| Judy Nash visits a village
perched on safe ridges above the water-line Wellow The Wellow Brook once
cut itself a path between two hillsides and on high points to the south
early man buried his dead. When swollen by heavy rain, the stream simply
gurgles and cascades along its journey east, overlooked by the
settlement of Wellow that grew up along the terraces above its north
bank. Water bubbles from fissures in the ground and rushes down the
hillside to add to the force of the current leaving saturated grounds in
its wake. Debris is deposited against the twin arched medieval bridge
beside the ford that pro-vided a safe crossing place for small carts and
wagons and those on foot when the stream was impassable, a situation
that has been alleviated by raising the road surface today.
Perched on safe ridges above the water-line, Wellow soaks up the
winter sun. It was described as 'a pleasant village' in 1861 and remains
very much so today.
Only a short distance from Bath and the Fosse Way it comes as no
surprise to learn that Roman remains have been found here, including a
villa described as being 'in very good condition'. It is speculated that
a Christian church stood at Wellow during the Roman occupation and today
the pre-sent church retains its dedication to the Roman saint 'Julian'.
A Saxon church could have replaced the earliest one for the Domesday
settlement by the Welme or Weleaue River, (possibly from the Celtic
meaning winding), included a manor and two mills and almost certainly
fell into decay after the Black Death when the parish reported loosing
three Priests in three years.
Tradition has it that the present church was built by Sir Thomas
Hungerford who purchased the manor in 1369 and although painstaking
research has failed to prove this point, it is known that the present
church was consecrated on May Day 1372, a date so close that Sir
Thomas's involvement in the project is certain. During the same year Sir
Thomas became the first recorded Speaker of the House of Commons and 600
years later a commemoration stone was unveiled by the Deputy Speaker of
the House of Commons, Sir Robert Grant Ferris, MP.
Pevsner states in his North Somerset volume: 'If the date circa 1372
could be established, the historical importance of this church would be
high indeed', and goes on to describe it as 'a proud, little altered
stylistically very uniform church, masculine rather than refined'.
St Julian's may lack the fine tracery of many other Somerset churches
but it is far from plain a warm mellow building that catches the winter
sunlight and a fine memorial to the many generations of Wellow people
who lie close to its walls. The close-knit friendly community has
lavished much love on this church over the centuries and many fine early
features ha been retained and were not swept away by a Victorian
restoration.
In about 1430 the roof of the nave was raised and a clerestory added
by Walter Lord Hungerford and great thought went into the decorative
bosses and carved angle corbels that carry the wall pieces.
A rood screen and gallery were added too but are thought to have been
removed little more than a century later during the reign of Henry VIII.
The original was faithfully reproduced from a design by Caroe Junior in
1952 and is totally in keeping with its surroundings. At about the same
time the Hungerford Chapel was restored and refurnished and made
accessible again for it had been blocked by the organ for many years.
The entrance is through a simple screen and immediately in front of you
is a variety of memorials, including an ornate seventeenth century tomb
to 'Dorothae Popham' who died in December 1614 aged only twenty-six
years and beneath your feet is a crypt. Above her tomb are unique wall
paintings dating from the fifteenth century depicting Christ and the
twelve apostles.
The 1952 restoration also uncovered twelve small carved heads that
are probably fourteenth century and these were set into the south wall
of the Chancel which only dates from 1890 and was designed by Messrs.
Bodley an Garner, London architects.
There is so much to see, not only above your head where the beautiful
roofs give much to study but beneath your feet for the aisles are paved
with memorial stones of various early dates. The door to the church is
quite unusual too; a weighty fourteenth century creation of tracery
above plainer, panels which are pegged together and there is a massive
ring held by a wrought iron hand that works the latch. In 1900 a new
cemetery of 1 1/2 acres was formed on the outskirts of the village
'under the control of the Parish Council as a burial board'. The
population of the ecclesiastical parish was 1036 at this time and for
those who did not wish to worship at the church there was a 'Methodist
Free Church' as it was described in 1861, although in 1923 'Wesleyan and
United Methodist Chapels' were recorded. Wellow National School was
built in 1852 and ten years later Nehamiah Boswell was Master with Mrs
Diana Boswell assisting. The school was endowed with £12 per annum and
a Sunday school was held here weekly and at 'the Dissenting Meeting
House'. The National school was enlarged in 1894 at a cost of £1075 to
take 156 children, and in the neighbouring hamlet of Shoscombe a 'mixed
school with infants' was built in 1867 and also enlarged in 1894 and
again in 1911 when it could take 220 pupils.
