Off the Beaten Track in Somerset

Friday, 23 October 2015

St Hugh's Church, Charterhouse

St Hugh's Church on the top of the Mendips in the hamlet of Charterhouse was built in 1908-9 Reverend George Menzies Lambrick. It was designed by William Douglas Caroe. The building was originally the Welfare Hall for the local lead miners, which had been built in the 1890s. It is decorated inside in the Arts and Crafts style. The church was ready for use by St Hugh's Day - November 17th - 1909.

St Hugh (c1140-1200) became the prior of the first English Carthusian house at Witham Friary in Somerset c1175-79. It was founded by Henry II in reparation for the murder of Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. Hugh became the Bishop of Lincoln in 1186. He is often depicted with a swan or goose because one became devoted to him when he was in Lincoln and followed him everywhere. Charterhouse on the Mendips was originally a satellite of the Carthusian house at Witham Friary and it remained linked to it until 1913 when it joined the parish of Blagdon as a result of petitioning by the Rev George Menzies Lambrick. The Carthusians were an enclosed order of monks who lived silent solitary lives in individual cells. The order was founded in France in 1084 by St Bruno of Cologne and is named after the mountains of Chartreuse near Grenoble. Charterhouse is the English word for a Carthusian community.

St Hugh's is open to the public on summer Sunday afternoons when it is staffed by volunteers. I have visited it twice and on both occasions I have been the only visitor. It is a real gem and well worth a visit. There is a guide explaining the history and interior features of the church that you can read while you are there but there weren't any for sale the day I visited, which is a shame as there is very little detail about the interior of the church available online. In fact I am amazed how little I have been able to find - so much for those who say everything is available online nowadays!

The simple exterior gives no clue to the beautiful interior

Looking towards the altar

St Hugh and his goose on the right hand side of the reredos

Octagonal font

15th century style rood screen

Left hand side of the reredos. I can't remember who this chap is.

Stained glass west window by Horace Wilkinson

Left to right St Michael, Jesus, St Martin and St George

Bridge over the Avenue at Stream

This packhorse style stone bridge is alongside a stream near the hamlet of Stream. However it does not cross the stream - it was built to carry the public footpath over the driveway to Orchard Wyndham House. Today the driveway is no longer used, so the bridge is superfluous. It is not a listed structure and I have not been able to find out when it was built. Orchard Wyndham House is medieval in origin but was enlarged in the 15th and 17th centuries and altered in the 19th century. It is open to the public on designated days during the summer months and to larger parties of people by arrangement.

Bridge from below

Looking west over the bridge

Looking east

View under the bridge

Access via a kissing gate onto the bridge from the east side

Looking south down the driveway from below the bridge

Looking west over the bridge

Looking south down the avenue from the top of the bridge and over the bridge that does cross the stream

Friday, 25 September 2015

Instructions to travellers intending to cross a wooden bridge - Coleridge Way

On the Coleridge Way between Aller Farm and Sampford Brett and half a mile south of Williton there is a small wooden bridge with the following notice displayed at both ends:

"To all who tread here

In ancient times it was considered prudent for travellers about to cross a wooden bridge to make an offering to the spirits of the trees, which were cut to provide the timber.

Unless a thief or destitute person has taken it, you will find a small coin on one of the pillars. Please carry it across on an open palm and place it on a pillar on the opposite side, so that the next traveller may use it to cross in safety.

If all the coins have been taken you may wish to leave a small token to aid those who come after you.

May you travel tranquilly and arrive restored."

I haven't been able to find any trace of this ancient custom elsewhere, so don't know if the builders of the bridge put it there as a bit of fun. Either way I have crossed over the bridge many times since I first walked the Coleridge Way in 2006 and there have always been coins on the pillars at either end of the bridge. I'm not entirely sure what the bridge was built to cross over - there may be a very small stream underneath or maybe just a bit of boggy ground. I will have a better look next time I am there.

Approaching the bridge from Aller Farm

A West Somerset Rambler crossing the bridge and disobeying the instructions!

Approaching the bridge from Sampford Brett

The notice

Monday, 14 September 2015

Wishing Tree, River Barle, Exmoor

This fallen tree trunk with coins embedded in it, is located a few hundred metres upstream from Tarr Steps on the banks of the River Barle. I must have walked passed it several times over the years without noticing because some of the coins look to have been there for some years judging by the amount of corrosion they have suffered.

Wishing trees can be found in many parts of Britain. People who bang coins into trees do it because they think it will bring them good luck and that presumably their wish will come true. It is similar to the tradition of throwing coins into wells or fountains and making a wish as you do it.

Some wishing trees date back several centuries. It was thought that an illness could be cured by transferring it to the tree via the coin. However if the coin was later removed it was thought that the illness would come back.

Wishing tree on the banks of the River Barle

River Barle Wishing Tree

French Weir Park, Taunton

This seems to be a similar idea but instead of coins wooden "buttons" have been hammered into the trunk of a dead tree

French Weir Park's Wishing Tree?

Herne Hill, Ilminster

This is more of a work of art, than a wishing tree

If you go down to the woods today...

