Most of the information relates to villages and points of interest passed through during walks in the Frome/BANES area.

Cameley, centred around St. James's church, was once a small but thriving community beside the River Cam, from which it takes its name. However with the opening of a turnpike road one kilometre to the east a population shift occurred and Temple Cloud became the dominant settlement in the parish. A new church was built there in 1924 and St.James's consequently declined and fell into disrepair; so much so that it was closed during W.W.II, primarily because of a dangerous roof. Fortunately it was later recognised as a little gem and became a "redundant church" looked after by the Churches Conservation Trust. Its interest lies in the fact that it largely escaped the attentions of nineteenth century restorers and has retained simple original furnishings, leaving an interior of great atmosphere and charm. The leaning walls of the nave and the south doorway date from Norman times, although windows have been added to the former. The chancel was rebuilt in the 15th century, and the 62 feet tower also dates from that century. The porch was restored in 1620. Inside there is a flagstone floor and fascinating 17th and 18th century box pews. The pulpit has woodwork from the 1600's and some seating in the knave is mediaeval, dating from 1400. Seating on the south side of the two galleries is known to have been built in 1819. Fragments of wall paintings remain, mainly in the nave, reminding us of how adorned churches were pre-Reformation. A final fact: the communion rails are thought to have been built in the 1630's when Archbishop Laud decreed that churches should provide rails so that dogs could not defile the sanctuary !!

Hollow Marsh Meadow

Four acres of flower rich unimproved natural grassland administered by the Somerset Wildlife Trust adjacent to Chewton Woods (where an abundance of tracks can make route finding complex!)

Litton

The name is said to come from the Old English words "lyt" and "tun" and mean "small enclosure", but another source I found said the name means "settlement on the torrent". As the Upper Chew which runs through the village is but a small stream here, I vote for the first derivation. Litton once belonged to Gisco, the last Saxon Bishop of Wells, having been sold to him by someone called Alfred. It is recorded as Litune, with three mills, in the Domesday Book, and has been a rich farming area since those times. In fact pressure from the increasing population meant that every available piece of land had to be used, and there is evidence of intensive farming before 1300 in the clearly visible terracing of the surrounding steep hillsides. (Known as "lychetts"). The village which owes its position as an early settlement to the plentiful supply of water. In 1853 Bristol Waterworks capped local springs at Watery Combe and piped water to Bristol. At the same time they dammed the Chew and created the picturesque reservoir lakes you see, thus ensuring a constant water supply to Litton's mills. Today the mills have gone and the population is half what it once was . St. Mary's Church has a three stage tower The earliest recorded of a church in Litton was in 1176, but the present building only dates from the late 14th century. There is a Jacobean pulpit and lectern and memorials to the Salvidge and Trevelyan families. In 1673 a Trevelyan was licensed to mine lead and coal, luckily for the area he found none!

Hinton Blewett

The Old English meaning is "a poor enclosure" from "hean" and "tun". The Domesday Book refers to it as Hantone. It was the property, along with Hinton St.George, of William of Eu. The second part of its name is taken from a tenant called Ralph Blewitt (or Blouet) The church is above a picturesque village green area. Down a lane to the east is the River Cam, really only a minor stream at this point as we are near its source.

Limestone Link

The is Limestone Link, a 36 mile waymarked route joining the Cotswold Way to the West Mendip Way. It follows the Cam Valley through Hallatrow, Camerton and Dunkerton,

