The Taunton Stop Line

The Taunton Stop Line was built in 1940, when the UK government believed an invasion of Britain by Nazi Germany was imminent. The evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk at the end of June 1940, increased the sense of urgency. The Taunton Stop Line was part of a network of defensive lines built across various parts of Britain.  The purpose of a stop line was to slow down, a German advance, if they had invaded Britain.

General Edmund Ironside was appointed as Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces at the end of May 1940.  On 25th June he announced plans for Home Defence to the War Cabinet.  He proposed:

1. The construction of coastal defences to fight off small raids and delay any landings.
2. Road blocks at strategic locations to be manned by the Home Guard
3. The construction of static fortified stop lines, which divided coastal areas into sectors and sealed off London and the Midlands from the coast
4. A central reserve of troops, who would be ready to deal with any major breakthroughs
5. Local mobile groups, which could deal with parachute landings and local attacks.

The Taunton Stop Line ran for approximately 50 miles from the Bristol Channel/mouth of the River Brue at Highbridge to the English Channel at Axmouth Harbour in Devon.  Its route was via Pawlett Hams, Dunball, Bridgwater, North Newton, Creech St Michael, Wrantage, Ilton, Ilminster, Donyatt, Knowle St Giles, Chard, Forton, Perry Street, Chard Junction and Axminster.  

Where possible the Taunton Stop Line utilised natural barriers.  It followed the River Parrett to Bridgwater, then the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal to Creech St Michael and then the line of the disused Chard Canal to Ilton.  It then followed the Great Western Railway to Chard Junction and then the River Axe and/or the Southern Railway to Axmouth Harbour.

Highbridge was also the start of the General Headquarters (GHQ) Green line, which ran east to Bradford-on-Avon and then north to Framilode on the River Severn south of Gloucester.

The construction of the Taunton Stop Line began in July 1940 and was largely completed by September of the same year.   About 400 defensive structures, including pillboxes, road and rail blocks, anti-tank gun emplacements and anti-tank obstacles were constructed at strategic points along the stop line to strengthen it.  The anti-tank obstacles were usually made of concrete and came in various shapes and sizes, including dragons' teeth (flat-topped pyramids), posts, cubes and coffins. 

Gun emplacements were built at strategic locations, landmines were laid, trenches were dug and barbed wire entanglements were put in place.  Many of the bridges along the route had charge chambers cut into their walls, so that they could be blown up in the event of an invasion.  The pillboxes were disguised and/or camouflaged using paint and netting or locally available materials such as soil, beach pebbles and hedgerows.

In 1941 twelve defensive "islands" were created to strengthen the stop line at Bridgwater, Durston (to cover the railway junction at Cogload), Creech St Michael, Wrantage/Crimson Hill, Ilton (RAF Isle Abbotts/Merryfield). Ilminster, Chard, Forton, Perry Street, Whitford, Axminster and Colyford.  These anti-tank islands were intended to be used as bases from which to launch counter attacks, if the stop line was breached.

The Taunton Stop Line was initially manned by the army, assisted by the Home Guard, but as the threat of an invasion receded, the Home Guard took over responsibility for it.

The majority of the structures built for the Taunton Stop Line are still intact and in situ today.

Pillbox close to the River Brue at Highbridge

Pillbox on the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal near Outwood House

Pillbox on the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal

Pillbox on the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal near Outwood House

This pillbox has had its front wall removed.

 

Pillbox on the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal at Charlton

Pillbox and dragons' teeth on the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal

Pillbox at the junction of the Bridgwater & Taunton Canal and the Chard Canal in Creech St Michael 

It was probably originally disguised as a farm building or canal-side cottage.  In 2015 it was repurposed as a bat roost. This is a Type 26 pillbox.

Pillbox on Park Drive, Ilminster

Pillbox near Dillington, Ilminster

Donyatt Halt

One of a pair of concrete blocks, into which sections of railway track would have been slotted to form a vehicle barrier.  There are some anti-tank blocks in the background. 

