The Parish Church of St. Andrew in the village of Old Cleeve, West Somerset, and its noble view across Blue Anchor Bay.

Last Monday, as it was such a fine sunny day, my wife and I decided to visit the village of Dunster in West Somerset.  I drove across the beautiful Blackdown Hills to Taunton and then up the A358 between the delightful Quantocks and Brendons.   Once on the A39 we headed for Dunster, but after passing through Washford we decided to take a short detour along the narrow lanes to the village of Old Cleeve.

I had read of a famous epitaph on the gravestone of the local blacksmith, George Jones, who died in 1808, and wanted to see if I could find it in the graveyard at Old Cleeve’s Parish Church of St. Andrew.

Arthur Mee, in his The King’s England, Somerset (Hodder and Stoughton, 1968), writing of Old Cleeve states that: “It has a noble outlook, through the trees across the wide bay to where North Hill rises like a mountain from the sea.  Raised above the cottage roofs, the church has the best of the view, for which it took its seat 500 years ago.”

The Parish Church of St. Andrew in the village of Old Cleeve, West Somerset.

The view toward North Hill across Blue Anchor Bay from the churchyard of the Parish Church of St. Andrew in Old Cleeve, West Somerset.

I found the Church of St. Andrew on the hillside above the village and took some photos of the view across Blue Anchor Bay noted by Arthur Mee, but I could not find the grave of George Jones.  However, I discovered the blacksmith’s epitaph in Edward Hutton’s Highways and Byways in Somerset, (Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1923), and reproduce it verbatim below:

My Sledge and Hammer lie reclined,

My Billows too have lost their wind;

My Fire’s extinct, my Forge decay’d,

And in the Dust my Body’s laid;

My Coal is burnt, my Iron’s gone,

My Nails are drove, my Work is done.

Ernest Bevin born in the village of Winsford, Somerset on this day in 1881. A giant of British politics during war and peace.

At the present time we have a Labour Party leadership which appears unenthusiastic, and that’s putting it mildly, about Britain’s membership of NATO and the retention of nuclear weapons.  Furthermore, on March 7 an article in The Telegraph by Steven Swinford informs us that “Britain’s equality watchdog has announced a formal inquiry into the Labour Party’s handling of anti-Semitism cases amid claims that the party broke equalities law.” *

In such circumstances we should remember the contribution made by Ernest Bevin, a patriotic anti-communist who was a giant figure in the Trade Union Movement, Labour Party and British Government both in time of war and peace.  Today is the anniversary of his birth in the village of Winsford which sits within the borders of Exmoor National Park 10 miles southwest of Minehead in Somerset.

Ernest Bevin was born at Winsford on 9th March 1881.  His mother, Diana, was married to William Bevin, an agricultural worker who, by 1877, had deserted his family.  Therefore Ernest Bevin’s father is not known.  He was one of 7 children.

After his mother’s death he lived with his sister and her husband.  Bevin left school in 1892 and worked on farms until 1894 when he moved to Bristol to join his brothers, Jack and Albert.

In Bristol he worked mainly as a conductor on trams and as a van driver until becoming a paid official of the Dockers Union in 1911.  While in Bristol he attended chapel, becoming a Sunday School teacher and Baptist preacher.

By May 1920 he was Assistant General Secretary of the Dockers Union and as his trade union role was centred on London he moved there with his wife, Florence Anne Townley.

Bevin played the major role in creating the Transport and General Workers Union from the merger of 14 unions with his own Dockers Union as its core.  The new union came into being on 1 January 1922, with 300,000 members.  Bevin was elected General Secretary and by the late 1930s he was leading the largest union in the country, with 650,000 members.

He took a determined stand against communist challenges to trade union leadership and was suspicious of the egotism of intellectual socialists.

In May 1940 Bevin was top of the list of Labour figures who Churchill wanted in his War Cabinet and he agreed to become Minister of Labour and National Service in Churchill’s coalition government.  He became an MP for the first time in June 1940 being elected unopposed for Central Wandsworth.  Bevin was a staunch supporter of the war effort and believed “it is a social obligation to defend your own homestead”.

He so successfully mobilized and directed labour into essential war industries that Britain achieved a higher level of civilian mobilization than any other of the nations at war.  Bevin oversaw a great extension of collective bargaining, wage regulation, trade union membership and general transformation of working conditions.