Camerton

Most of you will have passed the site of the original Roman settlement of Camerton; it was on the Fosse Way (now the A367) just before you turn down the lane to present day Camerton. In the Domesday Book the name is Camelertone. It means "curved river enclosure" from the Celtic cam and the Old English tun. St. Peter's Church at Camerton is famous more because of the journals of the long serving rector John Skinner than for its structure. Skinner was born in Claverton and as a youth lived in Oxford. Initially he trained as a lawyer and entered Lincoln's Inn. Subsequently he trained for the clergy and became a curate at Brent Knoll. He was ordained in 1797 and his uncle Haggard bought him the living of Camerton for £1400 in 1799. He arrived, age 28, in 1800. His law background proved useful in the disputes that arose following local enclosures; at the time of his appointment the parish boundaries were not properly settled and there were problems with the implementation of the 10% tithe entitlements granted to the rector. Really he was unsuited to a parish where life was rough and often short. He battled with local gentry and workers alike and was pretty intolerant of other religious denominations. He suffered chronically from depression and his last resting place is unrecorded because he shot himself in1839. Many believe he is interred in his wife's grave. In his diary in June 1822 he wrote "I am heartily sick of the flock over which I am nominated"and in July 1822, referring to a morning service he reported that "The singers, who have been in a state of constant intoxication since yesterday, being offended because I would not suffer them to chant the service .... put on their hats and left the church." The following diary extract is a classic, referring to the Lady of the Manor, Mrs.Jarrett, amongst others "I am tied hand and feet and placed in a pillory to be pelted at by Methodists, Catholics and Colliers; and moreover a combination of worthless farmers and an overbearing woman with an unprincipled steward to contend with ...... Who will undertake the office of clergyman if he is exposed to the miseries I have sustained during 25 years I have been rector of Camerton."The church stands on the site on what were probably Roman earthworks. When Skinner arrived the church comprised a medieval nave and chancel, and a north chapel built in 1638 by the Carew family, lords of the manor. There was also a north porch and a west tower, which still remain. This tower has grotesque and fascinating corbels including an elephant, a rhinoceros and human figures bearing a zither, beads and a skimmer. Skinner hadn't a lot of interest in the fabric of the church but was interested in extending it. John Jarrett, Lord of the Manor didn't like his plans and by the time his cousin had become rector in the 1860's these had been changed. The net result was an architectural monstrosity with seating for 500 that rarely attracted 50 for its services. Subsequently John Jarrett's children took corrective action and in 1892 converted "something most unsightly and inconvenient" to "some sort of ecclesiastical propriety". After all this work few original features remain.

The population of Camerton rose rapidly in the early 1800's, a reflection of the increase in mining activity. In 1801 it was 594, in 1811 it was 786, and by 1821 over 1000. Camerton Court was built in 1835 and Pevsner describes in as having a one storey Ionic colonnade or veranda to the south and four Tuscan column porte-cochere to the north !!

Dunkerton

Dunkerton village is on the River Cam. In the Domesday Book the name is Duncretone. It means "hill of rocks enclosure" from the Old English words dun, carr and tun. Pevsner is fairly dismissive of the church... "much restored in 1859 ... tower with diagonal buttresses and a three light window with a reticulated tracery. Rest not of much architectural interest."

Calingcott

In the Domesday Book the name is Credelincote. This has been translated as "freeman's family cottage" from the Old English words ceorl, ingas and cot.

Highbury and Coleford

Coleford and Highbury were once distinct villages. The old village of Coleford is near an important crossing point of the Mells River. The name is thought to mean "hill ford" and to be derived from the Old French words "col"and "ford". It has also been suggested that the name derives from the fact that this is a coal mining area. Highbury straddling the ridge, is now the main part of the village we call Coleford. Its name comes from Old English words "heah" and "beorg".

The typical, ancient packsaddle bridge in Coleford is close to the restored Sargen's Mill . The low parapets allow animals' packs to hang over. Nearby is the famous "Hucky Duck". This is apparently local dialect for "aqueduct". The viaduct is the largest and best surviving structure from the Dorset and Somerset canal.

North of Highbury the Ammerdown Monument is visible. It's a 150 foot high structure on top of a hill 600 feet above sea level. It was started in 1853 by Colonel John Jollife and is a memorial to his father Thomas Samuel Jolllife, an MP who died in 1824. It was finished by his brother Rev. Thomas Robert Jollife. Neither of these Jolliffes had heirs and the estate passed to Hyltons. Parts of the village of Kilmersdon are still owned by the Ammerdown Estate of Lord Hylton. Looking south Cranmore tower is visible above trees near communication masts.

Babington

Through the fencing and screening trees on the right there are glimpses of a huge deep sided lake, all that remains of the extensive Vobster quarry. Limestone was extracted from Vobster quarry until well into the 60's. We turn right at a gateway, from which a recently replanted avenue of beech trees, containing a few original specimens leads into the Babington Estate. Today we will not visit Babington House, now the country outpost of an exclusive London Club, but you may like to know that it has a distinctive seven-bay facade and was built in 1700 by Mompesson. A tiny church, added in 1750, lies in front of it. The name Babington means Baba's Enclosure and is from the Old English personal name "Baba", and tun. Mystery surrounds the fate of the original village which has disappeared without trace.

Vobster

Vobster was recorded as Fobbestor in 1233, and this could be a vagrant form of wopstow, which means "place of mourning" or weeping place. Mells Park half a kilometre along Mells stream to the east was rebuilt by Lutyens, for Reginald McKenna the chairman of Midland Bank, in 1923. The Horner family had built the original eighteenth century Georgian Mansion.

