Boundary Markers

Boundary Markers are usually made of stone, concrete or metal, so that they are durable.  People have been marking borders for centuries, if not millennia.  Some of Somerset's boundary stones are so old that no one knows for certain, which boundary they were originally supposed to mark.

Taunton Town Council Boundary Marker

Boundary marker between the parishes of West Anstey and Hawkridge

CBB = County Bridge Boundary, Washbattle Bridge near Huish Champflower

 Naked Boy's Stone, Brendon Hills

This stone may be prehistoric or medieval and its purpose was to mark the boundary between Brompton Regis and Old Cleeve parishes

Hundred Stone, Yeovil 

This stone marks the meeting place for men of the local hundred and is thought to date back to the medieval period.  It was last used as a meeting place in 1843.

Hundred Stone, Yeovil 

Longstone, Quantock Hills

Boundary Stone on Black Ball Hill, Quantocks

This stone marks the boundary between East and West Quantoxhead.

AX = Axbridge

Blue Plaque marking Chard Borough Boundary

Taunton Trust turnpike boundary marker on the Brendon Hills

Trinity House boundary marker, Black Nore Lighthouse, Portishead

Bristol Turnpike Trust boundary marker at Chelvey Batch

This marks the boundary between Brockley and Chelvey Parishes

Beacon Hill

This boundary stone has the letters WMFM inscribed on it.  These are thought to be the initial of William Melliar Foster Melliar, who bought part of the wood in Doulting Parish in 1883.

Bicknoller Post, Quantock Hills

Unusually, this boundary marker is made of wood.  It is located at the point where 3 parishes meet: East Quantoxhead, West Quantoxhead and Bicknoller

Porchester's Post, Exmoor

This wooden post marks the boundary of the Carnarvon Estate. It is located between Withypool Hill and Halscombe Allotment (grid reference SS 828 334).  A post was first erected here in 1796.  This replacement post dates from 2002 and was erected to commemorate the Queen's Golden Jubilee and in memory of Lord Porchester, Earl of Carnarvon, the Chairman of the 1977 inquiry into the protection of moorland on Exmoor.

Brushford/Dulverton Parish Boundary Stone at New Bridge, Brushford

Venford boundary stone on Anstey Money Common

This is probably a 19th century boundary stone for Venford Farm. The word Venford is inscribed on the east face.

Sloley Stone, near Mole's Chamber, Exmoor

The Sloley Stone marks the boundary between Somerset and Devon and the boundary of Exmoor Forest. It has previously been called the Long Stone, Hore Stone and Lew Combe Stone. The south east face (shown here) is inscribed with the words William Longe Oxenham Esquire Lord of ye Manor of High Bray, 1742.  The north west face is inscribed with the words Christian Slowly, Lady of the Manor of Gratton, 1742.  The stone is 1.34 metres high and 0.56 metres wide.

Edgerley Stone, Bill Hill, Challacombe

This 1.7m high stone marks the border between Somerset and Devon and also the former boundary of Exmoor Forest. It is by the side of the B3358 between Challacombe and Simonsbath (grid reference SS719407) but there is nowhere to park a car, so we took the photo from the car window.  It was called Longstone in a survey of 1651 but by 1675 it was called the Edgerley Stone.  The names F. Bray and F. Isaac are inscribed on it.

W = Weacombe 

This boundary stone on the Quantock Hills between Bicknoller Combe and Weacombe Combe marks the boundary between the St Audries (St A) and Weacombe (W) estates.   It was erected after Thomas Cridland Luxton purchased Weacombe Farm and 69 acres of common land in 1836.   It is made of local red sandstone.

St A = St Audries

1912 boundary stone between the City of Bath and Somerset County Council

Sadly this boundary stone, which is located at the side of the A367 at Odd Down on the edge of Bath, has been half buried in concrete!

Boundary marker outside 50 Middleway, Taunton

These two shields are made from Ham stone.  One has St Mary's inscribed on it and the other Glebe. The house is on land, which belonged to Henry Bower, Vicar of St Mary Magdalene's Church in the early 19th century, and which may have been glebe land.

Boundary marker at Ilminster Cemetery on the B3168

In 1899 Ilminster Urban District was created.  It had previously been part of Chard Rural District.  IUC = Ilminster Urban (District) Council.  RDC = (Chard) Rural District Council.

Victoria Park, Frome

This post marks the boundary between Frome Urban and Rural District Councils and is dated 1901

Ralegh's Cross

Ralegh's Cross was erected at a crossroads c1425/6 probably to mark the boundary of the Raleigh family's Nettlecombe estate and possibly also to mark the location of a dangerous bog.  According to Raleigh family tradition, the cross was erected by Simon Raleigh, who had fought at the battle of Agincourt in 1415, as a memorial to his wife Joan, who died in Devon but was buried at Nettlecombe.  

The cross is currently located in the grounds of the Ralegh's Cross Inn.  However it was originally located a couple of hundred metres to the west in a field on the north side of the B3190 (grid reference ST037 344). The road junction moved when the land was enclosed.  The remains of the cross were moved to its current location (grid reference ST 038 344 ) in the late 18th or early 19th century.  

All that remains today is a 70cm high weathered red sandstone shaft set in an octagonal socket and a single step.

Ralegh's Cross

Whit Stones, Porlock Hill

The Whit Stones are two large sandstone slabs located at the top of Porlock Hill and about 50 metres to the south of the A39.  They are currently slanting eastwards but would originally have been over 1.5 metres high when they were upright.  They are both over a foot thick.  They are located at grid reference SS 853 462.

According to legend, the Whit Stones were thrown to their present location by the Devil (with or without help from an unnamed giant) from Hurlstone Point (hence its name).  It is more likely that they were in fact either boundary markers of part of a prehistoric burial chamber, stone row or stone circle.  They were sometimes referred to in the past as White Stones.  They may date from any time between the Neolithic period and late Bronze Age (2350 BC to 701 BC).

The Whit Stones

Whit Stones

Whit Stone - looking east down Porlock Hill

Porchester's Post, Exmoor

As its name suggests, Porchester's Post is a tall wooden post.  It is located high up on Exmoor between Withypool Hill and Halscombe Allotment (grid reference SS 828 334).  The plaque on it reads as follows:

"First erected in 1796 to mark the boundary of the Carnarvon Estate.

Re-erected in memory of Lord Porchester, Earl of Carnarvon, the Chairman of the 1977 inquiry into the protection of moorland on Exmoor and to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2002."

Pixton Park is a stately home half a mile to the south east of Dulverton.  It was built for the Acland family c1760 and altered internally c1820 and again in 1870. The Earls of Carnarvon acquired the house and estate from the Acland family by marriage in 1796. 

In 1977 Henry Herbert, Lord Porchester (later the 7th Earl of Carnarvon) chaired a public inquiry, which examined the loss of moorland on Exmoor due to ploughing.  He proposed Moorland Conservation Orders, which would give the National Park Authority to power to prevent farmers from ploughing up moorland if voluntary agreements could not be reached.  Landowners would have received financial compensation.  However the Labour government's Countryside Bill of 1978, which included many of the recommendations of the Porchester Report, was not passed by the time of the 1979 General Election, which they lost to the Conservatives.  The Conservative government introduced their own legislation, which became the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Under the terms of this act management agreements with financial compensation for farmers and landowners were to be voluntary.

Porchester's Post

White Post to the Left, Withypool to the Right

 

Plaque on Porchester's Post

 

Windswept Tree near Porchester's Post

 

Porchester's Post on a sunny day