6-pounder anti-tank gun emplacement on the now disused railway line near Knowle St Giles

6-pounder anti-tank gun emplacement near Knowle St Giles

Anti-tank wall, Victoria Avenue, Chard

Artillery Battery on Axmouth Beach

This would probably have been equipped with a 6-pounder Hotchkiss gun

Further Reading: The West Country's Last Line of Defence: Taunton Stop Line by Andrew Powell-Thomas, Amberley Publishing, 2017

Unusual War Memorials

There is a war memorial in virtually every town and village in Somerset.  However there are a few memorials, which stand out because they are a bit different.  Here are some of them:

Burrow Mump

 

Burrow Mump

Burrow Mump is an outcrop of Mercia mudstone.  In medieval times a chapel, belonging to Athelney Abbey and dedicated to St Michael, was built on top of it.  The chapel was rebuilt several times and was still standing in the mid-17th century.  By the mid-18th century it was in ruins.  In 1793 rebuilding commenced, but the church was never completed.  The church is built of lias with Ham stone and red brick dressings.  In 1836-8 a church (also dedicated to St Michael) was built at the foot of the hill in the village of Burrowbridge instead. Burrow Mump and the unfinished church were given to the National Trust by Major Alexander Gould Barrett in 1946, as a memorial to the Somerset men and women who lost their lives during the Second World War.

 

Burrow Mump

Burrow Mump Memorial Plaque

 

Holford & Kilve's Memorial Copse

Holford and Kilve's Second World War memorial is a copse of Scots pine trees on Longstone Hill on the Quantocks.  The memorial says "These trees were planted to commemorate the men and women of Holford and Kilve who served in the war 1939-45."

 

Holford & Kilve's Memorial Copse

Holford and Kilve's Memorial Copse

Blagdon Green, Blagdon Hill

"Lest we Forget.  In Memory of the Fallen"

 

Baltonsborough

This war memorial is made from a 15" Howitzer shell case.

Dowlish Wake

This memorial is carved onto a Ham stone boulder

"Remember those who died for this country"

Thatched war memorial in Drayton

"We Will Remember Them" mural painted on a wall in Haydon Road, Taunton

Dunster

The walled garden located at the back of St George's Church in Dunster is a war memorial garden.  It is dedicated to the men of Dunster who died for their country in both world wars. It can be accessed through a gate in the wall on Priory Green just opposite the dovecote. 

Dunster's War Memorial Garden

Royal British Legion Poppy Memorial, Weston-super-Mare

This colourful war memorial was installed at the front of Somerset Legion House on Weston-super-Mare seafront, when it opened in 2007 as a hotel offering holidays for ex-servicemen and women and their families.  The hotel closed in January 2020 and the memorial has now been moved to Grove Park.

Royal British Legion Memorial Bench, Collett Park, Shepton Mallet

This was put in place for the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War in November 2018.

Corfe's memorial to those who died in the First World War but who lie in unmarked graves or have no grave at all.

Martock

Martock has a horse water trough, which is now filled with flowers, as a memorial to the 450,000 horses that were killed in the South African War 1899-1902

Porlock's Second World War Memorial Trees & Garden

First World War memorial bench, Somerton

Second World War memorial bench, Somerton

War Memorial bench, Somerton

War Memorial clock tower, Worle

This clock tower was paid for by local subscription in 1919 and was designed by local architect T. Bradford Ball.  It was built by local builders overseen by William Huish, who had proposed the idea of a clock tower as a war memorial.  It was dedicated on 14th September 1922. The original clock mechanism was a double three-legged gravity escapement.  The clock was restored in 2010 and a new electric movement was installed by Smith of Derby.

War memorial shelter, Williton Recreation Ground

The plaque on the wall of the shelter says:

Erected by 

the Parish of Williton

 in memory of those men

 of the parish who fell

 in the Second World War 

1939-45

HMS Dulverton

There have been two Royal Navy vessels named HMS Dulverton:

L3 was a Hunt-class destroyer launched in 1941.  She took part in many World War II operations in the Mediterranean Sea including:

• Escorting troop convoys on their way to the Suez Canal and Malta
• Supporting the British Eighth Army in North Africa
• The raid on Tobruk in Libya
• Working with the RAF and other destroyers to blow up the German U-boat U559 
• The Dodecanese Campaign in October 1943 to try to recapture the Greek islands of Kos and Leros. 

On 12th November HMS Dulverton returned to Leros, along with HMS Echo and HMS Belvoir, to support the garrison there, as the island had been invaded by the Germans.  On 13th November, she was hit by a German glider bomb six miles off the coast of Kos.  Her bows were blown off and she caught fire.  6 officers and 114 ratings were rescued by HMS Echo and HMS Belvoir, but 3 officers (including the commanding officer Stuart Austen Buss) and 75 ratings were killed. After the rescue of the survivors was completed, HMS Dulverton was sunk by a torpedo fired from HMS Belvoir.

M35 was a Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessel launched in 1982.  In 1997 she was converted into a patrol vessel.  She was decommissioned in 2004. In 2008 she was sold to Lithuania and entered into service there in 2011 as the Kuršis.

