Quaker Burial Ground, Milverton

A mile to the west of Milverton, at the point where a restricted byway meets Quakinghouse Lane (grid reference ST635225), there is a small Quaker burial ground.  The Quakers purchased the land in 1681 started using it as a burial ground from c1688.   It is still in use but the only visible gravestones are from the early 20th century onwards, as Quakers were not permitted gravestones until c1850.  All the gravestones are lying flat and only record names and dates of birth and death.  It can be entered by a gate with a plaque on it saying "Friends Burial Ground 1681."  It is a peaceful place with several trees, including at least one yew tree.  

There may once have been a Quaker meeting house in or immediately adjacent to the burial ground, but there was also one 100 metres further north. The house currently on that site is currently called Quaking House and some of its walls may be the remains of the meeting house. In c1758 the Quakers stopped meeting here when they bought and rebuilt a property in North Street, Milverton.  The Quakers stopped meeting at the property in Milverton in 1855 and sold it in 1872.

Entrance Gate

Notice in the burial ground

It says "True silence is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment." William Penn 1699

Burial ground

Burial ground

Quaking House

Ashwick Theatre, Exmoor Pony Centre, Dulverton

The Ashwick Theatre, which is also known as the Music Room, or more recently, the Green Room, is located at the Exmoor Pony Centre at Ashwick near Dulverton.  It was built in the late 1920s or early 1930s by Frank Green, who owned Ashwick House.  He built it as a recreation hall for his staff and young relatives who came to stay with him.  It is located a couple of hundred metres from his house, so that he couldn't hear their merrymaking but could keep an eye on them!

Frank Green (1861-1954) was the son of Sir Edward Green, who was a wealthy Yorkshire industrialist and MP for Wakefield.  Frank bought the Treasurer's House in York and used it to display his collection of antique furniture, ceramics, textiles and paintings.  He gave the Treasurer's House and all its contents to the National Trust in 1930.  He was eccentric and never married.

Sir Edward Green died in 1924 and Frank's health began to deteriorate.  He bought Ashwick House and estate, which included farmland at Old Ashway Farm and a herd of Exmoor ponies, in 1928.  He moved to Ashwick for the sake of his health in 1930.  He had 20 resident staff at Ashwick House and often entertained there.  The Exmoor ponies were the descendants of the original Anchor herd, which had been started by the first Sir Thomas Acland in 1797.  Frank looked after his Exmoor ponies well but most of them were stolen during the Second World War and slaughtered for meat. Only about 12 ponies managed to avoid being caught. In 1950 Frank's great nephew Simon Lycett-Green returned the few remaining ponies to Winsford Hill.  Frank Green died in 1954 and left the estate to his family.  The Anchor herd was rebuilt by Simon Lycett-Green's daughter Rosie and there are now about 100 ponies in the herd, some of which live out on Winsford Hill.

The theatre is built on stone piers with shiplap boarding on the external walls, a stone chimney at both ends and it originally had a sprung wooden dance floor. The auditorium is 30 feet long by 15 feet wide. There is a stage, which is 8 feet deep and a proscenium arch, which is 10 feet wide.  The stage could be screened off from the auditorium by double doors.  These could be opened inwards to form the wings of the stage.  

Two unsigned trompe l'oeil paintings of theatre boxes, which were painted in 1924, are mounted on the double doors.  They depict Oscar Wilde's presentation of his play Lady Windermere's Fan in 1895. The Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) and William Ewart Gladstone are sitting in one box and politicians from the period, including Lord Salisbury, Arthur Balfour and Joseph Chamberlain are sitting in the other.  The shadowy figure behind the Prince of Wales is thought to be Oscar Wilde.  Frank Green probably brought these with him from the Treasurer's House.   

On the back wall of the auditorium above fireplace there is a mural of a York street scene seen through the the wooden frames of a window. These were painted in 1924 by A.E. Pilmoor.

Ashwick Theatre was leased by the Moorland Mousie Trust in 2006 and restored by them.  It was officially reopened by the Duchess of Cornwall in July 2011 and is now used as a meeting/exhibition room. It was renamed the Green Room in honour of Frank Green.