Possibly second only to Churchill in the wartime government, Churchill himself looked upon Bevin as a possible successor should anything happen to himself.

After the war Bevin became Foreign Secretary in the Labour government and formed a close association with Prime Minister Attlee which contemporaries said was one of the most successful political partnerships in English history.  He had a deep distrust of communism and the Soviet Union, was firmly committed to the British nuclear deterrent, and played a key role in the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Failing health caused him to be replaced as Foreign Secretary in March 1951 and he died at his home in Westminster on 14 April 1951.

*https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/03/07/labour-faces-formal-inquiry-handling-anti-semitism-amid-claims/

The Church of St. John the Baptist in the village of Carhampton, West Somerset.

The red sandstone Church of St. John the Baptist stands not far from Dunster on the northern side of the A39 in the village of Carhampton, West Somerset.  Mentioned in the Domesday Book, Carhampton takes its name from the Old English car, ham and ton which means ‘A grief stricken home and enclosure’.  The original village church was dedicated to St. Carantoc, a Welsh monk of the fifth century.    

The Church of St. John the Baptist in the West Somerset village of Carhampton..

Carhampton is one of only two villages in Somerset, the other being Norton Fitzwarren, where the ancient  custom of wassailing the apple-trees takes place on Old Twelfth Night, which is 16 January.  The ceremony involves toasting bread on farm pitchforks over a blazing bonfire.  When ready the toast is dipped in mugs of cider and eaten.  A Wassail Queen is carried to the best tree in the orchard where she places some of the toast in its branches.  She then takes a drink of cider from an earthenware pitcher and pours the remains over the trunk and roots of the tree.  The Wassailing Song is then sung followed by cheers and the firing of old muzzle-loading guns through the branches of the tree.*

Carhampton’s Church of St. John the Baptist is noted for its interior which has a beautifully coloured rood screen.  The churchyard is reputed to be the largest in Somerset!

*Source: Somerset, Ralph Whitlock (B.T.Batsford Ltd, 1975).

The Church of St. Mary in Bishop's Lydeard, Somerset.

Leaving Taunton and driving along the A358 toward Williton one soon spots, just a field or two from the road, the distinctive tower of the Church of St. Mary in Bishop’s Lydeard.  It is easy to agree with Edward Hutton in his Highways and Byways of Somerset (Macmillan and Co. Ltd, 1912) who writes of the tower:

“Its noble blood-red, double-windowed tower is the finest in all this country, a thing to delight one in the memory of having seen it.  It was, perhaps, the first of such towers to rise in all this rich vale of Taunton Dean.”

Arthur Mee in his The King’s England, Somerset (Hodder and Stoughton, 1968) describes Bishop’s Lydeard and its Church of St Mary as follows:

“It is as red as the soil of its fields, its church and houses all made of the sandstone from its quarries.  High above them all rises its lovely tower, a fifteenth century masterpiece.  A narrow door, heavily clamped and plated, indicates that it was a tower of refuge as well as a storehouse for the arms of Sir John Stawell, the Royalist against whom the redoubtable Blake was sent with his army.”

The Church of St. Mary in Bishop's Lydeard, Somerset.

The Church of St. George in Dunster, West Somerset.

As usual at this time of year I thought I would post about Somerset’s churches.  This Christmas and Epiphany the theme will be red sandstone churches of West Somerset.  A couple of years ago I visited Dunster Castle from where I took a photo, which I reproduce below, of the Church of St. George in the village of Dunster.

Colin Wintle in his Around Historic Avon and Somerset, (Midas Books, 1978) writes; “The Priory Church of St. George, of red sandstone and with a massive square tower, buttressed and embattled, contains an unique feature: its rood screen, with fourteen openings and supporting a gallery, is the longest in England.”

Simon Jenkins, in his England’s Thousand Best Churches, (Penguin Books, 2000) lists it among his “Top One Hundred” and gives it four stars out of five.

The Church of St. George in Dunster, West Somerset.

The Church of St. Andrew in the village of Stogursey, West Someset. For St. Andrew's Day!

