Smokey Joe, The Tramp Of Misterton, Somerset

A Memory of Misterton.

Smokey Joe, the tramp of Misterton, Somerset, lived in an old stone building just past the chapel cemetery. He would make a  fire and sleep on the hot ashes, it's a wonder he never caught himself on fire. He always tapped people's doors on Sunday and asked for hot water, he would give you a glass bottle to put it in, he would then wait outside the Baptist Chapel, where he was given biscuits by Gladys Young the Sunday School teacher. The old stone building by the crossroads was Misterton prison lockup, and is still there.  I wrote a book on Misterton called 'A Step Back In Time' as I was born there in 1950.