Ashwick Theatre

Ashwick Theatre

The auditorium

Mural of a York street

Trompe l'oeil painting of two theatre boxes

Villa Rosa and the Shrubbery Estate, Weston-super-Mare

From the 1850s several suburban housing estates of elegant villas were built around Weston-super-Mare for middle class people looking for peace and privacy away from the bustle of the seafront and the town centre, for example The Shrubbery, The Grove, Montpelier and Ellenborough Park. Their roads were private and they were sometimes protected by gatekeepers’ lodges.  The villas all had servants’ quarters and private gardens.  Some of the estates, including The Shrubbery, also had communal gardens for the sole use of the residents. However, there were no shops or public houses. Goods were delivered to the houses from the shops in the town centre by donkey or horse. 

Richard Parsley and William Cox became the owners of the land on which the Shrubbery Estate now stands in 1815 when the area was enclosed by Act of Parliament. Parsley and Cox subsequently quarrelled and in the 1830s Cox let or sold his half of the land to a formidable lady called Sophia Rooke (1787-1874). She had a mansion built on it c1844, on the site of a previous house. She called the house Villa Rosa. The house was designed by James Wilson of Bath and was Italian in style with a tower. It was built in pink limestone, hence its name. It was surrounded by large grounds, which at one time contained a private zoo. A South Lodge was built in 1839 at the entrance to the estate.

South Lodge, Shrubbery Road

In the early 1850s three villas were built close to Villa Rosa: Overcoombe, Coombe Bank and Coombe Cottage (later called Coombe Lodge). An East Lodge was constructed (this was demolished in the 1970s). Around 1859 more villas were built in the Shrubbery Estate and a network of winding roads was constructed. Shrubbery Road now separated Villa Rosa from most of its garden, so an ornamental footbridge was constructed over the road, to reconnect the grounds with the house. This bridge is still in existence today.

Ornamental Bridge over Shrubbery Road

Ornamental Bridge over Shrubbery Road

In 1871 a North Lodge designed by Hans Fowler Price was constructed at the west end of Shrubbery Avenue (now demolished). After Sophia Rooke's death in 1874, further villas were built on part of the grounds of the Villa Rosa and Coombe Cottage.  A terrace of 8 houses, designed by Hans Price and Walter Wooler, was built in around 1877 on Shrubbery Terrace. At about the same time Hans Price designed 9 pairs of semi-detached villas and 5 detached villas on the newly created Shrubbery Walk around Coombe Bank House. Victoria Park was laid out in the early years of the 20th century on the site of Coombe Cottage. Most of the villas were built of local limestone quarried from the Town Quarry nearby.  Bath Stone was used around the doors and windows and for decorative ornamentation.

The Shrubbery Estate and Villa Rosa had their own well and water tower, which was built in the early 1860s and disguised as an octagonal Gothic-style mock castle with a castellated parapet, arrow slit windows and gargoyles.  It was in use until the 1890s when mains water became available. This water tower has been converted into a house more recently.

Former water tower, now a dwelling

Villas on Shrubbery Avenue

Villa Rosa was a ruin by 1953 and was demolished in 1969 and replaced with two blocks of flats. Overcombe was demolished in 2012 and replaced by a block of flats.

Watcombe, 8 Shrubbery Road

This unusual house was built c1886.

Standing Stones - Ancient and Modern

Standing Stones aren't particularly numerous in Somerset.  They are notoriously difficult to date and in many cases there is disagreement over how old they are and what their original purpose was.

The Cove, Stanton Drew

Triscombe Stone

  This small standing stone is on the border between Over Stowey and West Bagborough Parishes but its origin isn't known - some sources say it dates from the Bronze Age but others that it is more modern

Devil's Stone, Luckwell Bridge

 

Devil's Stone, Luckwell Bridge

This stone is so called because apparently the devil hurled it here from Dunkery Beacon!  It is thought to have been erected during or since the Middle Ages. It is made of quartz and is likely to have come from a quarry in the adjacent field.

"Seascape" by David Milton, 2011, Watchet

Longstone, Challacombe Common, Exmoor

This is a pre-historic standing stone.  It is 2.6 metres high and is located just over the border in Devon.

Modern standing stone in Batcombe Hollow near Draycott

Modern standing stone in Batcombe Hollow near Draycott

I was unable to find out who had erected these two standing stones in Batcombe Hollow but they are thought to have been put there since the 1980s.

Portbury Standing Stone

 Quantock House, Taunton

These two standing stones were erected in February 2022 outside the Platinum Skies' Quantock House retirement flats in Paul Street, Taunton.  They each weigh 4 tonnes and are over 9 feet high.  The one on the left is Permo-Triassic red sandstone from Capton in West Somerset and the one on the right is Ham stone (Jurassic Upper Lias limestone) from Harvey's Quarry at Ham Hill.  They each have one cut and polished side. The sculpture was created by Olivia Sanders of Curload.  They are supposed to bring together the new building and its location and to make people think about the relationship between geological time and the present time and between the landscape of Somerset and the urban landscape.