In his The Buildings of England, South and West Somerset, (Penguin Books Ltd., 1958) Nikolaus Pevsner writes: "St. Andrew, Stogursey, although now a parish church, was the church of a Benedictine Priory, founded by William of Falaise c.1100 as a cell of Lonlay in Normandy.  Stogursey is the englished form of Stoke Courcy."

St. Andrew's Church in the village of Stogursey, West Somerset.

Stogursey Castle, a picturesque Norman ruin in West Somerset.

I recently accompanied my wife to Stogursey, a village 8 miles from Bridgwater in West Somerset, where she was visiting a very good friend from her days at university.  It was a very bright and clear autumn day so after a pleasant lunch I decided, with camera at hand, to stroll down to the remains of Stogursey Castle.

The village and castle take their name from the manor of Stoke which in 1086 was in the possession of William de Falaise.  Williams’s daughter Emma married William de Courcy, the couple received the manor of Stoke upon their wedding and renamed it Stoke Courcy.  The manor became known as Stogursey which is how the village and castle received their names.

The castle dates from the time of William the Conqueror, but was besieged, overthrown and destroyed between 1455 and 1457 during The Wars of The Roses.   

The ruined walls of Stogursey Castle in West Somerset.

From High Street signposts direct you to the castle along the appropriately named Castle Street and public footpaths.  It is not possible to enter the castle grounds as The Landmark Trust operates the gatehouse cottage as a holiday let.  However, it is practicable to walk around part of the outer bank of the moat.

The gatehouse cottage and moat of Stogursey Castle in West Somerset.

The gatehouse cottage, which dates from the 17th century, at Stogursey Castle in West Somerset.

To learn more about the history of Stogursey Castle and its gatehouse cottage visit The Landmark Trust’s website where you will find a mine of information.

https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/stogursey-castle-12342

Dunster Castle, near Minehead, in West Somerset. A fairy tale spot with spectacular views of the Bristol Channel.

The second Friday of a dull March produced some sunshine so I decided to take my camera to Dunster Castle, near Minehead, for the afternoon.  It is a National Trust property; Colonel Walter Luttrell gave The Castle and most of its contents to the Trust in 1976.

The journey up the A358 to Williton took a little longer than I anticipated: there was a bad accident with police and fire brigade in attendence on the dual carriageway south of Henlade while at Bishops Lydeard roadworks were causing long queues. Nevertheless, the drive north from Taunton through picturesque villages and bucolic countryside to Williton was relaxing and enjoyable.

Join the A39 and it is but a short journey through the villages of Washford, Bilbrook and Carhampton before you come across the tor which guards the approach to Minehead.  Upon this high pointed hill stands Dunster Castle.  

Colin Wintle succinctly describes The Castle in his Around Historic Somerset and Avon (Midas Books, 1978), he wrote nearly 40 years ago:

“It stands high over a setting so pictorially lovely as to be almost unbelievably romantic – a fairy tale spot, yet only a few hundred yards from the busy main road (A396) east of Minehead. 

On the site once stood a Saxon fortress.  When the Normans came the Conqueror granted it to the de Mohuns, but the oldest existing masonry is the late thirteenth century gateway.  By 1376 the Castle had changed hands.  Elizabeth Lutterell bought the demesne from the de Mohuns, and it remained in the family until Colonel Lutterell gave it to the National Trust – after exactly six centuries of occupation by his family.”(Sic).

The entrance to the National Trust car park is directly off the A39 and through the parkland.  Parking was easy, no doubt due to the time of year.  There is a steep walk up to the Gatehouse.

Dunster Castle and the view toward the Bristol Channel from the Keep Garden.

I spent the afternoon wandering around the footpaths which wend their way up through woods and terraced borders to the Keep Garden.  There are no longer any ancient structures there, but it is the highest point on the hill and provides some fine views of the Castle.  From Green Court, opposite the Gatehouse, I was able to look down upon the village of Dunster with its Priory Church of St. George, built of red sandstone and possessing a massive four stage tower.  Being such a clear day there were wonderful views from the battlements of the Quantock Hills and out over the Bristol Channel to the coast of Wales.  The huge block-like structure of the nuclear power station at Hinkley Point, 14 miles away as the crow flies, was distinctly visible.

