AA Box, Pittcombe Head, top of Porlock Hill

The AA box on the A39 at Pittcombe Head (grid reference SS 841 462) is one of the smallest listed buildings in Britain.  It is grade II listed.

AA telephone boxes were mainly located on major roads or at important junctions. AA patrols sheltered in them and AA members were provided with a key, which gave them access to the telephone and the equipment, which was stored in it., including a fire extinguisher, first aid kit, cleaning kit, local information, fuel and water. Members could telephone to request assistance or make local calls free of charge.

The first AA box was erected at Newingreen near Hythe, Kent in 1912.  More than 850 boxes were erected throughout the UK but only 19 wooden boxes now remain on public roads.  8 of these are listed Grade II. The Pittcombe Head box is number 137 and was erected c1956.  Its location is presumably explained by the fact that it is at the top of Porlock Hill and in years gone by many cars overheated there after the steep climb. 

After 1945 the AA began to erect a new type of telephone box, which was timber framed with external cladding. The inside walls were made of melamine panels. After 1968 the wooden boxes were phased out and replaced by pedestal phones. The AA decommissioned all its telephone boxes in 2002, due to the advent of mobile phones

The Pittcombe Head telephone box was repaired in 2014.  The original specification of tongue and groove 'V' jointed timber was used to replace plywood.

 AA Box 137 at Pittcombe Head, Porlock Hill

Castle House, Queen Street, Bridgwater

Castle House, which is located in Queen Street in the centre of Bridgwater (grid reference ST 299 372), was one of the first houses to be built of prefabricated concrete and constructional post-tensioning.  It was built for John Board in 1851.  Mr Board owned a brick company and diversified into cement in 1844.

The house is rectangular, has 3 floors and looks like a Tudor gatehouse.  The ground floor is built mainly of brick with smooth concrete facing panels.  The first floor is separated from the ground floor by a row of concrete blocks with a circular pattern on them.  The first floor is composed of concrete blocks.  The second floor, which is separated from the first floor by another row of concrete blocks with a different circular pattern on them, is made of concrete blocks topped by a row of battlements.  There are seven niches at the front but only one currently houses a sculpture.

Castle House came close to being demolished in 1998 but English Heritage increased its listed statue from 2 to 2*. It was purchased by the SAVE Trust in 2002.

In 2004 Castle House appeared on the BBC television programme Restoration.  Despite appearing in the final, not much happened to it in the next decade. There are plans to restore it and use it as an arts centre.

 Castle House in February 2015 - almost invisible beneath the plastic sheeting and scaffolding

Peace Cairn commemorating the 1971 World Ploughing Championships at Nynehead

The small village of Nynehead near Wellington seems an unlikely place for a world championship competition to have been held.  However from 30th September to 2nd October 1971 it hosted the 18th World Ploughing Championship at Heywood Farm. There is a peace cairn and small but well-tended garden to commemorate the event by the side of the unclassified road that runs north west from Nynehead to Langford Budville (grid reference ST 137 230). 

The World Ploughing Championship is still held every year.  In 2014 it was held in France and the 2015 competition will be held in Denmark.  Other countries that have hosted the event include Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Croatia.  England has hosted it 3 times - at Shillingford in Oxfordshire in 1956 and in Lincoln in 2000.

 Cairn of Peace

 Plough and Cairn of Peace

Garden

The Hucky Duck and other Canal Aqueducts

There are only 13 aqueducts listed on the Somerset Historic Environment Record: 

•  5 on the Chard Canal: 3 in Creech St Michael and 2 at Wrantage.  
•  5  on the Grand Western Canal: 2 at Nynehead, 1 at Bishops Hull, 1 at Station Road, Taunton and 1 which carried a stream over the canal at Greenham.
•  2 on the Dorset and Somerset Canal: the Murtry Aqueduct at Hapsford and the wonderfully named Hucky Duck at Coleford.
• 1 on the Glastonbury Canal at Sharpham.  This carried the Glastonbury Canal over Hulk Moor Drove

None of them are in use today, as all the canals they were on are disused or were never completed.

