Pottery Kiln, Dunster

This unusual circular pottery kiln with a conical roof is a rare complete example of an updraft kiln.  It was used to make domestic earthenware and roof tiles.  It is possibly the only complete example of its type in Britain and was in use from about 1750 until 1850.  It is located about 100 metres from the northern end of the Dunster Castle Car Park behind the Luttrell Arms (grid reference SS 992 439).  It has a diameter of 3 metres and is around 5 metres high.  It was built of local red sandstone.  There was originally a pottery building adjacent to it but this was demolished in 1850.  The kiln survived because it was converted into a gardener's shed.  It was used for this purpose for more than 150 years.  The location of the kiln so close to Dunster Castle suggests that it was a deliberate landscape feature, as well as an industrial premises.  The kiln was restored in 2013.

More information about the kiln and how it worked can be found on the Exmoor's Past website:

http://www.exmoorher.co.uk/hbsmr-web/record.aspx?UID=MSO9466-Pottery%20Kiln%2C%20Luttrell%20Arms%20Hotel%2C%20Dunster

Further Reading about Dunster Castle and the Luttrells:

Dunster and its Lords 1066-1881 by H.C. Maxwell Lyte.  Published by the author, 1882

History of Dunster and of the families of Mohun and Luttrell by H.C. Maxwell Lyte.  In 2 volumes.  Published by St Catherine Press, 1909

 Pottery kiln, Dunster Castle grounds, 2015

Restored Pottery Kiln, 2015

Dunster Pottery Kiln 2019

Dunster Pottery Kiln 2021

Romulus and Remus Statue, Pen Hill

This statue of a wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, was made by an Italian prisoner of war called Gaetano Celestra. Some Italian prisoners of war worked on farms in this area towards the end of the Second World War.  Gaetano Celestra was an builder and stone mason and he and his fellow POWs were given the task of repairing the wall in this area, which had been damaged by a German bomb.  He was given permission to work on the statue with his colleagues in their spare time as a way of saying thank you to the local people for their kindness during their enforced stay in the area.  The statue, which is made of concrete over a wire frame and stands about 4 metres high, was erected in 1945 and was given listed status in 2008.  Gaetano Celestra stayed on in the area after the war.

The statue is located by the side of the busy A39 road 2 miles north east of Wells.  There is no pavement and the road is very busy during the day.  There is parking for several cars about 200 metres to the south west by the entrance to the service track that goes up to the Pen Hill Transmitter.  However at 6.30 am on a Bank Holiday Monday I was able to walk safely along the road to visit the statue and take a few photos.  My previous visit was in the pitch dark at about 7pm on a Sunday in March when the road was also quiet but the photos taken with a flash weren't great, so I decided to come back in daylight.  There is a rough grass verge on either side of the road that you could walk along.  The grid reference for the statue is ST 570 490.  It is on the east side of the road.  It is on private land but can clearly be seen from the road.

There is a plaque at the foot of the statue, which summarises the legend of Romulus and Remus thus:

"According to legend Romulus and Remus were the twin sons of Mars, the God of War, and vestal virgin Rhea Silvia. Amulius, the king, had the babies placed in a trough and cast into the River Tiber.  They drifted ashore and were rescued by a female wolf, who suckled, fed and protected them until Faustulus, a shepherd, and his wife found them and raised them into adulthood.  Romulus and Remus both had plans to build a city but had such a violent disagreement about who should be king that Romulus killed Remus.  Romulus built the city, which he ruled as king for forty years.

That city was Rome - founded in 753 BC"

 The wolf suckling Romulus and Remus

 Close up of the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus

Plaque underneath the statue

Statue in the dark

Dunster Underpass Mural

I don't imagine that many people who race through the Dunster junction of the A39 in their cars on their way to Minehead, Porlock or Exmoor realise that they are crossing over a pedestrian underpass.  I am sure that even fewer realised that the underpass has been beautifully decorated with murals designed by young people from the area.  

The Somerset Rural Youth Project's work was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2011.  15 young people spent 4 days drawing and painting the murals with the help of an artistic volunteer from Wincanton as part of the From Different Parts Project. The project encouraged young people to learn about their heritage and to realise that many people in West Somerset have moved into the area from different parts of the country and the rest of the world. Before they embarked on the murals they spent time interviewing some of Dunster's older residents and walked around the village gathering information about Dunster past and present.  Four years on and it the wall still looks lovely.