The Priory Church of St. George in the village of Dunster, viewed from Green Court near the Gatehouse.

I spent so much time taking in the views that I did not have time to go inside any of the buildings or explore the parkland.  Dunster Castle, as will the village of Dunster, needs several visits to appreciate fully.

This little chap was patrolling the battlements.

In the neighbouring County of Devonshire, near Broadclyst, is Killerton House.

Killerton House near Broadclyst in Devonshire in the autumn of 2014.

For me, a visit to Killerton House in Devonshire involves a very pleasant drive over the Blackdown Hills towards Cullompton to pick up the B3181 (the old A38) and head south.  Killerton is well signposted and only a short distance west from the main road.  If you reach Broadclyst you will have gone a couple of miles too far!  The car park is within what appears to be an old walled garden: I have always found parking there easy and convenient.

Strangely enough I have never actually been inside Killerton House or even had a cup of tea in the restaurant or café.  I always seem to spend the entire visit wandering around the gardens and park taking advantage of the many well-sited benches to rest or enjoy the bucolic views of the estate and beyond. 

Darrell Bates states in his The Companion Guide to Devon and Cornwall (Collins, 1976):  “The present mansion is eighteenth century, and was the home of the Acland family but the house and its fine garden of shrubs and trees and the splendid park are now in the hands of the National Trust.  Although Killerton garden has some truly magnificent rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias, and many exotic trees, none surpass the magnificence of the domestic oaks and beeches in the park.”

An ancient tree on the Killerton House estate.

Sir Richard Thomas Dyke Acland, fifteenth baronet (1906-1990)*, gave the 6,400 acre Killerton Estate, together with the even larger 12,000 acre Holnicote Estate in West Somerset, to the National Trust in 1944.  He advocated the public ownership of land and obviously practised what he preached.

Sir Richard was a left wing, liberal, socialist who had an interesting and varied career in Parliament spanning twenty years.  He was elected as Liberal MP for Barnstable in 1935 but broke with Liberals in 1942 to help found the Common Wealth Party.  By 1945 the Party had won 4 seats in by-elections but lost them all in the general election of that year.  In 1947 he won, as a Labour Party candidate, the by-election for Gravesend and returned to the House of Commons but resigned his seat in 1955 in protest against the Party’s support of the British Nuclear Deterrent.  He subsequently helped to form the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Always a stalwart protector of Devonshire’s countryside and traditions, including stag-hunting – an unusual stance for someone with such “left wing” views - he died at his home in Broadclyst on November 24 1990.

Sources

*A. F. Thompson, ‘Acland, Sir Richard Thomas Dyke, fifteenth baronet (1906–1990)’, rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/39848, accessed 28 Jan 2017]

Clatworthy Reservoir in the Brendon Hills, West Somerset.

One weekday last August I decided to pay a first visit to Clatworthy Reservoir, the smaller of the two reservoirs in the Brendon Hills.

Clatworthy is reasonably well signposted from Wiveliscombe so I followed the country lanes via Langley Marsh, Maundown and the prettily named Huish Champflower: Huish is a Saxon word meaning lands or household while Champflower is the name of the family which owned the lands in the 12th century.  It was a slow but enjoyable drive, twisting up and down hills through, in places, very narrow lanes.  When I arrived just after midday at the spacious free car park, which is on a hill overlooking the dam, it was very peaceful with only a handful of cars dotted around.

The reservoir, run by Wessex Water, takes its inflow from the River Tone and is 130 acres in area with a capacity of 5,364 million litres.  It was inaugurated by H.R.H. Princess Alexandra of Kent on the 6th July 1961.  The settlement of Syndercombe, mentioned in the Domesday Book, was flooded on the creation of the reservoir.

Clatworthy Reservoir viewed from the car park. 

For walkers - no dogs allowed - there is a footpath around the 5 mile perimeter of the reservoir.  I decided to walk down the hill and cross the dam to the wooded hill on the far side.  Unfortunately, as an asthmatic, this was a bad choice as by the time I had negotiated the zigzag path up the hill I was too worn out to go further.  Next time I visit I will try the clockwise route as it appears to follow more level ground although I don't envisage walking the whole circuit: the hills seem to be a bit too demanding.

The fish farm with its trout ponds below the dam.