The Hucky Duck at Coleford

The Dorset and Somerset Canal was planned in the 1790s to run from the Kennet and Avon Canal near Bath to Poole in Dorset with a branch from Frome to the Somerset Coalfield at Nettlebridge.  Coleford Aqueduct, which is known locally as the Hucky Duck, was on the branch.  However the canal was never completed due to lack of funds and the project was abandoned in 1803.   A public footpath passes under the aqueduct, which is located 100 metres to the north of the Coleford to Holcombe road at the southern end of the village of Coleford (grid reference ST 685 488).  There is no sign to it but it can be seen from the public road.  Parking is difficult nearby, as the road is narrow and most of the nearby houses do not have off road parking.
 

Murtry Aqueduct

This is all I could see of the Murtry Aqueduct, as the site was very overgrown when I visited in August 2016.  I believe this is the west access tunnel.  I would have investigated further but there was a tent pitched on the north side of the aqueduct and I didn't want to disturb anyone who might have been in it, so I took this photo and left.

The Murtry Aqueduct was built between 1796 and 1803 to carry the (never completed) Frome branch of the Dorset and Somerset Canal over the River Mells at Murtry Bottom between Frome and Buckland Dinham (grid reference ST 762 497).  The aqueduct has 3 arches.

Iron trough of the aqueduct over the River Tone on the former Grand Western Canal at Nynehead 
 (Grid reference ST 146 223)

This aqueduct can be seen from a public footpath.

 Aqueduct that carried the Grand Western Canal over the driveway to Nynehead Court.

This aqueduct (grid reference ST 144 218) can be viewed from a public footpath.  It is located immediately to the west of the remains of the Nynehead Boat Lift.  The Grand Western Canal was part of a scheme to link the Bristol Channel with the English Channel, so that shipping could avoid having to travel around the coast of Cornwall.  It was also built to transport goods, including coal, into the middle of Somerset and Devon.  It was completed from Tiverton to Westleigh in 1814 but the section to Taunton wasn't completed until 1838.  It was used mainly to transport coal and limestone.  When nearby railways were built, it lost most of its trade.  The section from Taunton to Loudwells was bought by the railway company and abandoned in 1865.  The Devon section continued to be used until 1925.

North side of the aqueduct on the Chard Canal south of Creech St Michael

This aqueduct carried the canal over the road that runs between Henlade/Ruishton and Creech St Michael.  The Chard Canal was a 13 mile long tug boat canal.  It branched off the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal at Creech St Michael.  It was completed in 1842 but never made a profit and by 1853 it had gone into receivership.  It closed in 1866.

Southern side of the aqueduct on the Chard Canal south of Creech St Michael

The remains of this aqueduct (grid reference ST 271 250) can be viewed from the public road, which runs between Ruishton/Henlade and Creech St Michael.

 Chard Canal Aqueduct over the River Tone at Creech St Michael

This aqueduct (grid reference ST 271 254) can be viewed from a public footpath.  

 Nothing now remains of another aqueduct, which Brunel built nearby to carry the Chard Canal over the railway line.

Pillar of the Chard Canal Aqueduct at Wrantage

Remains of the aqueduct, which once carried the Chard Canal over the A378 at Wrantage and southwards towards the Crimson Hill Tunnel (grid reference ST 308 225)

 

Remains of Chard Canal Aqueduct at Wrantage

  Grid Reference: ST 305 228

 Chard Canal Aqueduct at Wrantage
This once carried the canal over a small stream

Railway bridge at Station Road, Taunton

It replaced an aqueduct, which carried the Grand Western Canal.  The railway bridge was formerly used by a loop line round the nearby station but is due to be replaced by a road bridge in summer 2015.  Update Summer 2016: the bridge has been removed but the new bridge has yet to be installed.

Aqueduct, which carried a stream over the Grand Western Canal at Greenham

There is still some water in the canal at this point but no sign of the stream the aqueduct was built to carry. Grid reference ST 078 198

There are also several notable aqueducts in the Bath & North East Somerset Council area, including the Midford Aqueduct on the Somerset Coal Canal and the Dundas and Avoncliff Aqueducts on the Kennet & Avon Canal.  The latter two aqueducts are still in use.

