Landscapes and cloudscapes on a late May afternoon in South Somerset.

The morning of 24th May was a bit showery in South Somerset, but the afternoon turned sunny with scattered cloud and a gentle breeze.  

We needed to do a little food shopping so my wife and I drove to a farm shop on the A30 west of Chard and, since it was a good afternoon for photography, I took my camera along.

On the way home road works caused us to divert onto the A30 east of Chard where, near Cricket St. Thomas, I stopped in a layby and took some landscape photos of the view to the south.

Later in the afternoon, back at home, I took some cloudscape photos looking towards the Blackdown Hills.

In the evening I took some more cloudscapes, and just before sunset a wonderful feathery mare's tail appeared.

A feathery mare's tail over South Somerset just before sunset on 24th May.  The black dot near the centre of the photo is a swift.

A stroll around the centre of Crewkerne in Somerset, and its Church of St. Bartholomew.

On a recent Spring afternoon I drove east along the A30 to the Somerset market town of Crewkerne.  I wanted to have a look at its Church of St. Bartholomew which is mentioned in Simon Jenkins’ England’s Thousand Best Churches (Penguin Books, 2000).  St. Bartholomew’s is one of Jenkins’ top one hundred churches.

I parked in the pay and display car park off West Street which is very convenient for the church and town centre, and inexpensive to boot.  Taking the direct route to the church I walked along the narrow, but interestingly named Oxen Road.  On reaching Church Street I walked up the wide steps to the church.

The Church of St. Bartholomew is very impressive, little wonder Jenkins awards it 4 stars out of 5!  Bryan Little in his Portrait of Somerset (Robert Hale - London, 1969) describes the church as “one of the county’s best” and having “a western façade of minsterlike quality, far surpassing those normally found outside abbeys and cathedrals”.

The Church of St. Bartholomew in Crewkerne, Somerset. The town's war memorial is to the right.

The "minsterlike" west front of the Church of St. Bartholomew in Crewkerne, South Somerset.

Crewkerne’s war memorial is in the churchyard, but although it appears well cared for some of the inscriptions are very difficult to read.  I managed to decipher the unusual, but fitting commemorative words from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress: “SO HE PASSED OVER AND ALL THE TRUMPETS SOUNDED FOR HIM ON THE OTHER SIDE”.

A Blue Plaque on the western wall of the churchyard informs us that the building on the other side is a Victorian Tudor-style house “built in 1846 on the site of the ruins of one of Crewkerne’s three medieval clergy houses.  The south side incorporates an original fifteenth century window from the old house”.   

The Victorian Tudor-style house west of the Church of St. Bartholomew in Crewkerne, Somerset.

Leaving St. Bartholomew’s I strolled down Church Street to the Victoria Hall, part of which is the Town Hall.  It is freestanding on all sides and is in a Jacobean style, built around the turn of the twentieth century.  Prominent beside the entrance to the Town Hall is a stone tablet commemorating the visit of The Queen, accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh, to Crewkerne on 2 May 2012 in her Diamond Jubilee Year.

The Town Hall, Crewkerne, South Somerset. 

Opposite the Town Hall is the George Hotel, mentioned by Pevsner.  The nearby Crooked Swan public house - its original name The Swan Inn still visible – displays its support for Ukraine in the ongoing war in Eastern Europe by flying that nation’s flag above its entrance.

The George Hotel - mentioned in Pevsner - Crewkerne, South Somerset.

The Crooked Swan, Crewkerne, Somerset.

In previous wars, in the days before steam, Crewkerne provided sailcloth for the Royal Navy.  Crewkerne’s prosperity was founded on weaving flax which was grown extensively in the surrounding area.  It specialised in sail cloth which was required in huge quantities for the Royal Navy, and also produced webbing for the British Army.  Lord Nelson and HMS VICTORY were carried to immortality at Trafalgar by canvas sails from Crewkerne. 