About a decade ago the Ebenezer chapel closed its doors, never having
had electricity or water installed and suffering from a dwindling
congregation and has now been sympathetically converted to a dwelling.
In Ebenezer Terrace, or 'Ebenezer Place' as it was recorded in 1939, Mrs
Edith Nicholls opened refreshment rooms while her hus-band Albert worked
as a chimney sweep. Wellow has an air of prosperity that spans the
centuries for its buildings are no mean hovels and even the smallest
cottages are sturdily constructed and its farms of substantial size.
However, this was not just a pastoral comuninity that was 'noted for its
strawberry gardens' and held an annual October fair, principally for
sheep, for within the parish was the Braysdown Coal Pit 'in full
operation in 1923' and still in production in 1939 although I could not
trace an opening date.
Bray's Down Coal Pit was 'in full work' in 1861 when it was 'the
property of William Savage Waite who described himself as 'Colliery
Owner' in Kelly's Directory with George Chivers working as 'Colliery
Agent'. The pit was situated between Radstock and Peasedown St John at
Woodborough, one of the many hamlets of Wellow, the others described as
'Hassage two miles south-east, Littleton one mile south, Twinney one
mile north, White Oxmead one mile north-west, Shoscombe one and a half
miles west and Single Hill two miles south west with the total acreage
53,000, including 60 acres of Glebe Land, and a population of 1089.
Although Wellow does not record a station at this time being 'five
miles from Bath railway station', it was 'situated on the tramroad of
the Somerset Canal Co'. By 1906 'a portion of this parish of about 550
acres and a third of the population is now included in the
ecclesiastical parish of Peasedown St John. Earle Temple was described
as Lord of the Manor and Lord Hylton, whose land included that of Stony
Littleton where the long barrow is situated, were the chief landowners.
Much of the land was said to be in pasture with some wheat, barley and
oats grown.
William Jeakway was described as a 'nurseryman and florist' at Cole's
Nursery in 1861 and other nurserymen followed. Occupations were many and
various with James Cobern the Blacksmith at Single Hill and James
Holdway at Wellow. John Humphries was a stonemason and Joseph Humphries
a 'grocer, baker and ran the Post Office'.
The Post Office was taken over by Frederick George Hales at the turn
of the cen-tury and for some years Wellow Mills continued under water
power, operated by Thomas Oborn. In 1939 Kelly's Directory only records
Arthur Jason Millard farming at 'Mill Farm'.
Frederick George Hales, who was also a butcher and grocer, continued
as sub post-master after the First World War and was the money order
office for the area but the telegraph office continued to be located at
the railway station but was 'closed on Sundays'.
Charles Moorse was Station Master in 1923 and the route of the line,
described as the 'Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway' with another stop
at 'Single Hill Halt', can be traced on the Ordnance Survey map. A fine
railway bridge will hopefully be pre-served on the outskirts of the
village, although there is slight damage to some stones and pointing,
for another has not fared as well having had its span removed with only
the side piers remaining.
Wellow is a delightful village with beautiful countryside crossed by
well-marked footpaths including one to the Stony Littleton Long Barrow
which I am deter-mined to walk this summer when the ground surface is
firmer. At present English Heritage is carrying out extensive
restoration work to the main passage and chamber, partly necessary
because of vandalism to supporting timbers, and when complete the
entrance way will be blocked no longer allowing access to this massive
tomb that had been described as 'the finest and best preserved long
barrow in Somerset. It is 107 ft. long and 12 ft. high, formerly much
higher'.
A visit to Wellow should not end without showing support for the
local Community Shop. The Parlour Shop is run by a registered
Association of about 50 people in the village who each purchase a voting
share and before Christmas were delighted to record the second highest
takings ever. |