Midford Aqueduct

Midford Aqueduct

The Midford Aqueduct on the Radstock branch of the Somerset Coal Canal was completed in 1803.  The Somerset Coal Canal was built to transport coal from the mines in the Radstock and Timsbury/Paulton areas to the Kennet and Avon Canal, which it joined near the Dundas Aqueduct at Limpley Stoke.  The Radstock branch of the canal was never completed and a tramway was used to transport coal from the Radstock pits to a point close to the Midford Aqueduct.  The aqueduct, which is Palladian in style and has 3 arches, was built to carry the canal over the Cam Brook. It has a rubble core faced with Bath stone ashlar .  In 1871 the Radstock branch was sold to the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway.  They built a railway along the route of the tramway.  The remainder of the Somerset Coal Canal closed in 1898.  By the 1990s the aqueduct was in danger of collapsing.  It was restored 2000-2001 by the Avon Industrial Buildings Trust and the Midford Environmental Group.

Dundas Aqueduct

Dundas Aqueduct was built by John Rennie and completed in 1805.  It carries the Kennet & Avon Canal over the River Avon to the north of the village of Limpley Stoke.  It was named after Charles Dundas, who was the first Chairman of the Kennet & Avon Canal Company.  It has a large hemispherical central arch and elliptical side arches, with sloping revetments acting as buttresses on each side.  A Doric frieze runs the length of the aqueduct.

Narrowboat crossing the Dundas Aqueduct

Avoncliff Aqueduct

The Avoncliff Aqueduct was also built by John Rennie between 1797 and 1801. It carries the Kennet & Avon Canal over the River Avon at Avoncliff.  It has 3 arches and is 100 metres long. The central arch has a slight sag in it and has done since it was first built.

Avoncliff Aqueduct

Avoncliff Aqueduct

Further Reading:

The Dorset and Somerset Canal: An Illustrated History by Kenneth R. Clew.  Published by David and Charles in 1971.

The Chard Canal by Chard Local History Group.  Pamphlet published in 1967 and 2nd edition in 1972.

The Grand Western Canal by Helen Harris.  Published by David and Charles in 1973.

Glastonbury Canal by Geoffrey Body.  Published by Fiducia Press in 2001

Fussell's Iron Works, Wadbury Valley, Mells

In the late 18th and early 19th century several generations of the Fussell family ran a very successful iron works business in the area around Mells, Great Elm, Chantry and Nunney.  They produced edge tools, e.g. shovels, sickles, spades and scythes, as well as other agricultural implements.  

The first iron works in the area was started by James Fussell in 1744.  His sons Austin and James continued his work and expanded the business at Mells.  At the same time one of his other sons, John, had opened another iron works at Nunney by 1766.  The company continued to do well and by 1800 they were exporting their products to Europe and America.  By the early 19th century the Fussell family were operating 5 iron works in the area - 3 along the Mells Stream between Mells and Great Elm, 2 in Railford Bottom near Chantry and one to the north of Nunney.

The next generation of Fussells - another James, another John and Thomas continued the work but a reliance of water power, rather than the more efficient steam power used by rival companies in the Midlands and north of England and the economic decline of English agriculture in the 1870s. led to the decline of the company.  The business was bankrupt by 1894 and it was taken over by Isaac Nash, who moved it to Worcestershire.  The remains of all 6 works can still be seen.  2 have been restored as private houses but the others are ruins.  

The most impressive remains are the Upper (grid reference ST 734 488) and Lower (grid reference ST 739 489) Works in the Wadbury Valley to the south east of the village of Mells.  The extensive remains of buildings can clearly be seen from the bridle path that runs along the north side of the Mells Stream.  What surprised me most was that there were no interpretation panels and no health and safety notices, although there are plenty of places where you could fall a considerable distance.  Nature has now reclaimed the site and everything is covered in moss, ivy, brambles, ferns and, when we visited in early March 2015, snowdrops.  Iron ore was not smelted on the site but brought in as scrap or pig iron.  Steel may have been made on site.

