Mary Rand's Long Jump Olympic Gold Medal, Wells

Mary Denise Rand (nee Bignal) was born in Wells in 1940.  In 1964 she won a gold medal in the long jump at the Tokyo Olympic Games.  She jumped 22 feet 2 1/4 inches (6.76 metres) and was the first British woman to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field.

Mary Bignal attended Millfield School in Street where she began to show great promise in the long jump, hurdles and high jump.  She won a silver medal in the long jump at the 1958 Commonwealth Games and came fifth in the high jump. Later the same year she came seventh in the European Pentathlon Championship.  At the Rome Olympics in 1960 she set a British record of 6.33m in the qualifying round of the long jump.   However in the final two of her three jumps were disallowed and she finished ninth. She also finished fourth in the 80m hurdles. She won a bronze medal in the European championship long jump in 1962.  She married rower Sidney Rand in 1961 but they divorced in 1966 and she remarried.

At the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 Mary Rand set an Olympic record in the long jump in the qualifying rounds, jumping 6.52m. In the final she beat the world record holder Tatyana Schelkanova of the USSR. Her first jump of 6.59m was a British record. However in the fifth round she jumped 6.76 metres and broke the world record. Her record lasted four years until it was broken by Viorica Viscopoleanu at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.    She also won the silver medal in the Pentathlon with a British record 5035 points, finished fourth in the 80m hurdles and won a bronze medal in the 4x100 metres relay. 

Mary won a gold the long jump at the 1966 Commonwealth Games.  She failed to make the 1968 British Olympic team due to injury and retired from sport in September 1968.

Mary Rand was awarded an MBE in the 1965 New Year's Honours List and she was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 1964.  In 2012 she was awarded Freedom of the City of Wells.  She currently lives in the USA.

Her winning jump in Tokyo is commemorated in the Market Place at Wells by a plaque, which is the length that she jumped.  She also has a road in Wells named after her.

Plaque in Market Place, Wells

Bignal Rand Close, Wells

More information about Mary Rand's athletics career can be found here: http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/e-inspire/hall-of-fame-athletes/mary-bignal-rand/ 

Pet Memorials

Kingston St Mary

This memorial to what appears to be a family's eclectic set of pets is built into the side wall of the Kingston St Mary Church Car Park. It is on the right hand side as you enter the car park.   I have no idea how it came to be there, to which family the pets belonged, when they died or if they really existed.  I can find nothing about it online.

The inscription reads:

IM

Polly for 30 years 

Parrot in the family 

Katty an Irish Hunter

Pips a monkey

Willie a Lemur

Rikky Tikky a Mongoose

No dates or house name are given.  I presume that the animals did not all die at the same time but maybe there was a house fire that killed them all at once.  I presume IM on the stone stands for In Memoriam.  I assume it must have been a wealthy family to have owned such exotic pets as a monkey, a lemur, a mongoose and a parrot.  Any information about this memorial will be gratefully received. 


Keinton Mandeville

This memorial to the Reverend Whitehead's faithful dog Wallace is located on Common Lane in the village of Keinton Mandeville.  It reads:

"In memory of Wallace, the faithful dog of Rev Whitehead 1859-1941." 

Reverend Arthur Whitehead was the vicar of Keinton Mandeville from 1892-1941.  Wallace's dates of birth and death are not given and neither is his breed.   Apparently Rev Whitehead was blind, so maybe he relied on Wallace as a kind of guide dog?  The memorial was originally a drinking place for dogs but when we walked by in September 2015 the bowl at the bottom was full of leaves.

Wallace's memorial plaque

Keinton Mandeville - Memorial to Wallace

Dunster

Dunster Castle has a large pet cemetery.  Most of the animals are named and their years of birth and/or death are given but in most cases it doesn't same what type of animal they were. I presume that most of them were dogs or cats but at least one was a budgie.

