Polyrus' photos with the keyword: Somerset

Mendip Vale, Somerset

What a sad day this! www.ipernity.com/blog/team/4642052 This church was built 1834 in Early Gothic Revival style and has been grade ll listed since 1956. The church was built through the endeavours of George Steart, paper manufacturer, of Bally, Ellen & Steart, proprietors of the De Montalt Mill, which has a far more varied history than this church. De Montalt Mill The De Montalt paper mill stood on the southern slopes of the village during the 19th century; it gradually fell into picturesque ruin until it was converted into housing during 2007. The mill was built on land owned by Thomas Ralph Maude, Viscount Hawarden (1767–1807) in the early 19th century and was owned by John Bally (1773 – 1854), (a bookseller in Milsom Street in Bath), William Allan or Ellan (1781 – 1832) and George Steart (d.1837), all trading as paper-makers under the name of John Bally & Co. A print dating from the 1850s shows the mill which then possessed the largest water wheel in England, measuring 56 feet (17 m) in diameter. It has subsequently been discovered that most of the coloured papers used by J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) for a good number of his approximately twenty thousand drawings and watercolours were made at De Montalt Mill. The collection is now housed in The Turner Bequest at the Tate Gallery, London. The paper was of a very high standard and the watercolour boards were made without being pasted together which ensured they remained free from mildew; however, despite the early success of the business, it failed in 1834 . The premises were then sold to wholesale stationer William Jennings Allen (1807 – 1839) . After his death it was sold to Charles Middleton Kernot (1807 – 1876) to be used as a ‘manufactory of patent interlocked and dovetailed felted cloths’ . By 1859 it was used for a laundry run by the Bath Washing Company Ltd. and later used for a variety of purposes including market gardening (1871); and cabinet making from (1875) until the lease expired in 1905 and it closed. In the 20th century cows and pigs were being reared on the site. Various parts of the mill have Grade II listed building status, including the southern range which consisted of the apprentice shops and stores, the main east block which was the printing works where notes were printed for the Bank of England - later converted to cabinet manufacturing and the chimney. De Montalt, an Italianate villa set in the grounds is also grade II listed. The mill and its associated buildings were converted to residential use during 2007, with the main mill building being converted into four apartments.

Grade II* listed Church of St Philip and St James at Norton St Philip in Somerset. A hand-held zoom shot which has not turned out too bad. Taken from Wikipedia: The current building has elements dating back from the 13th and 14th centuries, however it is likely there was a church on the site before the Norman Conquest. In 1345 the fair which had been granted to Hinton Priory was transferred to Norton St Philip which provided much of the income for the church. The noted diarist Samuel Pepys visited the church in the 17th century and described the tomb of one of the Knights Templar which is now thought to be that of a lawyer or merchant from 1460. He also described the story of the "Fair Maids of Foscott", believed to be conjoined twins from a local village now known as Foxcote. The memorials in the church include one to a soldier slain in Norton St Philip in 1643 during the English Civil War. There were further military casualties in the village during a skirmish in the Monmouth Rebellion A major Victorian restoration was undertaken by George Gilbert Scott in the 1840s. In 2000 further restoration work was undertaken with new wood and steel vestry, toilets and meeting facilities being installed. The tower has a clock by Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy and Charles Frodsham dating from 1841, and six bells. The east window has stained glass by Christopher Webb. In other windows there is much older glass. Explored!

Situated at the junction of the A366 with the B3110 close to the A36 road and approx. 7 miles from the Somerset city of Bath, the inn was built in the 14th or 15th century and and is now a Grade I listed building . The establishment claims that it is the oldest tavern in England but as yet they have not provided any photos of the era to verify this. [At least 10 other establishments lay claim to being the oldest pub in the country!] In the year 1226 the monks from Hinton Priory at nearby Hinton Charterhouse, petitioned the landowner, the Countess of Salisbury, for a new site to achieve greater solitude. She gave them her manors of Hinton Charterhouse and Norton St Philip and a new house was consecrated at Hinton Charterhouse in May 1232. A licence to sell alcohol here at what is now The George is claimed from 1397... which may have only been a local licence from the Prior of Hinton Priory as Governmental licences for providing alcohol were only introduced in 1552. The timber-framed upper floors were added In the 15th century. The inn became a regular part of the stage coach route between London and South West England. It was also used as the headquarters of Monmouth's army, during the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, after his retreat from Bath. In the aftermath of the failed rebellion Judge Jefferies used the George Inn as a courtroom and conducted 12 executions on the village common, as part of the Bloody Assizes. Explored!

... with a commemorative rail-tour on 5th March 1966, to mark the end of the much loved Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway, which closed forever two days later. 34006 covered more distance than any other member of the class, with 1,099,338 recorded miles. Also it was unique in that it was one of three in the class which had extended smoke deflectors, but the only one to retain them to the end. This a scan from the original Kodachrome slide taken by a Mr J.E. Bell, which is now in my possession. HFF on this sunny day! Explored!

There are four almost identical surviving Palladian bridges of this size, designed by the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). Three in England and one in Russia. The Palladian Bridge at Prior Park in Bath was built in 1755 for Ralph Allen, and copied from the one at Wilton House near Salisbury (built 1735-37). This was the last of three of its kind built in England. Grade 1 Listed since 1950. Explored!