 Dunster Yarn Market and Castle

This is the centre piece and is based on a drawing done by a local resident in 1947

 Dunster Castle
 

 West Somerset Railway.  I am not sure who the character next to the train is supposed to be?

The whole effect of the design is a drawing room wall with pictures hanging on it.

 A painting of the underpass in the underpass!

I love the light switch at the end of the tunnel

Fives Walls

Fives is a ball game, which is played by two or four players in a court, which is enclosed on three or four sides.   A hard ball is hit with the hand, which is usually protected by a glove. The origin of the word fives is uncertain.  It may come from an old game called Longue Paume, in which five played on each side.   Alternatively it could be a reference to there being five fingers on a hand or possibly from the fact that players had to make five points in order to win.  It was sometimes called hand tennis and was probably being played as far back as the 16th century.  A similar game called pelota is played in the Basque areas of Spain.

The game is now mainly played in British public schools.  There are four main forms - Eton  (3 walls), Rugby (4 walls), Warminster and Winchester fives .  They have different court arrangements and slightly different rules.

In the past fives was often played between the buttresses of church walls.  Understandably the church authorities objected to this due to the damage caused to windows etc and in 1754 the Bishop of Bath and Wells banned fives from being played against church walls.  As a result purpose built fives walls were constructed, mainly in the grounds of pubs.  Most of the remaining non-public school fives walls in England are to be found in Somerset:

 Middle Street, Shepton Beauchamp
  Grid reference ST 404 169

 Crown Lane, South Petherton

 Crown Lane, South Petherton

 Lord Poulett Arms, High Street, Hinton St George

The fives wall is at the back of the pub's garden, which was locked up when I visited at 8.30 am one Saturday morning, which is why I couldn't get a better photo of it. The garden looks beautifully kept.

Fleur de Lis, West Street, Stoke-sub-Hamdon
 Grid reference ST 474 173

Anchor Inn, Riverside, Combwich

 Cheriton Hill, North Cheriton
This may have been the remaining end of a medieval barn, rather than a purpose built fives wall, although it was used as one.  Grid reference ST 685 25.

Milborne Port

Milborne Port has a unique double fives wall, which was erected in 1847 by Sir William C. Medlycott, the local MP.  

Back of the Fives Wall - Lethbridge Arms, Gore Square, Bishops Lydeard

 Front of the Fives Wall, Lethbridge Arms, Bishops Lydeard

Rise, Redemption and Fall, North Cadbury Church

Rise, Redemption and Fall by John Robinson are a triptych of bronze resin sculptures mounted on the wall of an outbuilding of Cadbury Court in the churchyard of St Michael's Church in North Cadbury.  Grid reference  ST 636 271.

John Robinson, who was born in 1935 and died in 2007, was a British sculptor and co-founder of the Bradshaw Foundation.  He lived in the South Somerset village of Galhampton.  He made a name as a sculptor of children, and sports figures.  He was Official Sculptor for the British Olympic Committee in 1988.

Rise, Redemption and Fall, North Cadbury Church

Petherton Bridge Statues

These two well-worn statues carved in local ham stone probably date from the 15th century and were originally built into the old Petherton Bridge.  The bridge was destroyed in 1645 during the English Civil War but the statues were built into the new bridge.  This bridge was destroyed in the 1970s when the A303 was widened.   The statues were mounted in their current position on the west side of the bridge.  Their protective surround was refurbished by the Highways Agency in 2009.

The origin of the statues is uncertain but one story is that they are a memorial to two children - a boy and a girl - of a wealthy local family who drowned in the River Parrett.  Another story is that they represent the couple who paid for the bridge to be built in the 15th century.

If you wish to view the statues, which are located at grid reference ST 451 167, there is a small parking place on the east side of the bridge, which can be accessed only from the eastbound carriageway of the A303.  However the parking area is located just before the start of a slip road off the main road and you will need to slow right down in order to enter it, so although you may be indicating to pull into the parking area the cars behind you are very likely to think that you are indicating to use the slip road to leave the A303.  During the summer you then have to walk about 100 metres through tall grass and nettles behind the crash barrier to cross the bridge.  There is a set of steps down to the statues on the west side of the bridge.

