| Tellisford
At Tellisford an ancient
packhorse bridge crosses the River Frome. Tellisford Mill is first
mentioned in records in 1574, when it was a fulling mill held on
lease from the Hungerford family by the Trowbridge family of Wallis.
The Crabb family acquired it in the 1700's and owned it for about
150 years. It became a flock mill when bought by Collins in 1880.
The diminutive church, much restored by Victorians, only has a tower,
nave and chancel. |
Temple
Cloud
200 years ago Temple
Cloud was an important place as it had a magistrates' court and
was on the turnpike road which bypassed Cameley. Place names containing
the word "Temple" generally have connections with the
Knights' Templar, a religious military order originally formed to
protect Holy Lands. Cloud is thought to be derived from the personal
name Cloda.
Blue pennant stone, used for paving curbing and walling,was mined
at Cloud Hill Quarry until the 1930's. Then in the Second World
War the site became an aircraft component factory. |
Timsbury
Recorded as Temesbare
in the Domesday Book, the name means "tame grove" and
comes from the Old English words "tem" and "bearo".
The Gus and Hook pub dates from 1703 and the name refers to the
belt and hook men used to haul heavy sledges of coal from the face
to the shaft. The church was rebuilt in 1826 but remains ancient
items such as the font and a "mass dial" (now inside the
tower). |
Tucking
Mill
A plaque on the cottage commemorates William Smith, the coal canal's
first engineer. He bought the cottage around the time of his dismissal
in 1799. The canal was nearby across the present road, and an
1890 photo exists showing it on the canal bank. Smith built the
lake behind the cottage and, with his brother, operated first
a corn mill (1808) and then a stone cutting mill (1811).
"Tucking"
is the process of "fulling, rowing and teaseling cloth". Fuller's
Earth is a locally extracted mineral with many uses, but in particular
it was used to degrease wool. In 1883 a Fuller's Earth Works was
established here.
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Twinhoe
The
ascent up to Twinhoe is an old packhorse route (one of many that
led from Bath to such places as Salisbury). The original name was
Twynyho, which (appropriately !) is said to be Celtic for "land
of little hills", but on maps as late as 1870 it was called Twinney. |
Vobster
Vobster
was recorded as Fobbestor in 1233, and this could be a vagrant
form of wopstow, which means "place of mourning" or weeping place.
Mells Park half a kilometre along Mells stream to the east was
rebuilt by Lutyens, for Reginald McKenna the chairman of Midland
Bank, in 1923. The Horner family had built the original eighteenth
century Georgian Mansion.
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Weston
Bampfylde
In
the 1086 Domesday Book this village is recorded as "Westone",
a name derived from the Old English words "west" and "tun"
meaning west enclosure. The derivation of the second half of the
name is uncertain with one source suggesting it came from the Old
English words "boem" and "field" meaning"surrounding
field". Surely a more plausible explanation is that it came
from the name of the owner of the estate in the early 13th century,
Richard Baumfilde.
The church is substantially more interesting than the dismissive
1791 Collison description ("plain single building") implies.
It has an attractive octagonal tower, on the inside wall of which
the 1450 bell clappers now hang, and there is a statue of a woman
with a flying bird in the graveyard.
There is an old hand pump in the field beside the church. |
Westwood
Recorded
history of Westwood dates from 983 when the Saxon King Ethelred
granted various tracts of land in this area to his servant Aelfnoth
and soon afterwards to his huntsman Leofwine. After the Norman
conquest Westwood was owned by the Priory of Winchester.
Until the 1700's Westwood was a small agricultural settlement
with about 70 residents. In time the cloth trade and stone quarries
boosted numbers. During the Second World War the stone quarries
became a war equipment factory with workers from the Midlands
employed to build Enfield motorcycles. The War department built
94 bungalows to house these workers and this temporary accommodation
became the nucleus of the modern village. The population has
now reached 1500.
On the edge of the village are a cluster of ancient buildings,
including Westwood Manor, a 15th century barn and a church.
The lease of Westwood Manor was acquired by Thomas Horton, a
rich clothier, in 1518 and he extended and altered what were
then relatively modest buildings dating back to the early part
of the previous (15th) century. The Horton family was there
for about a hundred years. A John Farewell, who also made improvements,
lived there from 1616 and his widow remained until her death
in 1674. After a period of decline the manor was sold to Lister
in 1911. He completely restored it and left it to the National
Trust when he died in 1956. St.Mary's church has an elaborate
Somerset-style perpendicular tower.
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Wheathill
At
Manor farm, where there is particularly pronounced mediaeval ridge
and furrow in a field (GR 577309). It was part of what was once
an extensive mediaeval field system in this area. |
