Off the Beaten Track in Somerset: January 2018

Dunstan was born in Baltonsborough c909 AD. His parents were Heorstan and Cynethryth. He was educated at Glastonbury Abbey and then joined the household of his uncle Athelm, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 923 or 925 to January 926. Dunstan later joined the court of King Athelstan but was expelled from it in 935 after being accused of practising black magic.

Dunstan took monastic vows, was ordained as a priest by Elphege the Bishop of Winchester and then returned to Glastonbury where he lived as a hermit where he painted, embroidered and made things out of metal. In 939 Edmund I became King of Wessex and Dunstan was recalled to court. Edmund made him Abbot of Glastonbury in c943. Dunstan encouraged the restoration and increase of Benedictine monasticism in England.

King Edmund was killed in a fight at Pucklechurch near Bristol in May 946 and was succeeded by his younger brother Eadred. Dunstan had a privileged place in the royal court as one of the king's advisors.

When Eadred died at Frome in November 955, Eadwig, eldest son of Edmund I, became king. Dunstan clashed with Eadwig, who forced him into exile at Ghent in modern day Belgium. While he was there he studied continental monasticism.

Dunstan returned to England in 957 when England was divided up between Eadwig and his younger brother Edgar. Eadwig ruled the area to the south of the River Thames and Edgar ruled the area to the north. Dunstan was made Bishop of Worcester in 957. Eadwig died in October 959 and Edgar ruled over the whole of England from then onwards.

Dunstan was made Bishop of London in 959 and Archbishop of Canterbury in 960. He restructured and reformed many abbeys and the Church in England. Edgar died in 975 and was succeeded by his eldest son Edward but he was assassinated at Corfe Castle in March 978. Edward's brother Æthelred became king but by this time Dunstan was getting old and he retired to Canterbury where he continued to preach and teach up until his death.

Dunstan died on 19th May 988 and his feast day is 19th May for this reason. He was buried in Canterbury. He was made a saint soon after his death and was greatly venerated.

Stone marking the place where Dunstan was born in Ham Street, Baltonsborough

"Here stood the beehive or cob cottage, the traditional birthplace of St Dunstan 909-988

This stone was carved by Jenny Cox on a medieval roof boss from Glastonbury Abbey and placed here in 1988"

Stained glass of St Dunstan in All Saints Church, Selworthy

St Anne, St Barnabas and St Dunstan Window, All Saints Church, Selworthy

St Aldhelm, King Alfred and St Dunstan window

St Peter & St Paul's Church, South Petherton

This window was given in memory of Hugh Ruscombe Poole (1848-1918) and Mary Eveline Poole (1857-1916) by their children in 1925. Below the figures Sherborne Abbey (St Aldhelm was Bishop of Sherborne), Burrow Mump (associated with King Alfred) and Glastonbury Abbey (St Dunstan was Abbot of Glastonbury).

The Lost Village of Clicket is located on a public footpath, which runs along a damp and dark valley bottom parallel to an unnamed stream between Luxborough Churchtown and Timberscombe. It is very easy to miss, as there are no information boards and the various ruins of houses, a farm, a mill, quarries and limekilns are very overgrown, particularly in the summer months.

Clicket was never a large settlement and the various buildings which made up the "village" were scattered along the valley bottom. Bickham's Mill (also called Beckham Mill) was located to the north east of Clicket on the east side of the valley. Thorn Farm, which is now ruined, was further up the eastern side of the valley to the east of Bickham's Mill. Thorn Farm and Bickham's Mill may date from the medieval period. The village of Clicket may have existed as early as the 14th century but it doesn't definitely appear in records until 1809.

In the 1851 Census there were 14 people living in Clicket in four families called Cole, Tarr and Williams (2 families). In 1861 the population of Clicket was 15: there were four families - Williams, Tarr and Webber (x2). Clicket was not listed separately in 1871 but in 1881 there were 20 people listed as living there in three families - Webber (x2) and Hole.

The last baby to be born at Clicket was Lily Burge (later Bryant), who was born in 1889 (she died in 1977 in Bristol). In 1890 Clicket was abandoned because there was no employment left (the quarry and mill had closed), farming was in a depression and with no road access the village was too inaccessible.