Hinton Charterhouse

The village, which is built on a plateau 400 feet above sea level, derives its name from Hinton Priory. St.John the Baptist church, was founded in Norman times and predates the priory. In the 13th Century there was often conflict between the rector of the church and Prior: in 1284, the monks' weekly market near the church created so much "noise, disturbance, and insolence" that it was moved to Norton. Just before the Reformation, in 1534, the vicar was described as being "completely impoverished"with the vicarage "mean and poor"!! Many inscriptions and memorials in the church commemorate owners of Hinton Priory. Nearby is the early 18th century Hinton House. A monument near the pulpit records the death of one owner, Samuel Day, who met his demise when he fell from the hustings while attending a parliamentary nomination in Bridgewater in 1806!

Hinton Priory was founded in 1230 by a grieving Ela, Countess of Salisbury. After its dissolution in1539, the Priory was sold to the Hungerford family in 1578.The buildings were plundered for material to build the nearby manor house. Only ruins of the chapter house and refectory now remain. Originally the overgrown ponds we pass were probably priory fishponds.

Tucking Mill

A plaque on the cottage commemorates William Smith, the coal canal's first engineer. He bought the cottage around the time of his dismissal in 1799. The canal was nearby across the present road, and an 1890 photo exists showing it on the canal bank. Smith built the lake behind the cottage and, with his brother, operated first a corn mill (1808) and then a stone cutting mill (1811).

"Tucking" is the process of "fulling, rowing and teaseling cloth". Fuller's Earth is a locally extracted mineral with many uses, but in particular it was used to degrease wool. In 1883 a Fuller's Earth Works was established here.

South Stoke

Southstoke House, where we meet the road into Southstoke, is built over the site of a Roman villa. Along the road, further out of the village, is Packhorse Farm which was, until 1853, the Packhorse Inn with stabling for 30 packhorses. Wool was the main commodity transported along this ancient trail between Bath and Salisbury . In 1780 the Inn was known as a haunt for tea-smugglers!

St.James church stands in the grounds of the 17th century Manor Farm, which has a superb old barn with a dovecote gable. In the 13th century an Early English church replaced almost all of a Norman church, leaving only the impressive northern doorway intact. The tower was built in 1525, the nave was rebuilt and the roof replaced in 1712, and in 1845 walls were lowered to accommodate a higher pitched roof and the south aisle added. Of many interesting graves is that of Captain George Gosling who served as a mid-shipman during the battle of Copenhagen -- at the age of only 11!!
The Priory (1850) once housed two pensioned off maids of Queen Victoria.

Twinhoe

The ascent up to Twinhoe is an old packhorse route (one of many that led from Bath to such places as Salisbury). The original name was Twynyho, which (appropriately !) is said to be Celtic for "land of little hills", but on maps as late as 1870 it was called Twinney.

East and West Lydford

Lydford is first recorded in a Saxon Charter of 744, when together with Lottisham it was granted to Glastonbury Abbey as an estate of "10 cassati" (over 1000 acres). By the time of the Domesday Book it had been divided into two estates with a separate entry for West Lydford and East Lydford. West Lydford was held by Aelfric,a Saxon lord and East Lydford from Glastonbury Abbey by Aelfward, a Saxon thegn whatever that is!). Aelfric’s father Brictic held West Lydford at the Norman Conquest and amongst the recorded details are mills (and half a dozen slaves!) on both estates. East Lydford shows evidence of having been provided with a central, regular, planned village, whereas West Lydford seems to have retained some of its earlier farmsteads, giving rise to an irregular series of settlements. The Fosse Way, a Roman roads which linked Exeter and Lincoln, cuts between the two villages. Each village had a church but the mediaeval church at East Lydford beside the River Brue was replaced by the church in the centre of the village where we start . Lydford was Lideford in the Domesday book and later Liedford. The name derives from the Old English words "hlyd" and "ford" meaning "loud ford" but better interpreted as "ford across the torrent".

At East Lydford the mediaeval church of St.Peter (1311-1866) is known, from 18th century water-colours, to have been a small stone building with a chancel and knave, a small square bell turret housing two bells on the west gable end and a large south porch It was periodically flooded; a wall was swept away in the great flood of 1786 for example. Thomas Horsey, a seventeenth century (1657-1690) rector, was a great persecutor of local Quakers. In 1661 he even seized the coffin from a passing Quaker funeral procession, because of non-payment of tithes, and buried it in his dung heap!! In 1866 it was replaced by St.Marys in the centre of the current village. St. Marys was designed in a 14th century style by Benjamin Ferrey and built by the rector J.J.Moss in memory of his wife, who had died in 1863. The tower starts square and becomes octagonal. It was last used for regular worship in 1987 and demolition was considered in 1989. It is now listed in the Mendip District register of 1997 as a historic grade II building at risk. It is designated a "dangerous structure" and has its windows boarded up. Since 1993 it has been privately owned.