The town has another link to The Battle of Trafalgar in Thomas Masterman Hardy, Nelson’s Flag Captain and captain of VICTORY, who attended a long gone grammar school north of St. Bartholomew’s Church.

I walked along busy Market Street and back up West Street, where, before returning to my car, I spotted a picturesque terrace of almshouses.  The stone plaque on its wall read “ALMSHOUSES ERECTED IN THE YEAR OF THE DIAMOND JUBILEE OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA OUT OF A PORTION OF THE FUNDS GENEROUSLY BEQUEATHED TO ASSIST THE AGED POOR BY THE LATE GEORGE SLADE JOLLIFFE.  SURGEON.  CREWKERNE.”  Perhaps another indication of the town’s prosperous past? 

Almshouses in Crewkerne South Somerset.

A Spring drive south through Somerset and Devonshire to Seaton.

During a fine afternoon in the last week in April I took a leisurely drive down the A358 to Seaton in Devonshire.  On the way I passed through Chard and Axminster.  Chard was unusually quiet, but Axminster seemed even more subdued than usual, its town centre ever more deserted every time I pass through.

Looking down High Street and Fore Street in Chard, Somerset on a quiet Spring afternoon.

I find it strange that Axminster town centre is so quiet, with many empty premises.  When one considers the amount of housebuilding that has gone on around the town over recent years, the shops, restaurants and bars ought to be thriving!

The centre of Axminster in Devonshire on a quiet Spring afternoon this year.

Driving on through the gently undulating countryside I passed by Musbury which rests below the ancient hillfort of the same name, crossed over the A3052 and took the road which follows the River Axe down to Axmouth and into Seaton.

Seaton was quiet with plenty of room to park on the seafront - which I did.  Hardly any people were on the beach, and very few were walking along the seafront.

The seafront at Seaton in Devonshire on a quiet Spring afternoon this year. One seagull, one car and one pedestrian!

I walked as far west as was practicable before retracing my steps.  It seems that the Hook and Parrot pub is to be redeveloped into apartments and named The Lookout.  The advert on the former public house suggests it will be rebuilt with gable ends facing the sea, reassuringly in keeping with its neighbouring buildings.  It will not look so out of place as the carbuncle – known as Seaton Beach Apartments – on the seafront further east.

The Hook and Parrot public house in Seaton, Devonshire closed for redevelopment.

The Hook and Parrot reincarnated as The Lookout.

I continued east along the seafront then turned left into Trevelyan Road and then right to cross over the bridge to Axmouth Harbour.  Walking along the harbour side I reached The Prow which sits atop the old World War Two artillery emplacement. It is a convenient spot to enjoy the views across the harbour entrance and out over Seaton Bay.  Those WW2 gunners certainly had an excellent field of fire!

The view from The Prow, Axmouth Harbour entrance in Devonshire.

A small fishing boat just outside the harbour entrance was attracting lots of seagulls. Inside the harbour a couple of people were throwing something into the water for their dog to fetch which did not seem very sensible – I certainly would not have done such a thing.

A fishing boat surrounded by seagulls at Seaton in Devonshire.

Axmouth Harbour in Devonshire.

Walking back over the bridge I stopped to take some photos of the yachts and pleasure craft at their sheltered moorings.  The clear blue sky and lush green of the grounds of Haven Cliff House made a pleasing picture.  Seaton and the Axe Valley were very well fortified during WW2.  Two pill-boxes can be seen in the grounds of Haven Cliff House, one at the clifftop and another beside the drive up to the house.

Axmouth Harbour in Devonshire on a Spring afternoon this year.  Note the World War Two pill-box on the cliff edge above and to the left of the houses.

On my journey home I stopped in a lay-by just south of Axminster.  The hedgerow beside it is usually too high to see over, but it had been trimmed enough to allow me to take some photos.  The fields, trees, thatched cottages and rolling hills beyond made a pleasant scene.

A view of the Devonshire countryside south of Axminster.

