cedar Court in Tintinhull Garden, South Somerset.

I visited on a very warm Monday lunchtime in June and found the gardens tranquil and uncrowded. As I explored, at any one time I found only two or three other people in each of the seven gardens – ideal for taking photos.

The 17th century house and garden was bought by Phyllis Reiss and Captain Reiss in 1933.  Over the years Phyllis designed and created the Arts and Craft style garden, and upon her death in 1961 left the house and its grounds to the National Trust.  The gardens were further developed by Penelope Hobhouse and her husband Professor Malins when they took over the tenancy twenty years after Phyllis Reiss’s death. 

The vegetable garden at Tintinhull.

The Pool Garden at Tintinhull.

The Pool Garden was designed by Phyllis Reiss as a poignant tribute to her nephew, Sub-Lieutenant (A) John Michael Lucas, (RNVR), a Fleet Air Arm fighter pilot.  At the age of 21 he was killed in action while flying from the aircraft carrier HMS INDOMITABLE on 12th August 1942 during operation Pedestal, the hard fought five day convoy battle which successfully relieved the siege of Malta. 

The memorial plaque in the Pool Garden at Tintinhull remembering John Michael Lucas, Sub-Lieutenant (A), (RNVR).

Before leaving Tintinhull, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book, I took an enjoyable stroll back to the centre of the village.  Paul Newman in his Somerset Villages (Robert Hale – London, 1986) describes it as: “. . . yet another bright star in the galaxy of Hamstone havens.  The quarried blocks have weathered so beautifully here that many of the buildings might have been composed of chunks of tarnished gold.”  Newman’s evocative word picture of Tintinhull has certainly stood the test of time.

Russia - ". . . the most conservative, patriotic and Christian country left in Europe." A potential friend rather than enemy?

I always look forward to Peter Hitchens’s Mail on Sunday column, the latest being particularly interesting especially his suggestion that there is more freedom of speech and thought in today’s Russia than there is in the UK.  As he points out, in Britain it is possible to be driven out of a non-political job as a result of saying something politically incorrect.  Something which as Mr Hitchens writes: “simply isn’t so in Mr Putin’s Russia, now astonishingly the most conservative, patriotic and Christian country left in Europe.”

If Russia is indeed an enemy why on earth has the British Government carried through a program of excoriating defence cuts?  The Royal Navy has aircraft carriers with no aircraft and a fleet of only 19 frigates and destroyers – hardly enough to defend the Bristol Channel.  The Army could easily be seated in Wembley Stadium with room to spare while the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight has more aircraft than any Squadron in the RAF.

In such circumstances are British guarantees of military support to the nations of Eastern Europe worth the paper they are written on?  After all, Britain has 'form' in this area.   

As Poland found out in 1939, when attacked from the west by Germany there was no direct help to come from Great Britain.  Lord Boothby, Conservative MP 1924-1958, could not have described the British Government's response more precisely when he said: "We had gone to war for the defence of Poland.  In the event we did nothing to help Poland at all.  We never lifted a finger."*  When Russia invaded Poland from the east there was no British reaction whatsoever.  Considering such a record no country east of the Rhine should count on the British Government coming to their aid in the event they are attacked by Russia.

Furthermore, Britain, as it exists today, may not be around for much longer.  Brexit has led to the possibility of Northern Ireland joining the Irish State and Scotland ending the Union of 1707 as a result of seeking a second independence referendum. 

Be that as it may, Britain’s enemies today are much more likely to be found within rather than from Northern Eurasia.  Indeed, it may come to pass that England will need to make friends with conservative, patriotic and Christian countries - like Peter Hitchens’s Russia.

Here is a link to Peter Hitchens’s article of the 7^th of August. http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/08/silenced-by-our-boot-faced-commissars-of-thought-crime-1.html

*The World at War, Episode 2 (Thames Television Ltd, 1973).

   

   

Abandon the F35B Joint Strike Fighter and build more Harriers.

It seems the new F35B Joint Strike Fighter Lightning 2, on order for the Fleet Air Arm and RAF, has been outmanoeuvred by an F16.  The manufacturers of the F35 claim that when its weapons systems are fully developed and operational it will be able to engage and destroy hostile aircraft at long range without having to outfly them.  For the sake of future RAF and FAA pilots lets hope they are right.

The only active "enemies" we have at the moment are travelling around Iraq and Syria mostly in pick-up tricks armed mainly with little more than machine guns and RPGs.  Will they ever need to be engaged by a cutting edge technology 21st century stealth aircraft like the £87 million pound F35B which in any case will not be fully operational until 2023?  It would be more sensible, and cheaper, to continue using drones and ageing Tornados.  A 1960s vintage Canberra or V-bomber or even a Lancaster could operate against an enemy with no air force or air defence system.

Presumably the RAF's Typhoons and drones will carry on alone when the Tornado is retired in 2019.  As for the Fleet Air Arm, what, if anything, will be flying from the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers while it waits until 2023 for its F35Bs to reach full operational capability?

My view is reflected in this letter to the Western Daily Press published on July 10th 2015.

The time is right for rethink on Harriers

In their recent letters Greg Heathcliffe and Joe West have commented on the relative merits of the 1940s vintage Spitfire, Hurricane and Me109. However, of more immediate interest is a report in The Daily Telegraph stating that the F35B Joint Strike Fighter, still years away from operational service with the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers, can be outmanoeuvred by the F16, an aircraft which first entered US Air Force service in 1980. Evidence, it appears, that late 20th century fighters can still match the performance of their most modern counterparts.In such circumstances the British Government should abandon the hugely expensive F35B and place an order for Sea Harriers for the Fleet Air Arm and Harriers for the RAF. They are proven in combat and, as shown by the US Marine Corps’ decision to keep its remaining Harriers operational until 2025, still highly capable aircraft – and not prohibitively expensive to manufacture, maintain and operate.

Returning to 1940, I would venture the opinion that if, as Jo West states, the German fighter had been superior to both the Hurricane and Spitfire the RAF would have lost the Battle of Britain.

S.W.
Somerset