Blagdon Hill
Blagdon Hill maps (2 available)
Map of Somerset
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
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Blagdon Hill books (15 available)
Blagdon Hill memories
Read and share memories of Blagdon Hill and Somerset inspired by Frith photos
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You can also read memories of nearby places in Somerset below.
Somerset memories
narrow escape (probably between 1958 and 1961)
a few years after this photo was taken WH Smiths which was located to the bottom left of this photo completely collapsed following a prolonged spell of wet weather. This happened very early one saturday morning in the run up to christmas, prior to staff arriving for work. I don't think anyone was injured - a few hours later and the store would have been crowded with christmas shoppers!
A memory of Taunton contributed by cherry james
Anna's outing to the Wellington Monument
I have driven up and down the M5 so many times and seen a monument on top of the Blackdown Hills. Each time I passed I have wondered what it was and so eventually I got hold of an Ordnance Survey map and identified it as the Wellingotn Monument. I promised myself that one day I would actually NOT drive past but I would make an outing specifically to go and see it. And so today I took my wife Elizabeth and granddaughter Anna for a picnic to Somerset.
We found a small muddy National Trust car park which was filled with half a dozen cars, then tramped along a bumpy puddle strewn track for half a mile ...read more here
A memory of Wellington contributed by John Howard Norfolk
Memories
I've just discovered that my G.G.G. Grandfather's brother, Albert Fouracre, was the Licensed Victueller at this pub in 1891. Does that mean he was the Landlord?
A memory of Rockwell Green contributed by Julie McCormack
maternal family history and onwards dictated by my mum age 84
My name is Hilda Mary Fenn nee Hurman. I was born at Yarford in 1924. My father was William Thomas Hurman, my mother Caroline Elizabeth nee Tucker. They are buried in the village churchyard. My two sisters and I were all married in the village church in 1952 and had receptions in the village hall. As children we attended the village school - Mr Hawkins was the headmaster - we attended youth club, brownies, guides, choir, Kingston players drama group. My best friend was Margaret Mead of The Bungalow, Fulford, she lives there still. We spent our days roaming the fields, collecting milk, harvesting, riding on the hay carts. When it was the Silver Jubilee of George V and Queen Mary, ...read more here
A memory of Kingston St Mary contributed by Rosie Robinson
Extracts From Blagdon Hill & Somerset books
Taunton is a town surrounded by water, with the Tone passing through its heart and the marshes not far away. It is
still possible to walk along the banks of the local waterways, just as these Edwardian children did nearly a century
ago. A canal to Tiverton once started from near French Weir.
An extract from from"Taunton Photographic Memories".
A splendid view over the heart of Taunton town. In late Victorian times many of the old buildings of Taunton were
demolished and new streets were created. Notice the early marked parking spaces in the street below.
An extract from from"Taunton Photographic Memories".
A fine example of a village stocks is to be seen at West Monkton, sheltered beneath the yews of the churchyard.
Notice the whipping post on the right. The shelter above is of a later date, for miscreants were seldom protected
from the vagaries of the English weather.
An extract from from"Taunton Photographic Memories".
Once much feared as a punishment, village stocks are now just a picturesque part of our history. They were mostly
used for minor offences such as drunkenness and petty theft. An Act of 1376 decreed that stocks should be set
up in every village as a way of controlling unruly labourers.
An extract from from"Taunton Photographic Memories".
This is really a church
without a village, for only
a few scattered houses
and farms are nearby. A
church has stood here
from at least Norman
times, though most of
the present building
is 15th-century, with
a 20th-century family
chapel added by Lord
Portman.
An extract from from"Taunton Photographic Memories".