Dunster Castle's Pet Cemetery

Graves of Jock,  Jo (budgie) and Charity (beagle)

Graves of Screw, Morag (Scottie dog), Kirstie etc

Graves of Bessie (retriever), Roger (retriever) and Connaigh

Outside the grounds of Dunster Castle is this memorial to Jig-saw, beloved pony of A.L., died 1968 aged 29.  A.L. was Alys Luttrell and Jig-saw was her polo pony.

Jig-Saw's Memorial Stone, Dunster Castle

Lytes Cary

There is a small pet cemetery at the National Trust property of Lytes Cary.  It is difficult to see the graves, as they are behind one side of a hornbeam tunnel.  The graves are those of the pet dogs that belonged to Sir Walter Jenner (owner of Lytes Cary from 1907-1948) and the Chittenden family (tenants from 1955 until 2003).

Gravestone commemorating Mus (1917-1922) and Micky (1929-1944)

Gravestone commemorating Satchmo (1982-1996)

Pet cemetery at Lytes Cary

Pet Cemetery, Parade Gardens, Bath

Pet Cemetery, Parade Gardens, Bath

Stonegallows, Bishops Hull, Taunton

This stone marks the spot where Taunton's gallows once stood.  They were located at the boundary of the parishes of Bishops Hull, Trull and Wilton.  This was Taunton's execution site from 1575 until 1810.  The origin of the name Stonegallows is not certain.  It may have been named after a large boulder stone nearby.  Alternatively the uprights of the gallows may have been made of stone or it could have been named thus because it stood on a 'stoned' or main road.

In 1615 the parishioners of Bishops Hull were obliged to rebuild the gallows with timber supplied by the parish of Trull.  The first recorded execution at Stonegallows was of Peter Smethwick, Andrew Baker, Cyril Austen and Alice Walker who were executed for murdering and dismembering the curate of Old Cleeve on 24th July 1624.  Many others were executed here over the following centuries.  On 15th April 1801 nine men from various villages were hanged here for burglary and theft of sheep, cows, bread and wheat.  It is believed that there were two more hangings here: James Taylor in 1809 for shooting John Dyer and wounding another man.  The last hanging is thought to be that of 18 year old Thomas Gage, alias Tarr, in 1810 for murdering Elizabeth Stylings of Goathurst.  The gallows were probably removed in 1814 in response to public protests about them.

The quiet residential road the stone stands in (grid reference ST 199 238) is called Stonegallows for obvious reasons.  The houses here are large and lovely but I am not sure I would want to live in a road called Stonegallows!

Further reading: 

Taunton: An A-Z by Lionel Ward.  Published by Onyx Publishing in 2008

 Plaque on the stone

Stone marking the site of Taunton's gallows

Gold Post Box, Trull, Taunton

To celebrate British competitors' gold medal winning performances at the London Olympics and Paralympics in 2012 Royal Mail painted a post box in each of the gold medal winners' home towns.  The only gold post box in Somerset is located outside Trull Post Office on Church Road, Trull.  It commemorates the gold medal won by paralympian Deborah Criddle in the Team Dressage event.  She also won silver medals in the Individual and Freestyle events, all with the horse LJT Akilles.

Deborah Criddle competed in 4 Paralympics, beginning in Sydney in 2000.  She won 3 gold medals at the 2004 Athens Games in the Team, Individual and Freestyle Dressage events on the horse Figaro IX.  She was awarded an MBE in the 2013 New Year's Honours List.  She lost the use of her right arm and leg in a motorcycle accident in 1985.  Her arm was amputated in 2003.

Royal Mail painted 110 post boxes gold across the UK and a list of their locations can be found on this website:   http://www.goldpostboxes.com/ In November 2012 Royal Mail announced that the gold post boxes would remain gold permanently.

 Trull Post Office, Church Road, Trull, Taunton

Haddon Lodge/Pepperpot Castle, Upton

Haddon Lodge, or the Pepperpot Castle as it is now known (grid reference SS 988 287), is located on the western edge of the village of Upton in West Somerset.  It was built as the lodge to Lady Acland's Drive c1800-1805. It was enlarged in the late 20th century.  It is located at the side of a track, which was built by Lady Harriet Acland while she was a widow (1778-1815) to connect Pixton Park at Dulverton, where her daughter the Countess of Carnarvon lived, with her own estates near Wiveliscombe.