I drove on again through Axminster, still very quiet, and headed north for Somerset and home.

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.

My thoughts on Roy Jenkins’ biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

This short biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Roy Jenkins packs a good deal of information into its 173 pages.  Very sadly Lord Jenkins died of a sudden heart attack before the book was finished.  It was completed by his friend Richard E. Neustadt of Harvard University who took up the task from page 155.

I have read other, much longer, biographies of FDR by American authors H. W. Brands and Jean Edward Smith.  Their books provide much more background detail and scene-setting for FDR’s personal conflicts and political battles.  Despite their greater length they are much easier to read being written in plain and straightforward language.  One has to have a dictionary to hand when reading Lord Jenkins’ work.

However, I did add some words to my vocabulary.  Those listed below are just some which had me reaching for my Collins.

Contumaciously

Eleemosynary

Riparian

Semi-Lacuna

Readers of this blog may enjoy looking up the definitions.

Roy Jenkins’ Franklin Delano Roosevelt was first published in 2003 by Times Books of New York.

The Church of St. James the Less in the South Somerset village of Hambridge.

The Church of St. James the Less at Hambridge is a prominent landmark beside the B3168 between Ilminster and Curry Rivel in South Somerset.

Work on the church began in 1842 and was completed in 1844.  Worshippers from Hambridge and Westport were thus saved a two mile and three and a half mile journey respectively as previously their nearest church was St. Andrew’s in Curry Rivel.

When passing it, as I often do, I find the Church of St. James the Less pleasing to the eye standing as it does among the trees in its very tidily maintained churchyard.  However, Pevsner is rather unkind and describes the church as: “Very dull.  The west tower too low for the nave roof.  The best thing about the church is the two splendid cedar-trees by its side”. 

The Church of St. James the Less which serves the South Somerset village of Hambridge.

The Church of St. James the Less at Hambridge in South Somerset. The B3168 is on the other side of the wall in the background.

There are two Commonwealth War Graves in the churchyard.  I give their details below:

Private Herbert H. Cleal, son of Daniel and Emily Cleal of Hambridge, died on 1 January 1919 aged 19.  He served with 2/8 Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. 

Signalman Richard Thomas Collins, son of Herbert and May Collins, and the wife of Alice Maud Collins, all of Hambridge, died on 15 November 1940 aged 24.  He served with the Royal Corps of Signals.

The crash of RAF Blenheim R3912 on Pawlett Hams in Somerset. Those lost are commemorated by a memorial plaque in the nearby village churchyard at Pawlett.

On 5 July 1942 a Bristol Blenheim Mk 4, a light bomber powered by two 905 hp Bristol Mercury engines, crashed at Pawlett Hams on the east side of the River Parrett in Somerset.  The aircraft, from No 13 Operational Training Unit, took off at 0950 hours on a cross country navigational and low level bombing exercise from its base at RAF Bicester in Oxfordshire.  At approximately 1220 hours the Blenheim was seen entering an area of cloud in a near vertical dive.   On emerging from the cloud, at an estimated height of 3,000 to 5,000 feet, the Blenheim straightened out, but then dived again and crashed.  All 3 crew members on board were killed.

The crew of Blenheim R3912 consisted of the pilot Sergeant James Falconer Anderson, RAF, aged 20, the observer Sergeant Adam Hogg, RAFVR, aged 33, and the wireless operator/air gunner Sergeant Gilbert Ingram McBoyle, RAFVR, aged 21.  They are commemorated on a memorial plaque in the British Legion garden of remembrance in the churchyard of St. John the Baptist Church at Pawlett, Somerset.

The British Legion garden of remembrance in the churchyard of St. John the Baptist Church in the village of Pawlett, Somerset. 

The memorial plaque at John the Baptist Church, Pawlett, Somerset commemorating the crew of RAF Blenheim R3912.

The picture below of the ill-fated Blenheim crew was kindly provided by Fiona Goldsmith PCC Secretary of St. John the Baptist Church.