Sheela na Gigs

Sheela na gigs are semi-erotic stone carvings or sculptures of female figures standing or sitting in such a way that their genitals are on display.  The figures are  always distorted or grotesque and sometimes comical.  They are mainly of old women or hags. The term sheela na gig is possibly from the Irish meaning "the hag of the breasts" or "the old woman squatting".

They are most often found on churches, which seems a rather unlikely place to find them, but also occasionally on secular buildings such as castles.  They are found all over Britain and Ireland on Norman or Romanesque churches.  They are more common in Ireland than elsewhere. They are also found in France and Spain.  In some cases they are older than the church they are currently displayed on, as they were removed from earlier buildings.  They were probably originally symbolic representations of the sin of lust or possibly fertility symbols.  Later on in some areas they were viewed as protective icons to drive away the devil.

In Somerset there are sheela na gigs displayed on the outsides of the parish churches in Fiddington, Stoke-sub-Hamdon and Clevedon.  There is also one at Donyatt on the Manor House but this is not accessible to the public.

St Mary's Church at Stoke-sub-Hamdon may have two sheela na gigs.  Both are corbels - one on the front of the church to the left of the main entrance door on the north side of the church and one round the back on the south side.

The sheela na gig at St Martin's Church at Fiddington near Nether Stowey is found on the south wall of the church to the right of the door.

The carving on a corbel at St Andrew's Church in Clevedon may or may not be a sheela na gig.  It is located to the right of the main entrance.

St Martin's Church, Fiddington

St Mary's Church, Stoke-sub-Hamdon - the sheela na gig is on the right of the photo

 

Stoke-sub- Hamdon's other sheela na gig

 

 

St Andrew's Church, Clevedon

Burnham-on-Sea's Three Lighthouses

Burnham-on-Sea has had three lighthouses in the past. 

The story goes that c1750 the wife of a Burnham fisherman placed a candle in a window to guide her husband home.  After the death of her husband in a boating accident she continued to do this and was later paid to do so.  After her death a light was placed on top of the tower of St Andrew's Church with the permission of the Curate, the Reverend David Davies.  He offered to build a lighthouse if the local fishermen would pay for its upkeep.  The 4 storey Round Tower Lighthouse was built attached to his house and adjacent to the churchyard in around 1800.  In 1813 Rev Davies successfully applied to Trinity House for a grant and permission to levy dues on passing ships.  He was granted a lease for 100 years but Trinity House purchased it back from him in 1829.

In 1832 Trinity House built the High Lighthouse on the landward side of the sand dunes on Berrow Road.  At the same time the height of the original lighthouse was reduced by 2 storeys and a parapet was added to avoid confusion with the new lighthouse.  The High Lighthouse was built of brick and is 30 metres high. It is known locally as the Pillar Lighthouse.

However it was soon realised that the light was too low to be seen at certain states of the tide (the Bristol Channel has the second highest tidal range in the world).  Therefore the Low Lighthouse was built on the beach due west of the High Lighthouse to complement it in 1834.  It was constructed of teak on legs of oak to raise it above the level of the high tide.

The High Lighthouse was decommissioned in 1969 and sold off as a private dwelling, although the red vertical stripe painted down the seaward side of the tower still acts as a daymark.  The Low Lighthouse was decommissioned at the same time but was brought back into use as a navigation light in 1993.

Burnham's First Lighthouse from St Andrew's Churchyard

Burnham's High Lighthouse

 

Red Stripe on Burnham's High Lighthouse

Back of Burnham's Low Lighthouse

Burnham's Low Lighthouse from the back

Front of the Low Lighthouse at low tide

Low Lighthouse on the Beach

Low Lighthouse

 

 

Tithe Barns

From the 8th century onwards in England a tenth of every farmer's produce had to be given to the local church to pay for its upkeep and the wages of the rector.  This was known as a tithe.  Tithe barns were constructed in the Middle Ages to store the collected grain and hay. Many were owned by and located close to monasteries or their granges (outlying estates).  They were often large timber framed aisled barns with stone walls.  Somerset has a surprisingly large number of surviving tithe barns. However not all the barns that have survived and are today called tithe barns, were actually originally used to store tithes. Some of them were the barns of large estates, which also needed big barns to store their grain. 