The Pepperpot Castle can be seen from the B3190, although there isn't anywhere safe to park along this stretch of the road to stop and have a good look at it.   It can also been seen from the bridleway that runs to the north of the house, although is obscured by a hedge from this direction and can only be glimpsed from the bottom of the garden.  The original building was triangular in plan, with 3 hexagonal castellated towers at the corners.

 Haddon Lodge from the B3190

 Haddon Lodge from the bridleway looking south

Stogursey Castle

Stogursey Castle (grid reference ST 203 426) is tucked away to the south of the village of Stogursey. It is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, although the village is, but it is likely to be Norman in origin and was probably built in the late 11th or early 12th century by the de Courcey family.    It is a motte and bailey design with two baileys.  The castle was held for King John in 1215 and then he ordered the Prior of the Stogursey Priory to destroy it.  The Prior did not obey this order and this led to a further order being issued in 1228. This was also ignored because during Henry III's reign, Fawkes de Breaute held the castle through his wife, the daughter of Alice de Courcy. During Edward I's reign the castle passed to the possession of a local landowner, Sir Robert Fitzpane.  Stogursey Castle was finally burnt down by Lord Bouville in 1459 during the wars of the Roses.  It has been in ruins ever since then.

Parts of the curtain wall survive and are up to 6 metres high in places.  The ditch surrounding the motte is still filled with water supplied by a leat from the Stogursey Brook.  The only surviving building is the Gatehouse, which was a later addition. It was built up against the castle walls.  It was repaired in the 1870s and renovated and restored by the Landmark Trust in 1981-2.  They now rented out by them as self-catering holiday accommodation.  The outside of the gatehouse and castle remains can easily be seen from a public footpath.

The village name Stogursey means outlying farmstead or hamlet (stoke) + the family name Curci/Courcy.  

 Stogursey Castle Gatehouse and 13th century causeway bridge over the moat.  The bank in front of the gatehouse was covered in primroses when I visited in April 2015

 Stogursey Castle curtain walls, Gatehouse and moat

Stogursey Castle

Caratacus Stone, Winsford Hill, Exmoor

The Caratacus Stone is an early medieval inscribed stone, which is 1.2 metres high and leans slightly to one side.  It is located at the top of Winsford Hill (grid reference SS 889 336) on Exmoor and is about 100 metres away from the nearest parking place.  It is thought to date from the 6th century.  The inscription, which is very difficult to make out, is thought to say in Latin CARAACI NEPVS. However the first word may be CARANACI, CARATACI, CARANTACI or  CARAMACI.  Whatever the first spelling of the first word the meaning is thought to be grandson, kinsman or descendant of Caratacus.

Cunobelinus, who died around 40 AD, was the greatest king in Iron Age Britain. After his death his sons Caratacus and Togodumnus were dominant leaders among the Iron Age tribes in Southern England. They led resistance to the Romans, who invaded Britain in 43 AD.  Togodumnus was killed shortly after the invasion and Caratacus retreated to south Wales.  He ran a guerrilla campaign from there against the Romans for 7 years until 51 AD, when he retreated to central Wales.  He fought a battle with the Romans, possibly at Llanymynech near Oswestry, but was captured by them.  He escaped and fled to the Brigantes tribe in northern Britain.   However the Brigantian queen Cartimandua was allied to Rome and she and handed Caratacus over to the Romans.  He was taken to Rome where he successfully negotiated to save his life and that of his family. It is not known what happened to him after that.

A shelter was constructed around the stone in 1906 by Sir Thomas Acland.  The stone was removed in 1937 to see if there was a grave beneath it but none was found.  The stone was then replaced in its original position.

Further reading:

History of the Caratacus Stone, Winsford Hill by Alfred Vowles.  Published by the author in 1939

 Caratacus Stone in its shelter and guarded by gorse bushes

Caratacus Stone - leaning gently

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