The iron works are a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, as the buildings, flues and tunnels provide roosting site for rare greater and lesser horseshoe bats.

2021 Update: When I visited the site again in September 2021, it was all fenced off and it looked like there was a lot of building work going on there.

Further Reading:

Fussells Ironworks, Mells: a brief history of the Ironworks, the Family and the Community by Ken Griffiths.  Published by Fiducia Press, 1996.

Men of Iron: the Fussells of Mells by Robin Thornes.  Published by Frome Society for Local Study, 2010

 Lower Works, Wadbury Valley

 Lower Works

 Inside one of the buildings, looking down from the first floor

 Nature has softened the edges over the last century

 Mells Stream running to the south of the iron works provided the power to the works.  At this point it has been artificially narrowed, presumably to increase the speed of the flow and to create a bigger vertical drop. In early spring this is a lesser known Snowdrop Valley.

There were 9 water wheels operating at the Lower Works in its heyday.  None remain but I presume that this would have been the location for some of them, as the Mells Stream has been channelled between high stone built walls at this point.

Lower Works, September 2021

Jack and Jill Hill, Kilmersdon

Jack and Jill Hill in Kilmersdon is supposed to have been the inspiration for the nursery rhyme of the same name.  It links Ames Lane to School Lane.  

There are several theories about the origin of the rhyme. One story is that Jack and Jill were a married couple, who lived in Kilmersdon. One day Jack went up the hill to collect some water when he was killed by a boulder dislodged from a nearby quarry, which hit him on the head.  Jill died of a broken heart shortly after giving birth to their son, who was then raised by the villagers of Kilmersdon and known as Jill's son.  The surname Gilson is apparently still common in the Kilmersdon area

Other theories, which are not linked to Kilmersdon, are a Scandinavian story about 2 children called Hjuki and Bil, who were stolen by the moon while collecting water or Henry VII's ministers Empson and Dudley, who were executed soon after he came to the throne.

There are six stone markers up the hill, which have individual lines from the rhyme carved on them.

Ames Lane leads to Jack and Jill Hill

Looking up Jack and Jill Hill, Kilmersdon from the bottom

 Jack and Jill well and plaque on the side of Kilmersdon School at the top of the hill

 There are 6 of these marker stones placed at intervals up the hill.  This is the one nearest to the top - it says "Jill came tumbling after."

Plaque mounted on the side of Kilmersdon School at the top of the hill

Jack and Jill Gates at Kilmersdon School

Alfred's Tower, Stourhead Estate

Alfred's Tower is located on the border between Somerset and Wiltshire at the top of a hill at an elevation of 261 metres above sea level.  It is 48 metres high and can be seen for miles around.  It has views over Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset.  It was commissioned by Henry Hoare, creator of the magnificent landscaped gardens at nearby Stourhead in Wiltshire, in 1772 in honour of the achievements of King Alfred.  It is located close to where it is thought Alfred gathered local Wessex men together before fighting and defeating the Danish invaders at Edington in Wiltshire in 878 AD.

The Tower is triangular with circular turrets at each corner.  Between the turrets it is hollow and open to the sky.  There is a staircase in one of the turrets, which has 205 steps leading up to a viewing platform.  It is open to the public at weekends in the summer.

In 1944 an American Air Force plane crashed into the top of the Tower.  The 5 airmen were killed but the Tower survived, although it was damaged.  It was restored in 1986.  The Tower was given to the National Trust as part of the Stourhead Estate in 1946.

Alfred's Tower is the location for the start of the 28 mile long Leland Trail, which runs across Somerset to Ham Hill.

 Statue of Alfred 9 metres up the tower.

