GOATHURST
Goathurst parish lies on the northern side of
the eastern end of the Quantocks, the main part
stretching 3 km. north from Goathurst Down (fn. 13)
beside Rooks Castle Farm into the broad, undulating valley west of Bridgwater. (fn. 14) It contained
Goathurst village at its centre, Halswell House
and park south of the village, and Andersfield
hamlet north-west of the village. Two small
detached areas each containing a farmstead,
Roughmoor Farm and Crossfield Farm, 2 km.
north-west of the village, belonging to Goathurst
perhaps as a result of intercommoning, were
absorbed respectively in 1882 by Aisholt parish
and in 1885 by Spaxton. Huntstile, an area of c.
220 a. east of Halswell park and containing 3
houses and 27 inhabitants in 1881, was transferred from Chilton Trinity to Goathurst in
1886. (fn. 15) The civil parish measured 677 ha. (1,673
a.) in 1981. (fn. 16)
The parish boundary is marked on the south
by the ridge road between Broomfield and
North Petherton, on the east and north partly
by streams. Eastwards across the parish flows
Cobb's Cross stream, into which two other
streams flow from the south. A narrow band of
sandstone near the village divides the Morte slate
of the Quantock ridge and the Mercia mudstones
of the valley. (fn. 17) Both slate and sandstone were
quarried, the sandstone in the late 16th century, (fn. 18) and bricks were made north of the village
in 1744 and until the earlier 19th century. (fn. 19)
Goathurst, Halswell, and Andersfield were
recorded in the 11th century. (fn. 20) None shows
traces of open arable fields. Goathurst village,
since the earlier 18th century a nucleated settlement along a single street, may earlier have
comprised only the church, manor house, rectory house, and a few cottages. The cottages on
the north side of the western end of the street
were built on land which had earlier been the
barton and orchard of Goathurst manor house,
and cottages on the south side were also built in
the 18th century. (fn. 21) Old Cobb, at the east end of
the street, is the only house of medieval origin.
The present village street, including a 19thcentury terrace, consists mainly of rendered
cottages with a few brick houses.
The mansion house at Halswell and its associated buildings were in multiple occupation in
the later 20th century. Andersfield, in 1990 a
straggling settlement of brick bungalows divided
by a single field from Goathurst village, was in
the 1840s a scatter of cottages and a farm along
a lane called Andersfield Green. (fn. 22) Andersfield
Farm probably dates from the 15th century but
was altered in the 16th and 17th. (fn. 23) Two smaller
settlements were Frodger, recorded in 1304 (fn. 24)
and later represented by Flatgate Cottages, and
Oakenford, mentioned in 1327 (fn. 25) and a small
hamlet in 1756, (fn. 26) but now a single farm.
Andersfield, Goathurst village, and Oakenford were perhaps linked together by a route
running from Enmore and the west to Bridgwater. The road north from the village to
Durleigh was made in 1763 in place of a route
further south-west. (fn. 27) A route between Rooks
Castle and Oakenford through Halswell park
was closed in 1809. (fn. 28) A footpath between the
same places past Halswell House may mark
another route. (fn. 29)
There were 76 a. of woodland recorded in
1086 (fn. 30) and field names suggest that the north
part of the parish once contained much woodland. (fn. 31) Also north of Goathurst manor house in
the 17th and early 18th centuries were a warren
and park. (fn. 32) Halswell manor also had a warren
in 1597 and in 1708-9, (fn. 33) which lay immediately
south of the village street (fn. 34) and may have formed
the nucleus of the park. The park, probably
created in the later 17th century, was greatly
extended and planted by Sir Charles KemeysTynte from 1740. It measured 30 a. in 1744, (fn. 35)
more than doubled in the 1750s, and later in the
century was 132 a. (fn. 36) A plantation called the
Thicket was created in two sections in 1754 and
1764, part of a wood to the west was established
in 1762, and in 1761 the park was extended east
into Huntstile. Chestnuts and firs were planted
in Huntstile Bottom, in the Thicket, and along
Park Lane, between Goathurst village and
Huntstile, in 1766, and more were planted on
the eastern boundary in 1778. (fn. 37) Within the
picturesque setting of wood and undulating parkland Sir Charles introduced temples and other
features and dammed streams to create lakes and
waterfalls. The buildings in the park included a
rotunda and a bridge (1755), the Druid's
Temple (1756), the Temple of Harmony (1764),
and Robin Hood's House (1765). (fn. 38) By 1756 an
avenue of trees led west from the house and a
drive was created to Patcombe, in Broomfield. (fn. 39)
A second avenue led north to Goathurst village,
where a rustic lodge replaced an earlier building
c. 1825. (fn. 40) In 1892 the park measured 194 a. and
by the early 20th century had increased to 220
a. (fn. 41) Deer were kept in the late 18th century (fn. 42) and
both red and fallow deer were there c. 1911. (fn. 43)
Since 1945 much of the woodland has been felled
and the parkland has been returned to arable
cultivation. Several of the temples and other
buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
Goathurst 1842
There may have been an alehouse in the parish
in 1502 (fn. 44) and a house was licensed during the
17th century, (fn. 45) but there is no later record of a
public house in the parish. There was a friendly
society called the Goathurst club in the 19th
century and a reading room was in use in 1905. (fn. 46)
The population rose from 296 in 1801 to a peak
of 349 in 1831, fell sharply between 1841 and
1851 to 303, then declined gradually to 202 in
1931. New building in the later 20th century
and the division of Halswell House into flats
explained the rise to 280 in 1971; in 1981 238
people were normally resident. (fn. 47)
The rector and ten others were fined after the
1497 uprising (fn. 48) and three men were involved in
the Monmouth rebellion, two of them being
transported. (fn. 49)