Cedar Avenue, Butleigh

The origins and purpose of the long avenue of cedar trees to the north west of the village of Butleigh seem to be unclear. It has been suggested that it was planted to link Butleigh Court with the Hood Monument.  However its SSE/WSW alignment does not link the two places.  The avenue extends for almost a mile.  The only access to the western half is by a public footpath, which crosses the middle of the section at right angles.  On the eastern side of Sub Road, which cuts through the middle of the avenue, is a public road called Cedar Avenue at the western end and Cedar Walk at the eastern end.  The Cedar Walk section of the road does not have any cedar trees lining it.

The book Butleigh: a thousand years of a Somerset parish by The Reverend E.F. Synge (published by Butleigh PCC in 1974) devotes only two sentences to the Cedar Avenue:

"George (Neville-Grenville) was probably the planter of the cedar avenue.  At any rate the Tithe map of 1830 does not show it, though the 1854 one does."

Today the Cedar Avenue is looking worse for wear.  Some of the original trees have died and been removed.  Many of the others are well past their prime and some are clearly dying.  However a large number of replacement trees have been planted and protected with large tree guards.  I presume these have been planted by the current owners of Butleigh Court.

Butleigh Court was built in 1845 by JC Buckler for Henry Neville-Grenville on the site of an earlier house.  It became derelict in the mid-20th century but was restored in 1975 and converted into three dwellings.  It was built in the Tudor Gothic style of the local blue lias stone dressed with Bath stone.

Western side of the Cedar Avenue

Tapestry Panel in St Leonard's Church, Butleigh

Butleigh Court from the village cricket pitch

 Eastern side of the Cedar Avenue
 showing original and more recent replacement trees

St Beuno's Church, Culbone

Culbone Church is reputed to be England's smallest church.  However there are several other contenders for this title.  One thing that is certain is that it is one of England's more remote churches.  It is located in a valley facing the Bristol Channel and is only accessible for visitors by foot.  There is a rough track running to it but no vehicles, except those belonging to the residents of the only house at Culbone and presumably the vicar, are allowed to drive down it.  It is a 1.5 mile mainly uphill walk along the South West Coast Path from Porlock Weir to get to Culbone but it is well worth the effort.  There are plenty of seats in the churchyard for you to rest on after the climb.

The church is dedicated to St Beuno, who was a 7th century Welsh saint.  It is probably pre-Norman but the porch was added in the 13th century.  The little spire was added in around 1810.  The church is 35 feet long and seats a maximum of 30 people.

St Bueno's Church, Culbone in winter

St Bueno's Church at Culbone in summer

Chancel

 

Nave, Rood Screen and Chancel

 

Norman font

Decorative oil lamp

Leper's Squint

Two-light Saxon chancel window carved from a single block of stone with a face of a leopard carved in the spandrel

House at Culbone

House at Culbone

 

Culbone Church on a sunny day

 

The footpath heading west from the church up Withy Combe runs through this tunnel

Rood Screen and Tower, St John the Baptist Church, Carhampton

The colourfully painted and gilded rood screen in St John the Baptist Church in Carhampton is visually stunning and unusual. 

Rood screens are partitions, which were erected in medieval times to separate the chancel where the clergy worshipped and the nave where the people stood or sat.  They are usually made of wood and are often elaborately carved.  Rood is the Old English word for cross or crucifix and originally the screens would have had a statue of Jesus on the cross above them.  Often at each side of the crucifix there would have been statues of the Virgin Mary and St John.  Many roods and rood screens were removed during the English Reformation started by Henry VIII in the 1530s.

Some rood screens incorporate painted panels but it is unusual for the whole rood screen to be painted like the one at Carhampton.  Carhampton's rood screen has been dated to around 1500.  However the fact that it doesn't fit very well on the south side of the church where it ends in the middle of a window, indicates that it may have been moved to the church from elsewhere.  There was originally another earlier church located to the east of the current church, so it may have come from there.  The church was restored in 1862-63 and at this time the rood screen was repainted by Miss Luttrell of Dunster Castle under the direction of Archdeacon Willoughby Jermyn.  The colours and designs are exactly the same as they were originally, except for the words from the Te Deum, which are painted on the east side.

I have driven past this church hundreds of times but never realised that it contained such a gem.  We had parked at the recreation ground car park for a walk and on our return we realised that there was a flower festival in progress at the church.  We were able to climb up the tower and go out on the roof where we watched a steam train passing by.  The stone staircase is very narrow but it was possible to pass people going in the opposite direction in the ringing chamber and at the belfry. In the church a group of cheerful ladies were serving tea and cake at a very reasonable price.  The coffee cake I had was excellent.

The church has a ring of six bells.  They were originally cast in different centuries and by different founders from 1612 onwards.  However they were all melted down and recast in 1928 by Gillett & Johnson of Croydon. Each one has an inscription on it.  The one I could see most clearly said "repent I say be (baptised?)" and "Hugh Blackwell, Church Warden".

The theme of the flower festival was Authors, Poets and Playwrights.  Some of the authors chosen had local connections e.g. Hope Bourne (she wrote books and newspaper articles about Exmoor); Samuel Taylor Coleridge (the Rime of the Ancient Mariner begins in nearby Watchet); Hilary Binding (author of a number of local history books and regular member of the church until her death in 2014) and Cecil Alexander (author of the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful: she is reputed to have written the hymn while staying in Dunster and Grabbist Ridge is the "purple headed mountain" in the song). 

Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland

 

Rood Screen

 

Rood Screen

Rood screen

Rood screen

East side of the rood screen

Old Meg Merillies by John Keats

 

Rood Screen meets the window on the south side

 

Rood Screen with Cross above

 

St John the Baptist Church, Carhampton
I'm not sure why the tower looks as though it is leaning.  It must be the angle from which I took the photo.

 

Looking west towards Minehead from the top of the tower

Pinnacle on the roof of the church

 

Looking north from the top of the tower

 

St George's Flag flying at the top of the tower

 

Belfry

 

Ancient Mariner Display

 

Hope Bourne Display

Splendid Seats

Most but not all of the following seats are in memory of an individual or a group of people.  As I come across them, I will add more photos to this post. 

Oak Leaf Seat in Combe Hollow near Compton Dundon

A plaque on the rear of this oak leaf seat says "This seat has been sculpted in memory of Anthony Clothier, a forester of great vision who enjoyed managing woodland for future generations to enjoy.  Sponsored by friends and members of the Royal Forestry Society.
Grid reference ST 500 329.

St Leonard's Churchyard, Butleigh

This seat in the graveyard of St Leonard's Church at Butleigh is one of my favourites.  The base is a fallen or felled coniferous tree, which must have been very tall, judging by its considerable girth.  The back of each seat has a carving on it:

• St Leonard 2012,
• The Olympic rings,
• The Paralympic symbol
• A crown and 1952-2012 commemorating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

There are carved animals at each of the four corners:

• A squirrel
• A fish
• An owl
• A Rabbit

On the top of the seat are two lambs, one seated and one standing.

 St Leonard's Churchyard, Butleigh

 Two lambs on the top of  Butleigh Church's seat

Carved Squirrel on the Butleigh Church Seat

Wind and Weather Hut, Selworthy

The Memorial Hut on Selworthy Beacon (grid reference SS 915 476) is also sometimes known as the Wind and Weather Hut.  It is a stone built shelter, erected in 1878 and built as a memorial to Sir Thomas Dyke Acland 10th Baronet (1787-1871) by his youngest son, John Barton Arundel Acland of Holnicote, New Zealand. 

Jubilee Hut, Webber's Post

The original hut was constructed to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. It is designed so that whatever way the wind is blowing, there should always be a sheltered side.

Pilton Tithe Barn

This seat commemorates the Women's Land Army 1914-18 and 1939-45

Grid reference ST 589 407

 Pentley Seat, Ley Hill above Horner

The seat was erected by his wife in honour of Charles Thomas Dyke Acland 12th Baronet, who died in 1919.  The Acland family owned the Holnicote Estate, which included the Ley Hill from the mid-18th century until 1944 when it was donated to the National Trust by Sir Richard Dyke Acland, 15th Baronet.

 Kingston St Mary's Millennium Seat

The panels on the hexagonal seat on the village's small green depict the history of Kingston St Mary, including the wool trade, which provided money to build the church, general farming, the Kingston Black cider apple, Quantock wildlife and the future as envisaged by local school children.

Mitcham Seat, Allerford

View across the Vale of Porlock from the Mitcham Seat

Lady Lydia Hoare married Thomas Dyke Acland (the 10th Baronet), whose family owned the Holnicote Estate, in 1808.  She grew up in Mitcham in Surrey where there was a similar seat.  This one is located on a permissive path between Allerford and Selworthy (grid reference SS 910 467).  Lydia and Thomas had 10 children.

Carved wooden seat at Hawkridge on Exmoor

There is a large buzzard? on the right hand side and a small red deer stag on the left.

Man on Bench, Bruton

This bronze sculpture was designed by Giles Penny and installed close to the packhorse bridge in Bruton in June 2015.  Apparently it cost £22,000 and gets very hot in the summer when the sun shines, so if you choose to sit down on it on a hot day, beware!

Churchyard of Holy Cross Church, Middlezoy

Date and initials on the Middlezoy seat

This seat with carved stone ends is located in the churchyard of Holy Cross Church in Middlezoy.  Judging by the date and initials on the back it was made by more than one person in 2016.  It is decorated with various wild animals, including a bat, a fox, a rabbit, an owl, a hedgehog and various birds.

Apple seat, King George V Playing Field, Trull



This seat at one side of the King George V Playing Field in Trull near Taunton is supposed to look like an apple, although I think it looks more like an alien spider!

Stone seat on Wavering Down

This stone seat has the words "Only a hill but all of life to me" carved into the front of it.  This is a quotation from a poem by Geoffrey Winthrop Young (1876-1958), who was a British climber, poet, educator and author.  The rest of the poem is as follows:

Only a hill: earth set a little higher
above the face of Earth: a larger view
of little fields and roads: a little nigher
to clouds and silence: what is that to you?
Only a hill; but all of life to me,

up there between the sunset and the sea.

Seat in Ashbrittle Churchyard, 

which features the ancient yew tree in the same churchyard

Millennium Seat near Chipstable

Bespoke seat in memory of Ann Le Bas 1923-2020, Winsford

Presumably she liked cricket and attended the church in Winsford, as these are the decorations under the armrests.  She was a painter and printmaker, who lived and worked in Winsford.

Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee seat, Somerton

Deer, sheep, badgers, a heron and a bird of prey are depicted on it.