Boundary Markers

Boundary Markers are usually made of stone, concrete or metal, so that they are durable.  People have been marking borders for centuries, if not millennia.  Some of Somerset's boundary stones are so old that no one knows for certain, which boundary they were originally supposed to mark.

Taunton Town Council Boundary Marker

Boundary marker between the parishes of West Anstey and Hawkridge

CBB = County Bridge Boundary, Washbattle Bridge near Huish Champflower

 Naked Boy's Stone, Brendon Hills

This stone may be prehistoric or medieval and its purpose was to mark the boundary between Brompton Regis and Old Cleeve parishes

Hundred Stone, Yeovil 

This stone marks the meeting place for men of the local hundred and is thought to date back to the medieval period.  It was last used as a meeting place in 1843.

Hundred Stone, Yeovil 

Longstone, Quantock Hills

AX = Axbridge

Blue Plaque marking Chard Borough Boundary

Taunton Trust turnpike boundary marker on the Brendon Hills

Trinity House boundary marker, Black Nore Lighthouse, Portishead

Bristol Turnpike Trust boundary marker at Chelvey Batch

This marks the boundary between Brockley and Chelvey Parishes

Beacon Hill

This boundary stone has the letters WMFM inscribed on it.  These are thought to be the initial of William Melliar Foster Melliar, who bought part of the wood in Doulting Parish in 1883.

Bicknoller Post, Quantock Hills

Unusually, this boundary marker is made of wood.  It is located at the point where 3 parishes meet: East Quantoxhead, West Quantoxhead and Bicknoller

Porchester's Post, Exmoor

This wooden post marks the boundary of the Carnarvon Estate. It is located between Withypool Hill and Halscombe Allotment (grid reference SS 828 334).  A post was first erected here in 1796.  This replacement post dates from 2002 and was erected to commemorate the Queen's Golden Jubilee and in memory of Lord Porchester, Earl of Carnarvon, the Chairman of the 1977 inquiry into the protection of moorland on Exmoor.

Brushford/Dulverton Parish Boundary Stone at New Bridge, Brushford

Venford boundary stone on Anstey Money Common

This is probably a 19th century boundary stone for Venford Farm. The word Venford is inscribed on the east face.

Sloley Stone, near Mole's Chamber, Exmoor

The Sloley Stone marks the boundary between Somerset and Devon and the boundary of Exmoor Forest. It has previously been called the Long Stone, Hore Stone and Lew Combe Stone. The south east face (shown here) is inscribed with the words William Longe Oxenham Esquire Lord of ye Manor of High Bray, 1742.  The north west face is inscribed with the words Christian Slowly, Lady of the Manor of Gratton, 1742.  The stone is 1.34 metres high and 0.56 metres wide.

Edgerley Stone, Bill Hill, Challacombe

This 1.7m high stone marks the border between Somerset and Devon and also the former boundary of Exmoor Forest. It is by the side of the B3358 between Challacombe and Simonsbath (grid reference SS719407) but there is nowhere to park a car, so we took the photo from the car window.  It was called Longstone in a survey of 1651 but by 1675 it was called the Edgerley Stone.  The names F. Bray and F. Isaac are inscribed on it.

W = Weacombe 

This boundary stone on the Quantock Hills between Bicknoller Combe and Weacombe Combe marks the boundary between the St Audries (St A) and Weacombe (W) estates.   It was erected after Thomas Cridland Luxton purchased Weacombe Farm and 69 acres of common land in 1836.   It is made of local red sandstone.

St A = St Audries

1912 boundary stone between the City of Bath and Somerset County Council

Sadly this boundary stone, which is located at the side of the A367 at Odd Down on the edge of Bath, has been half buried in concrete!

Boundary marker outside 50 Middleway, Taunton

These two shields are made from Ham stone.  One has St Mary's inscribed on it and the other Glebe. The house is on land, which belonged to Henry Bower, Vicar of St Mary Magdalene's Church in the early 19th century, and which may have been glebe land.

Boundary marker outside Ilminster Cemetery on the B3168

In 1899 Ilminster Urban District was created.  It had previously been part of Chard Rural District.  IUC = Ilminster Urban (District) Council.  RDC = (Chard) Rural District Council.

Victoria Park, Frome

This post marks the boundary between Frome Urban and Rural District Councils and is dated 1901