The barns in Somerset, which are known as tithe barns include:

• Glastonbury - originally part of Glastonbury Abbey and now part of the Somerset Rural Life Museum
• West Pennard - originally a grange of Glastonbury Abbey and now owned by the National Trust
• Mells
• Bishop's Barn, Wells
• Dunster
• Pilton - originally a grange of Glastonbury Abbey
• West Camel - on a private farm
• Doulting - on a private farm.  Originally a grange of Glastonbury Abbey
• Fitzhead
• Abbey Barn at Preston, Yeovil
• Stoke-sub-Hamdon Priory
• Slough Court, Stoke St Gregory - on a private farm

Many of the surviving barns have now found other uses as village halls, museums, or wedding venues.

At Haselbury Mill between Crewkerne and the village of Haselbury Plucknett, a new "tithe barn" was constructed in a traditional style in 2008 to be used as a wedding venue.

Glastonbury - Rural Life Museum

 West Pennard Court Barn

 Mells

Bishops Barn, Wells

 Dunster

 Pilton

 Pilton

West Camel
 

 West Camel

Doulting

Yeovil

 

Stoke-sub-Hamdon Priory

Haselbury Mill's new "Tithe Barn"

There was a wedding in progress when we walked past it on the River Parrett Trail on Good Friday 2015.

 

Slough Court, Stoke St Gregory

This is the only view you can get of the tithe barn from the public footpath.

 

Fitzhead

 

Fitzhead

 

Priory Barn, Taunton

This barn is the only surviving building of Taunton's Augustinian Priory, which was founded c1120 .  The barn was probably built in the late 15th or early 16th century but may have incorporated earlier materials.

Replica tithe barn at The Newt in Somerset near Castle Cary

Royal Observer Corps Monitoring Posts

The Observer Corps was set up in 1925 but had its roots in the First World War.  The need for an organised early warning system was recognised when the Germans started aerial bombing raids on southern England using Zeppelin airships in 1915. A network of observers stationed at strategic locations was set up.

During the 1930s the number of observation posts was greatly increased until by 1939 the whole of Britain was covered by the network. During the Battle of Britain in 1940 the Corps plotted the positions of German aircraft and passed the information to the RAF.  To recognise the value of this work, on 9^th April 1941 King George VI conferred the title Royal on the Observer Corps.  Women were allowed to join the ROC from July 1941.

From 1940-42 a network of 150 satellite posts was established to improve coverage along the south and east coasts of Britain as far north as Dundee and on the coasts of Lancashire and Cheshire.  Some of these posts were manned by the ROC but most were manned by the RAF, coastguards or Anti-Aircraft Command.

The ROC was temporarily stood down on 12th May 1945 but was reactivated in 1947 in response to post war threats from the Soviet Bloc.  In 1951-2 some ROC Monitoring Sites were provided with brick or pre-cast concrete shelters above ground, which offered some shelter against the weather and attack from aircraft.  The pre-cast concrete shelters were known as Orlit Posts after the company, which had the contract to produce them: Messrs Orlit Ltd.  There are two types of Orlit Post - type 'A', which are on the ground and 'B', which are raised 6 feet above the ground on 4 legs, with a ladder for access.

In 1955 the ROC was given responsibility for giving warning of air attacks in a future war and to measure radioactivity levels in the event of a nuclear attack. The above ground monitoring posts offered little protection from radioactivity.  Therefore a programme of works was developed to build a network of underground posts.  By 1964 1,563 underground posts had been constructed across the UK.  They were designed to provide satisfactory blast protection and to be able to be used self-sufficiently for a number of weeks if a nuclear attack on the UK had occurred. On the surface there is usually an entrance shaft and a separate ventilation shaft a few feet away.

Cuts in defence spending reduced the number of ROC posts to 873 in 1968. With the final end to the Cold War and more cuts in defence spending the ROC was finally stood down on 30^th September 1991.