Both vessels are commemorated in All Saints' Church in Dulverton.  There is a model of HMS Dulverton (L3) in a glass case on display.  This was made by Maurice Burgess and donated to the church by Lily and Maurice Burgess on 11th April 2010.  The ship's bell and a carved wooden service board are located next to the model.  M35's battle ensign, which she flew during the Gulf War January-March 1991 is folded up and displayed in a wall mounted case, next to an illustration of the ship's crest.

Those who lost their lives on HMS Dulverton in 1943 are commemorated on the town's war memorial in Kemps Way.

Model of HMS Dulverton

Board recording the service of HMS Dulverton

Bell and service board

Crest of HMS Dulverton

Battle Ensign flown by HMS Dulverton during the Gulf War, January-March 1991

Dulverton War Memorial, Kemps Way

HMS Dulverton commemoration on the Dulverton War Memorial

Second World War Bomber Crash Memorial in Bridgetown Wood

 A memorial stone has recently been placed in Bridgetown Wood, by the side of the bridlepath, which runs between Bridgetown and Howetown Farm.  It commemorates the Stirling bomber, which crashed nearby, just after midnight on 27th January 1944.  All 8 men onboard the plane were killed and the wreckage was scattered for up to 3.5 miles in an easterly direction.  

The Stirling bomber (serial number EH933) was part of 1660 Heavy Conversion Unit.  It was on a training exercise and had flown from RAF Swinderby in Lincolnshire.  Seven of the men were members of the RAF Volunteer Reserve and the navigator was a member of the Auxiliary Air Force.  The plane was undertaking a cross-country navigation exercise and was on the fourth part of its journey, which involved flying from Sidmouth to Ilfracombe.  However it flew off course and then dived steeply and broke up in the air. The main part of the aircraft crashed at Bridgetown.  The names of the men who died are recorded on the memorial:

• Sgt Ronald A Partridge
• Sgt Claude V Tomkinson
• Sgt Thomas H Jones
• Sgt Ben Ackroyd
• Sgt Alfred Thursby
• Sgt Herbert Hewitt
• Sgt John Kerry
• Sgt Richard Street

Memorial in Bridgetown Wood

RAF Culm Head

The airfield at RAF Culm Head was constructed in 1940-41.  It was initially called RAF Church Stanton.  It was the first of 3 airfields to be built on the plateau at the top of the Blackdown Hills (the others were RAF Upottery/Smeatharpe and RAF Dunkeswell).  It was brought into service in June 1941 to provide shelter from bombing raids for aircraft, which were normally based at RAF Exeter but it was not officially opened until 1st August 1941.  

The first fighter squadrons to be based at RAF Church Stanton were with the Polish 2nd Fighter Wing (nos 302, 306 and 312).  They flew Mk II Hurricanes and later Spitfires Mk V.  They helped to defend the cities of Exeter and Bristol.  A Research Flight also conducted barrage balloon cable cutting experiments from Culm Head.

In June 1942 the Poles were replaced by Czechoslovakian Squadrons (nos 312 and 313), who flew Spitfires from here until June 1943.  In December 1943 the name of the airfield was changed from RAF Church Stanton to RAF Culm Head, to avoid confusion with other airfields with Church as a prefix e.g. Fenton and Broughton. 

The next occupants were the Naval Fighter Wing (Squadrons no 894 and 897) with Seafire IIIs.  They pursued enemy shipping in the English Channel and provided fighter cover for RAF Typhoon squadrons.

In March 1944 No 156 Squadron were based at Culm Head for a month with Mark IX Spitfires.  They were replaced by 610, 286  and 587 Squadrons with Mark XIV Spitfires.

After D-Day (6th June 1944), in July 1944 126, 131 and 616 Squadrons arrived to act as bomber escorts and to conduct attacks ahead of the arrival of ground troops in parts of France.  616 Squadron were equipped and trained with two Bristol Gloster Meteor fighters.  These were the allies first operational jet-propelled aircraft.

RAF Culm Head was placed under care and maintenance by November 1944.  It became active again in January 1945 when it was used by Flying Training Command when it was used as a satellite to RAF Exeter and Headquarters for No 3 Glider Training School.  They used it until July 1945 when it returned to care and maintenance status.  It was closed down in August 1946.

Map showing the layout of RAF Culm Head

Blister Hangar

This was used for the storage and maintenance of small aircraft

Pillbox with loopholes for rifles and machine guns

Key-hole shaped Gun Pit
This is the best preserved of 8 brick-lined gun pits located around the edges of the airfield. 

Aircraft Fighter Pens

These were designed to house two twin-engined aircraft

Aircraft Fighter Pens

Flight Offices