Petherton Bridge Statues

Petherton Bridge Statues in their shelter

Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Alfred Munnings, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Sir William Nicholson and Eric Gill in Mells

The quiet village of Mells, a few miles to the north west of Frome is a must see place for all fans of the work of Sir Edwin Lutyens.  He advised on the restoration of Mells Manor and its garden c1900,  designed the village's war memorial, a bus shelter, the gates and gate piers at the entrance to Mells Manor, the plinth for Edward Horner's memorial, a yew tree avenue in the churchyard and a small triangular stone shelter in the middle of the village.

Edwin Landseer Lutyens was born in London in 1869 but grew up in Surrey.  After studying architecture at South Kensington School of Art he set up his own architectural practice.  He became one of Britain's most respected architects.  He designed many well known buildings, gardens and war memorials e.g. the Centotaph in Whitehall, Castle Drogo at Drewsteignton in Devon, the gardens at Hestercombe House near Taunton (with Gertrude Jekyll) and Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.  He also designed many buildings in New Delhi in India.   He died in 1944.

It is unusual to find a statue of a horse and rider in a church but there is one at Mells.  It was designed by Sir Alfred Munnings, who is better known for his equestrian paintings.  It was commissioned as a memorial to Edward Horner, who was killed at the Noyelles on the Western Front on 21st November 1917 aged 28, by his parent John and Frances Horner.  The plinth was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.  Edward Horner's original wooden cross grave marker has been mounted at one end of the plinth.  The plinth also bears the quotation from Shelley's poem Adonais  "He hath outsoared the shadow of our night."  The Horner family bought Mells Manor in 1543.

Further Reading

Sir Edwin Lutyens: An Illustrated Life of Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) by Michael Barker.  Published by Shire Publications in 2005.  A short introduction to the man and his work.

Sir Edwin Lutyens: An Appreciation in Perspective by His Son - by Robert Lutyens.  Published in 1942 by Country Life

The Life of Sir Edwin Lutyens by Christopher Hussey. Published by Country Life in 1950.  At 602 pages long this is a bit of a tome.

Lutyens and the Edwardians: an English architect and his clients by Jane Brown.  Published by Viking, 1996

Sir Edwin Lutyens: Designing in the English Tradition by Elizabeth Wilhide.  Published by Pavilion Books, 2000

 Memorial to Edward Horner in Mells Church

Edward Horner's Memorial

 Alfred Munnings' sculpture

Alfred Munnings' horse sculpture

Edward Horner's original wooden cross grave marker

Shelter in the centre of Mells designed by Lutyens
The shelter was built for Lady Horner in memory of her son Mark Horner, who died of scarlet fever in 1908.  Eric Gill, the typographer, created the inscription, which reads "For the use of Mells Village in Memory of Mark Horner 1908." I believe that it once housed a tap or a well but today it would make a good bus shelter.

Lutyens' triangular shelter

 Mells War Memorial 

 Bus shelter designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens

Bus shelter

Gateposts at the entrance to Mells Manor

Yew Tree Avenue, Mells Churchyard

 Yew Tree Avenue

 Eric Gill's lettering on Raymond Asquith's memorial in the church.  

Raymond Asquith was the eldest son of the British Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith.  He was killed on the Somme in 1916.  He married Katherine Frances Horner in 1907.

Peacock Memorial to Laura Lyttleton by Sir Edward Burne-Jones

Laura Lyttleton (nee Tennant) was a friend of Burne-Jones and of the Horner family. She died in childbirth in 1886 and this memorial to her was commissioned by Frances Horner.  It is made of plaster.  Burne-Jones made a copy of it, which he coloured and gilded and had on display in his own house in Fulham.

Mells Church

Angel - silk embroidery on linen

This was designed by pre-Raphaelite artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones and stitched by his friend Lady Frances Horner in the 1880s

Stained glass window

This was designed  and painted by William Nicholson and is in memory of Sir John Francis Horner, who died in 1927.  William Nicholson is best known as a painter and this is his only stained glass window.  It was made in 1931-2. William Nicholson was assisted by Barbara Batt.  The window depicts St Francis of Assisi preaching to the birds and fishes.