Farrington
Gurney
Farrington
Gurney is part of the Duchy of Cornwall and a large number of farms
are in the tenancy or leasehold of the Duchy, as well as the village
shop and post office. The 1086 Domesday Book records the name as
Ferentone, meaning "fern enclosure" from the Old English
words "fearn" and "tun". Nigel de Gournai, a
French Norman tenant of the estate that was held by the Bishop of
Countances, is the source of the second half of the village's name.
The small industrial site south of the end of Ruett Lane was the
site of Farrington Colliery. The colliery was opened in the 1780's
but worked only intermittently until modernised in the 1880's. It
was connected by a railway siding to the nearby Old Mills pit (the
last to close in the North Somerset coalfields) and closed after
the miners' strike in 1921.
The isolated neo-Norman church was built in 1844 and is protected
by a "ha-ha". It occupies an ancient ecclesiastical site
and the medieval village is likely to have been here too. Surviving
relics of an earlier church include a Norman effigy over the west
door (thought to be the 13th century Lord of the Manor, Thomas Gornai)
and the stump of a medieval cross. Nearby is a Manor House, a gabled
17th century building occupied by the Mogg family for 300 years
until acquired by the Eshelbys.
The Bristol and North Somerset Railway (later GWR), which connected
Bristol to Radstock via Pensford, had a stop called Farrington Halt
from 1927. This stop was adjacent to the Miners' Arms, a little
east of the main village.This railway opened in 1874 and closed
in 1959. |
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Farleigh
Hungerford
The
1086 Domesday Book lists an estate here called Ferlega. That name
could be derived from the Old English words "ferht" and
"leah" which together mean "fair meadow". Later
it was known as Farlegh Montfort after the then owner. He sold the
estate to Bartholomew Lord Burgherest in 1337 who then sold it to
Thomas Hungerford in 1369. From him the present name thus evolved
to Farleigh Hungerford.
Sir Thomas fortified the original Norman Manor House (hence "castle"
now) in the 1370's using profits from the wool and cloth trade.
He became the first Speaker of the House of Commons in 1377 and
when he died in 1398 he was buried in the chapel in the castle.
His wife Margaret is also buried there and also a later Hungerford
(Sir Edward who died in 1646) and his wife Joan.
Walter, Thomas's son also became a Speaker of the House of Commons.
He extended the castle and built nearby St.Leonard's church in the
1420's.He also fought at Agincourt.
During the War of the Roses the Hungerfords supported the Lancastrians
and that led to Richard, Duke of Gloucester acquiring the castle
in 1462. Richard granted it to the Duke of Norfolk when he became
king. Norfolk then died on Bosworth Field in 1485 and the Hungerfords
then regained the estate.
Agnes, who in 1522 inherited the estate from husband Edward, was
hanged at Tyburn in 1523 for the murder of her first husband (leading
to speculation that Edward was another victim!). Their son, another
Edward became the owner and once imprisoned his own wife in the
southwest tower for 3 years! He too was executed, in 1540, for "treason
and unnatural vice". This led to the King confiscating the
estate and granting it to Sir Thomas Seymour.
The Hungerfords were a tenacious lot though! When Seymour was himself
executed in 1549 Queen Mary sold the property back to them. And
then in the civil war it stayed in their hands when Parliamentary
forces commanded by the heir John defeated Royalists led by the
resident half-brother Edward in 1645 (the one buried in the chapel)!!
By comparison the next 140 years were quiet. Finally a Hungerford
known as "The Spendthrift" sold the deteriorating castle
and by 1701 it was in a ruinous state.
In 1919 what remained was put under the guardianship of the Ministry
of Works and now it is maintained by English Heritage.
Near the castle, downhill on the River Frome,is the site of the
estate's own fulling mill. Established in 1548 it finally closed
in 1910. A Fresford girl was killed there in the 1790's when she
fell under the fulling stocks. The original mill was rebuilt after
burning down in 1798. In 1821 Fussell of Mells owned it, by which
time the site was a four storey building. |
| Hallatrow
Referred
to as Helgetreu in the 1086 Domesday Book, the name is thought to
come from the Old English words "halig" and "treow",
which mean holy tree. Mells River. However a competing claim suggests
a derivation from words meaning holly tree, such as "holegu"
and/or"helig" ,the Norwegian word for holly.
The 3 mile Hallatrow to Camerton railway branch line was built in
1883 by the Bristol and North Somerset Railway. It was a fatal blow
to the already declining viability of northern branch of the Somerset
Coal Canal, which was bought up by the GWR in 1904 (who by then
had superceded the BNSR). The branch line was then extended along
the canal to meet the Bristol to westbury line at Limpley Stoke. |
|
Highbury
and Coleford
Coleford
and Highbury were once distinct villages. The old village of Coleford
is near an important crossing point of the Mells River. The name
is thought to mean "hill ford" and to be derived from the Old French
words "col"and "ford". It has also been suggested that the name
derives from the fact that this is a coal mining area. Highbury
straddling the ridge, is now the main part of the village we call
Coleford. Its name comes from Old English words "heah" and "beorg".
The
typical, ancient packsaddle bridge in Coleford is close to the restored
Sargen's Mill . The low parapets allow animals' packs to hang over.
