Adscombe
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Adscombe books (14 available)
Adscombe memories
Read and share memories of Adscombe and Somerset inspired by Frith photos
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Somerset memories
Halsway Manor
I discovered this amazing place in 2006 and only wish I had known of it 50 years ago as it is an oasis of rural bliss where folk musicians and dancers meet like-minded people to practise and learn from one another. I first went there to meet some folk musicians one Sunday evening so I took along my piano accordian to join in the session in the Halsway Manor bar. It was really wonderful to be able to play in such a grand atmosphere. Since then I have returned a dozen times for similar music groups and on one occasion I went along on a summer afternoon to see the maypole dancing on the Halsway Manor front lawn.
A memory of Crowcombe contributed by John Howard Norfolk
Childhood
My father came to Townsend Farm as the tenant in Sept 1940. The farmhouse is shown on the left in the picture titled Townsend. At that time I was only 15 months. My earliest memories are of the later war years. We had evacuees from Bristol living in part of the house. I also remember sitting on the garden wall which was alongside the main road and being thrown chewing gum by the American soldiers billeted at the nearby camp at Alfoxden. My brother and the boy in the other half of the house, Vernon, were green with envy when they got home from school.
My father had milking cows, milked by hand in the war ...read more here
A memory of East Quantoxhead contributed by Edwin John Summerhayes
Combe Florey Primary School
The village school in Combe Florey closed in about 1958 I believe, it exists as a private house now, but I can still remember the mile long walk to and from it, through the lanes every morning and afternoon. Mum would accompany us with younger siblings in a big green metal pushchair, so for her it was twice the distance. I remember little of the actual school, except that it was one big room with tall windows and a wood burning stove in it. The playground was on the other side of the road, so we were all hearded across at playtime and shut in, and then hearded back afterwards. I dont remember how many were at ...read more here
A memory of contributed by Kathy Farmer
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 Adscombe & Somerset books
It is a relief to reach the archaeologically rich and
beautiful headland of Brean Down, a carboniferous
limestone outlier of the Mendips reaching 300 feet
high, from whose bare grassy slopes are long views
to Wales, Glastonbury and along the Somerset coast.
Closer in, you can look down on Weston Bay and
Weston-super-Mare to the north: it is probably
better not to look too closely at the holiday sprawl
along the road back to Burnham-on-Sea.
An extract from from"Somerset Photographic Memories".
The Church 1961
Heading back towards Highbridge and the end of
this seaside tour, we head for East Brent on the
north-east side of Brent Knoll; this is an Upper Lias
limestone outlier rising steeply from the flat lands
surrounding it. East Brent’s church has a tall,
slender spire, but its most remarkable feature is the
nave ceiling of 1637 which has a sinuous pattern of
imitation vault ribs focusing on three pendant
bosses done in a Gothic revival style.
An extract from from"Somerset Photographic Memories".
This lane leads from the main through road to the church and Manor House. The house on the left has been
demolished, and the lane now has modern houses on both sides. The church with its elegant 15th-century west tower
is well worth visiting for its medieval woodwork, including the benches and roofs.
An extract from from"Somerset Photographic Memories".
The Knoll, rising 550 feet from the Somerset flatlands between the Rivers Axe and Brue, is topped by one of
Somerset’s finest Iron Age hill forts. The sides of the Knoll are fringed with medieval strip linchets, or terraces,
formed for ploughing very steep slopes. Brent Knoll village straggles along the western side of the Knoll, with St
Michael’s Church, a dedication often associated with hill-tops and hills, to the centre and the Manor House of the
1860s to the right.
An extract from from"Somerset Photographic Memories".
Chapter 2’s tour finishes at Highbridge, not one of Somerset’s most attractive towns. This view looks along Church
Street from its junction with Market Street and Tylers Way; the latter is a modern road and where the boys stand is
now a roundabout. The George Hotel on the right with the porch survives, but the branch railway line to Burnham-
on-Sea, its level crossing gates shown closed, has long gone.
An extract from from"Somerset Photographic Memories".