Alford

Referred to in the Domesday book as Aldeford, the name comes from Old English words "eald" and "ford" meaning old ford. The land in this area was held at that time by Robert, Count of Mortain, a half brother of King William. As a result of his beneficial dealings with original Saxon tenants, Robert soon owned more Westcountry land than any other follower of the king.
All Saints church according to Pevsner is an "uncommonly complete example of a PERP church" (what's that??), not substantially restored or freshed up and still provided with its screen and benches. Apparently the modest west tower with an old pyramid roof, the embattled aisles with much cusped three light windows, and the chancel with two light and three light windows all clearly identify it as a Perp church. (So now you know!). The chancel roof is "Somerset timber work at its best". The church is in a "fine position away from the village against the screen of the grounds of Alford House, which extend to the River Brue)."Alford House, states Pevsner, is late Georgian remodelled "in an insensitive neo-Elizabethean style by Penrose in 1877".

Wheathill

At Manor farm, where there is particularly pronounced mediaeval ridge and furrow in a field (GR 577309). It was part of what was once an extensive mediaeval field system in this area.

Oakhill

The name is derived directly from the Old English words "ac" and "hyll".
It was only a small hamlet until 1769 when a brewery was opened! Oakhill stout proved very popular and some while later a small railway was built to link the brewery to the nearest station at Binegar.
John Billingsley, whose family home was the nearby Ashwich Grove House (demolished 1955), was a large landowner (4 000 acres) and farmer. He was actively involved in Turnpike Trusts, brewing and canal building. He wrote a book in 1795 about modernising farming practices, which including instructions for hedge building and crop rotation (also how to treat sick animals with hay tea and improve cucumber production with horse dung!). One eulogy exaggerates considerably referring to him as having “drained Sedgemoor and enclosed Mendip”!

Beacon Hill

In Roman times two major roads crossed here. The Fosse Way linked Exeter and Lincoln and the “Lead” Way was used to transport ingots from the Mendips to Southampton.
There are superb views either side of Beacon Hill. Ascending up the Fosse Way from Oakhill, looking north, there is Ashwick church on your left and in the distance, a little on your right, Downside Abbey at Stratton dominates the skyline. Further to your right is Holcombe village. On the path further up can you find the parish boundary stone dated 1776? Descending, looking south, Glastonbury Tor can be seen in the far distance on your right and even further away, on your left, is St.Alfred’s Tower. Inglesdon Hill is discernible straight ahead as a long lowish ridge.

Beacon Hill is now a Woodland Trust area and as such one can ramble freely in it. Originally it was an Iron Age burial site. It starts in fields to the west and extends through the woods to the east. Four barrows in the fields are apparently still visible, but most of the dozen or so others have disappeared under the trees. Three remain in a clearing, one crowned by an eighteenth century boundary stone, which we pass. An urn from one of this group is in Birmingham City Museum.

Chelynch

The name means hill ridge and is from the Old English words “ceol”and “hlincl”.

Shepton Mallet

Excellent views open up as you walk across the top of Inglesdon Hill. Initially you can see Cranmore Tower close by to the east and St.Alfred's Tower way in the distance. Beacon Hill is the wooden area directly to the north. Later the Tor at Glastonbury is seen framed above the viaduct and Shepton Mallet.
In the Domesday Book the name is Sepeton which comes from a faulty transliteration of the Old English word for "sheep". (In Old English "sheep" is variously spelt as scoep, sceap, scepe and scip!!) and “tun” meaning enclosure. The full name first appears in 1291 and is a consequence of a widespread practice of rewarding conquering supporters with land. In this case the recipients of dispossessed Saxon land were a Norman family called Malet. There is no record of the original Malet and William Malet (1166-1215) is the first Malet known.

The abandoned railway is part of the Somerset and Dorset branch line which linked Evercreech to Bath via Radstock. The viaduct dominates the field of view descending to Shepton Mallet. A branch of the GWR also passed through Shepton Mallet, linking Wells with Witham. A section of this line is still used at Cranmore for steam train outings.

Maesbury

The name means Mae’s fortified hill and is from the Old English personal name of Mae and the word “buruh”. Mae was the name of the Earth Goodness of early Saxons.

Maesbury was constructed by Celtic tribesmen sometime between 550BC and 43AD. It was conquered by the Romans and later rebuilt by the Saxons. It is 300 metres above sea level and has a triple ditch defensive system.

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