Alfred's Tower on a frosty morning in January 2015

Autumn Colours at Stourhead Gardens

Clark's Folly, Street

Clark's Folly (grid reference ST 491 372) is shown on large scale Ordnance Survey maps as Stephen's Folly but it seems to be more commonly known as Clark's Folly.  The Stephen in question was Stephen Clark.  In 1956 he purchased a Doric portico, which then stood at the front of Westcombe House, two miles east of Evercreech.  The house was about to be demolished.  However it cost £833 to dismantle, move, store, construct a brick back for it and re-erect the portico on the north east edge of Street.  When I visited on a sunny morning in March 2015 it looked rather neglected with brambles growing up around the front of it.  It is not listed on the Somerset Historic Environment Record.  It has a black painted metal rack at the back, which is apparently a hay rack for feeding cattle, although there were none in sight when I visited.  The folly is now located on the edge of a Strode College car park but it is on a public footpath.

Further Reading:

Somerset Follies by Jonathan Holt.  Published in 2007 by Akeman Press

 As it was early morning, the sun was shining in the eastern sky and I couldn't get a good photo of it from the front.

 

Clark's Folly, Street showing the hay rack at the back

Clark's Folly, Street

Seven Crosses House, High Street, Stogumber

Seven Crosses House is so named because it has 7 crosses attached to the front of it!  It is located on High Street in the centre of the quiet and very lovely village of Stogumber.  Apparently it once belonged to the church, which presumably explains the crosses.  The house was originally two properties but I have not been able to find out any more about it.

Seven Crosses House, Stogumber - 2015

Change of colour scheme - January 2018 

Sheepwash, Thurloxton

I came across this sheepwash near the village of Thurloxton by chance while on a group walk a few weeks ago.  At first glance it looked like the remains of a small mill but having stood and looked at it we decided that it was probably a sheepwash of some kind.  I have checked on the Somerset Historic Environment Record website and it is listed there as a sheepwash, although there is no other information given about it, other than that it was recorded on a 1904 large scale Ordnance Survey map of the area.  It is located on a public footpath at grid reference ST 276 301.

Sheepwash, Thurloxton

RIP Chimney, Wansbrough Paper Mill, Watchet

The remains of the Wansbrough Paper Mill Chimney can be seen from the footpath that runs from the junction of Harbour Road, South Road and Brendon Road to St Decuman's Church (grid reference ST 065 429).  It was built in around 1865 at the end of the underground flues, which were installed to solve draught problems from the mill's coal-fired boilers.  It was made from red bricks made at Wellington Brickworks and contrasting bands of buff coloured brick from Ebbw Vale.  Coal for the boilers arrived by sea from South Wales on the SS Rushlight until 1953 when the mill installed oil-burning boilers.  The chimney became redundant in 1962.

The chimney was dismantled in 2011 for safety reasons, despite opposition from Watchet Conservation Society and is now only 3 metres high.

The earliest record of paper making in Watchet was at Snailholt Farm in 1652 when a local farmer made money during the winter by making paper using a cider press.  Snailholt Farm was on the site of the present paper mill. 

In 1727 John Wood took over the tenancy of the mill.  He was the first of 4 generations of his family, who ran it until 1834.  By 1840 the mill was run jointly by John Wansbrough, James Date, and William Peach.  The Wansbrough family continued in partnership with other people until 1903. The first paper making machine was introduced in 1869 by A.C. Wansbrough, who was the owner at this point. In 1898 much of the mill was destroyed in a fire but it was rebuilt by the following year and became the largest manufacturer of paper bags in the country.

W. H. Reed then bought the business  in 1903 and from 1910  it formed part of the Reed and Smith group. In 1978 the company was taken over by St. Regis International, a New York company.  It was acquired in 1986 by DS Smith, who are the current owners.  It is currently the UK's largest producer of coreboard and it also produces Liner 3 (used to make corrugated cardboard), recycled envelopes and bag papers.

Update: the Wansbrough Paper Mill closed down in December 2015 with the loss of 176 jobs.

Further Reading:

The Book of Watchet and Williton Revisited: A Past and Present Pictorial Portrait - Maurice and Joyce Chidgey and Ben Norman.  Published by Halsgrove, 2007

The base of the chimney March 2015

Part of the derelict Wansborough Paper Mill in June 2020