I went on a linear walk with a group from Wheddon Cross to Dunster in search of the Lost Village of Clicket, which we found. However I wasn't expecting to meet 3 bears and 3 wolves in the same woods! We came across them on a footpath between Luxborough and Timberscombe and in the vicinity of the remains of Clicket. They look quite lifelike at first glance but closer inspection showed them to be made of a tough rubbery foam plastic material. They have been used for archery target practice. There may well be other creatures in the woods that we didn't spot. I'm not convinced that practising archery along a public footpath is a very good idea but there was no sign of any archers on the day we walked through the woods or maybe the archers were there but were hiding from us in the undergrowth!

There is also another solitary life size bear chainsaw sculpture in the woods at Black Ball between Gallox Hill and Nutcombe Bottom near Dunster. He appears to be praying.

December 2017 update: in the two years since my last visit some of the animals have moved, others have disappeared and some new ones have arrived. A solitary wolf has turned white and been joined by a worse for wear snowy owl, a wild boar and an animal which looks like a capybara but which is probably a beaver without a tail.

February 2022 update: all the animals have disappeared.

2 black bears at Clicket

A solitary black bear

A small pack of wolves

Praying Bear at Black Ball

Praying Bear

Wild Boar

Black Bear - 2017

Beaver or Capybara

Snowy Owl

White Wolf - 2017

Thursday, 20 August 2015

Yarn Bombing at Taunton Library

As part of the Taunton Live event in July 2015, Taunton Library's normally rather grey and austere frontage was livened up for a week by being yarn bombed.

A bicycle in front of the bike racks

Flowers on the railings

Even the bollards were decorated

Colourful crocheted cobwebs up a tree tunk complete with black spiders

Another crocheted tree trunk and a decorated bike rack

A floral lamp post

An assortment of little people hanging over the entrance to the library

It is a shame that they didn't knit the dragon a new head and wing, as due to repeated vandalism, he doesn't currently have a head!

Other areas of Taunton were also yarn bombed - Goodland Gardens and Bath Place. However I never got round to going to look at these displays. I did however make it to Ruishton Church, which was decorated with an incredibly detailed floral arch and a slightly scary bride and bridesmaid. I think the bride had scared the bridegroom off because he was nowhere to be seen!

Floral Arch at Ruishton Church

Bride and Bridesmaid

Flowers around the noticeboard

Wednesday, 19 August 2015

Cranmore Tower

Cranmore Tower (grid reference ST 677 450) was built c1863-5 by William Witcombe of Leigh-on Mendip for John Moore Paget of Cranmore Hall as a prospect tower or folly. It was designed by Thomas Wyatt in an Italianate style and stands 45 metres high. It is located on the top of a 280 metre high hill and is just over a mile to the north east of the village of Cranmore.

According to Derrick Warren in his book Curious Somerset there is a difference between a folly and a prospect tower: "A folly is an eccentric construction to be seen and commented upon as an object of curiosity or amusement, but seldom has any practical use. A prospect tower, on the other hand, although its architecture can sometimes be eccentric, has a very practical use - it is to climb and then view the landscape from the top."

Cranmore tower can be seen from some distance away. However because it is in the middle of a wood you don't appreciate just how tall it is until you get up close to it. There is a small car park half a mile north north west of the tower just off an unclassified road about halfway between Waterlip and Chantry (grid reference ST 674 458). The car park is not signposted from the road and is therefore difficult to find. When we visited in August 2015 someone had helpfully hung some orange plastic ribbons in the trees on either side of the entrance. Once you have found the car park there is a rough track through the woods, which leads to the tower.

Cranmore Tower was open to the public during the summer months and had a very lovely café.   On the day we visited there was a choice of over 10 cakes and bakes, all of which looked delicious and which were very reasonably priced. We sat at the tables outside, as we had muddy boots on, having done a 9 mile circular walk around some of the local quarries and it was a warm sunny afternoon. There was also an indoor seating area. However in 2019 or 2020 the tower changed owners and it is now no longer open to the public. The exterior of the tower should still be visible from the public footpath, which passes close to the west of the tower.

There are 184 steps to the top - I know because I counted them! On a clear day from the top of the tower you can see 5 or 6 counties. The day we visited it was sunny and clear but not as clear as it might sometimes be. We could see the Bristol Channel in the distance as well as Glastonbury Tor, the Pen Hill Transmitter, Cley Hill near Warminster and Alfred's Tower at Stourhead.   There are 2 balconies - one just over half way up and one at the top. Access is via an internal wooden staircase.

During the Second World War the tower was used by the Home Guard and the Royal Corps of Signals. It was sold by the Paget family in 1984 to a local farmer called Donald Beaton. He restored it but sold it in 1988 to Nick Ridge. It was bought by members of the Baha'i faith in 1992 and they opened it to the public in 2007. News items in the Western Daily Press, Daily Telegraph and The Times in spring 2015 said it was up for sale for £850,000. The price includes an adjacent 3 bedroom cottage, a bunkhouse containing 2 dormitories and some woodland.