Nearby is the famous "Hucky Duck". This is apparently local dialect
for "aqueduct". The viaduct is the largest and best surviving structure
from the Dorset and Somerset canal. North
of Highbury the Ammerdown Monument is visible. It's a 150 foot high
structure on top of a hill 600 feet above sea level. It was started
in 1853 by Colonel John Jollife and is a memorial to his father
Thomas Samuel Jolllife, an MP who died in 1824. It was finished
by his brother Rev. Thomas Robert Jollife. Neither of these Jolliffes
had heirs and the estate passed to Hyltons. Parts of the village
of Kilmersdon are still owned by the Ammerdown Estate of Lord Hylton.
Looking south Cranmore tower is visible above trees near communication
masts. |
| High
Littleton
The
Domesday Book name is Litetone, a name derived from Old English
words meaning, unsurprisingly, little enclosure! At that time the
tenant was Ralph Rufus and the owner of the estate was the Bishop
of Countances.
Rugbourne
House is on the outskirts of the village and it is there that William
Smith (1769-1859) lodged for three years from 1792. Although known
as the "Father of English Geology" , he was by profession
a surveyor. His first Somerset job had been at an estate at Stowey
and in 1792 he surveyed Mears pit in Timsbury.He then became surveyor
of the coal canal in 1795 but was sacked a few years later, by which
time he owned a residence at Tucking Mill near Midford. |
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Hinton
Blewett
The
Old English meaning is "a poor enclosure" from "hean" and "tun".
The Domesday Book refers to it as Hantone. It was the property,
along with Hinton St.George, of William of Eu. The second part of
its name is taken from a tenant called Ralph Blewitt (or Blouet)
The church is above a picturesque village green area. Down a lane
to the east is the River Cam, really only a minor stream at this
point as we are near its source. |
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Holcombe
The
Old English meaning is "a hole/cave in the valley" from "hol" and
"cumb". But today only earthworks of the original settlement remain
surrounding the isolated old church in the valley and Holcombe is
on high land two kilometres away. Probably the main reason for the
relocation of the village was the 1665 plague but the attraction
of the Stoke St.Michael to Radstock road possibly contributed.
St.Andrews church has an old Norman doorway which was rebuilt at
the entrance to the porch. Within the churchyard (left of the gate)
victims of the 14th century Black Death (which swept inland from
Weymouth) are buried. There is also a gravestone remembering the
"five lambs" who were children who perished when they
fell through ice, and behind the church the Scott family tomb with
an inscription to Robert Falcon Scott who died in died 1912.
A local Inn, “The Ring of Roses”, is named after the
nursery rhyme about the fate of plaque victims -- atichoo, atichoo
they all fell down!! Within
the village the original Methodist chapel dates from1774 and then
new one was built in1893.
Coal played a big
part in the history of all the villages in this area and there is
still a row of former miners’ cottages near the post office.
Nearby Edford pit, open from 1862 to 1915, was the only one with
a deep shaft; the site is now a concrete works. A quick look at
a local map will reveal sites of a considerable number of pits around
Coleford and at Barlake and Pitcot. One Holcombe resident called
Henry Hamblin Edward received a medal in 1929 for saving his brother
Arthur who had been buried up to chin level in coal.
Transport costs were
high because of the poor state of the roads and coal mined in this
area was therefore used locally. By building a canal it was hoped
to open up markets further away. The one proposed was to run from
Edford to Frome 11 miles away, from where it would join another
which would link the Bristol Channel to the English Channel. In
1796 this Edford branch was started but by 1803 money ran out and
it was never completed. The remains of several completed sections
and associated constructions can still be seen. For example near
the Duke of Cumerland pub at Edford there arecanal style bridges
and a section of masonry lined canal diggings. Railways replaced
canals and coke from coke ovens at Edford and coal were sent to
Radstock from the 1860's.
|
| Hollow
Marsh Meadow
Four
acres of flower rich unimproved natural grassland administered by
the Somerset Wildlife Trust adjacent to Chewton Woods (where an
abundance of tracks can make route finding complex!) |
| Hinton
Charterhouse
The
village, which is built on a plateau 400 feet above sea level, derives
its name from Hinton Priory. St.John the Baptist church, was founded
in Norman times and predates the priory. In the 13th Century there
was often conflict between the rector of the church and Prior: in
1284, the monks' weekly market near the church created so much "noise,
disturbance, and insolence" that it was moved to Norton. Just before
the Reformation, in 1534, the vicar was described as being "completely
impoverished"with the vicarage "mean and poor"!! Many inscriptions
and memorials in the church commemorate owners of Hinton Priory.
Nearby is the early 18th century Hinton House. A monument near the
pulpit records the death of one owner, Samuel Day, who met his demise
when he fell from the hustings while attending a parliamentary nomination
in Bridgewater in 1806!
Hinton Priory was founded in 1230 by a grieving Ela, Countess of
Salisbury. After its dissolution in1539, the Priory was sold to
the Hungerford family in 1578.The buildings were plundered for material
to build the nearby manor house. Only ruins of the chapter house
and refectory now remain. Originally the overgrown ponds we pass
were probably priory fishponds. |
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