In Somerset ROC Underground Monitoring Posts were located at Exford, Minehead (North Hill), Dunster (Beach), Holford, Lydeard St Lawrence, Dulverton, Wellington, Kingston St Mary, Puriton (at Pawlett), Hatch Beauchamp, Chard, Crewkerne, Ham Hill, Marston Magna, Templecombe, Bruton, Glastonbury, Langport,  Shepton Mallet, Frome, Westbury-sub-Mendip (Westbury Beacon) and Chilton Polden. In North Somerset they were located in Clevedon, Winscombe, Long Ashton, Bleadon and Portishead.

The following sites have been demolished and there are no visible remains: Glastonbury, Shepton Mallet, Bruton, Frome, Templecombe, Ham Hill, Minehead, Winscombe and Clevedon.  Some of the remaining sites are on private land and are therefore inaccessible.

So far I have visited Chard, Dunster, Exford, Puriton, Westbury-sub-Mendip, Bleadon and Portishead.  The site at Pawlett (ROC Puriton) is completely overgrown but those at Chard, Exford, Westbury-sub-Mendip, Bleadon, Portishead and Dunster are clearly visible if you know what you are looking for and where to look.

A comprehensive survey of the remains of all the ROC Monitoring Posts in the United Kingdom can be found on the Subterranea Britannica website: http://www.subbrit.org.uk/category/nuclear-monitoring-posts

A comprehensive history of the Royal Observer Corps can be found on the Royal Observer Corps Association’s website: http://www.roc-heritage.co.uk/roc-history.html 

Bleadon’s ROC Monitoring Post is now in the middle of a new golf course on the top of Bleadon Hill. It was built in 1959 and used until 1991. The access and ventilation shafts are both visible from a public footpath, which runs northwards from Roman Road. Grid reference: ST345 579

Chard ROC Post is located on Catch Gate Lane, Snowdon Hill just off the A30 half a mile to the west of Chard (grid reference ST309 091). It is not known what date it opened but it closed in 1991. It is particularly interesting, as it has an Orlit 'B' in addition to an underground chamber:

Entrance Shaft, ROC Chard

ROC Chard - Entrance Shaft

Orlit 'B' Post, ROC Chard

Dunster ROC Post was opened in 1962 and was operational until 1991.  It is located to the south of the coast path about 50 metres to the east of the public car park at Dunster Beach.  Grid reference: ST 005 444.

Dunster ROC Underground Monitoring Post, Dunster Beach

Puriton ROC Post is actually half a mile to the west of the village of Pawlett on the north side of Gaunts Road.  It opened in 1963 and closed in 1968. The site is very overgrown and even in winter it was very difficult to see.  Grid reference: ST291 431



ROC Puriton - look hard!

Exford ROC Post is located in a field on the west side of the B3223 a few hundred metres north of the Chibbet Post crossroads (grid reference SS840 380).  It opened in 1961 and closed in 1991.

 ROC Exford

 

Access Shaft at ROC Exford

Westbury-sub-Mendip ROC Post is located at Westbury Beacon on the top of the Mendip Hills at a height of 269 metres above sea level.  It is mid way between the villages of Draycott and Westbury-sub-Mendip.  The post opened in April 1961 and closed in October 1968.  There is an Orlit 'A' about 30 metres from the underground post.  The access and ventilation shafts can be seen but they have been filled in with rubble and soil.

Orlit 'A' at ROC Westbury-sub-Mendip

 

Ventilation and access shafts at ROC Westbury-sub-Mendip

 

Access shaft at ROC Westbury-sub-Mendip

The very overgrown and truncated remains of the access shaft of Portishead ROC Monitoring Post can be seen in a small area of waste land on the south side of Down Road.  It was built in 1964 but closed down in 1968. Grid reference: ST448 759

Portishead ROC Post

Bleadon’s ROC Monitoring Post is now in the middle of a new golf course on the top of Bleadon Hill. It was built in 1959 and used until 1991. The access and ventilation shafts are both visible from a public footpath, which runs northwards from Roman Road. Grid reference: ST345 579

Bleadon ROC Post

 

Further Reading:

Attack Warning Red: The Royal Observer Corps and the Defence of Britain 1925 to 1992: Derek Wood.  Macdonald and Jane’s Publishers Limited, 1992