BROOMFIELD
Broomfield 1838
Broomfield parish occupies part of the southeastern end of the Quantocks, where steep-sided,
wooded valleys cut deep into the surrounding
high ground. Broomfield hamlet, in the southwestern part of the parish, is 7 km. north of
Taunton and 6 km. west of North Petherton.
The parish is irregularly shaped, the only natural boundary being the King's Cliff stream in
the south-east. It measures c. 7.5 km. from east
to west at its widest and 5 km. from north to
south. In 1838 it was reckoned to be 4,274 a. (fn. 1)
In 1881 the almost detached area to the northwest around Holwell and Blaxhold (3 houses and
10 persons) was transferred to Enmore, leaving
4,080 a. (1,651 ha.). (fn. 2) In 1981 minor changes to
the boundary with Spaxton, also in the northwest, brought part of Merridge into Broomfield.
Broomfield parish straddles the Quantock
ridge where the Devonian Ilfracombe slates lie
at 290 m. at Broomfield Hill near its western
boundary. South-east of the hill springs feed a
stream flowing east, known as the King's Cliff
stream at its lower end, forming a long cleft
between two spurs which fall gently east and
south-east. A similar valley, Nailscombe, runs
south from the western end of the parish, and a
smaller one, known as Heathcombe, runs from
Broomfield Hill. There are narrow strips of
valley gravels in Heathcombe and along the
King's Cliff stream (fn. 3) and pockets of limestone,
notably at Holwell, in the north-west, where a
cavern is the only one in Britain to contain
anthodites, clusters of aragonite formed where
slate and limestone meet. (fn. 4) Limestone and tilestones were quarried at Rooks Castle in the 14th
century (fn. 5) and at Nailscombe in the later 16th. In
the 17th century there was some illegal quarrying and lime was also sold without leave of the
manor court. (fn. 6) There was a limekiln in 1705,
possibly near Heathcombe, and others at Holwell by 1838. (fn. 7) Iron and copper ore were mined
in the 19th century at Wort wood and near
Raswell Farm. (fn. 8)
The parish is rich in prehistoric remains from
the Mesolithic period onwards. There are Iron
Age hillforts at Ruborough, Rooks Castle, and
Castles; (fn. 9) land known as Stanborough, in the
south-east of the parish, may indicate a fourth
site. (fn. 10) Broomfield parish seems to have been
partly or wholly in the pre-Conquest Quantock
forest. (fn. 11) The names Kingslands and Kingshill
indicate a royal connexion (fn. 12) and still in the 13th
century there was a royal piggery (porcheria) at
Rooks Castle, (fn. 13) which by the early 16th century
had been transformed into the common pound
for the county. (fn. 14) The estate at Denesmodeswelle
had formed part of the royal manor of Somerton
before 1086. (fn. 15) Kingshill paid rent to Somerton
until 1204, (fn. 16) Oggshole was a member of Somerton manor in 1212, (fn. 17) Rooks Castle remained a
Crown holding until the 17th century, (fn. 18) and
Melcombe was in the 16th century part of
Creech manor, itself royal demesne in 1086. (fn. 19)
Most of these estates lay to the south and east
of the parish and adjoining North Petherton,
where a royal park continued until the 16th
century. (fn. 20)
The medieval settlement pattern was of scattered valley farmsteads, their names often
incorporating the elements 'combe' or 'hole', as
in Heathcombe, Nailscombe, Holwell, and Oggshole. The parish church, Fyne Court, the former
school, and a few cottages constitute the hamlet
of Broomfield. Many of the valley farmsteads
were built or rebuilt in the 16th and 17th
centuries, (fn. 21) and cottages were built on commons
and roadside wastes, often illegally. (fn. 22) A house at
Patcombe was built in the Palladian style for the
bailiff of Halswell in 1771 but in 1861 was used
as workers' cottages. (fn. 23) Broomfield Hall, which
replaced a substantial house standing in 1664,
was built in 1803 and is of five bays and three
storeys in brick. (fn. 24) Since the mid 19th century
many of the cottages have been abandoned, and
the hamlets of Ivyton and Westleigh have shrunk
to single farmsteads. (fn. 25)
The roads in the parish mainly follow spurs
and ridges, only a few descending into the wider
combes. The principal routes, linking Bishop's
Lydeard with Bridgwater (fn. 26) and North Petherton, and Taunton with Nether Stowey, the latter
only a halter path in 1547, (fn. 27) crossed below
Broomfield Hill.
There is no evidence of open-field farming.
Several large downland areas were divided into
small fields probably at the end of the Middle
Ages (fn. 28) and at least two farmstead sites at Binfords and Duckspool have remnants of infields
nearby. (fn. 29) Before the 19th century there was
common pasture at Broomfield Hill and
Buncombe in the west and at Broomfield
Common east of the church, and common woodland at Wood Common, and probably also at
Broomfield Hill. (fn. 30) Common land had shrunk by
1838 but still covered 303 a. at Broomfield Hill
and Broomfield Common. (fn. 31) Some common land
remained in 1988, but few inhabitants had
common rights.
In 1086 Broomfield and Blaxhold between
them had woodland reckoned at a square league
and 60 a., (fn. 32) and farm and field names
throughout the parish indicate the extent of
former woodland. In 1580 there were trees or
underwood on Buncombe Hill, Broomfield
Common, and Lyeforde, and 'great woods'
called East and West Broomfield and West
Churchmans woods. Some woodland had been
cleared by 1653 (fn. 33) and some more at Patcombe
and Rooks Castle in the mid 18th century, (fn. 34) but
in the earlier 19th century trees were planted at
Kingshill, Priors Down, and elsewhere. In 1838
there were c. 500 a. of woodland, mainly coppice,
at Wort wood, near Broomfield church, Ivyton,
Binfords, and Rooks Castle. (fn. 35) In 1905 there were
589 a. of woodland in the parish; by that date
Priors Down and Kingshill had been cleared but
Buncombe Hill and Broomfield Common were
well covered. (fn. 36) The parish was extensively
wooded in 1988, some woodland being managed
by the Forestry Commission. John de la Linde,
lord of Broomfield manor, received a grant of
free warren in 1259 and there may have been a
warren on Ivyton manor. (fn. 37)
There was an inn (hospicium) in 1407 with
brewing equipment. (fn. 38) No licensed premises are
recorded but a house called the Travellers Rest,
later Home Farm, was said to have sold cider
and there may have been a public house at
Raswell called the Carnarvon Arms. (fn. 39)
The estimated population was 330 in 1791 (fn. 40)
and 369 in 1801. Numbers rose by over a third
between 1811 and 1821 to 489 and then for forty
years remained stable, reaching a peak of 525 in
1861. After 1871 the total fell steadily to 342 in
1901 and then more sharply in the mid 20th
century to 199 in 1981. (fn. 41)
Twenty-three men were fined for complicity
in the 1497 rebellion, (fn. 42) and five were punished
for their involvement in the Monmouth rebellion, three with transportation to the West
Indies. (fn. 43) Andrew Crosse (d. 1855) carried out
experiments on electro-crystallization in and
around Fyne Court. (fn. 44)