LYNG
The ancient parish of Lyng included a Saxon
burh now occupied by East Lyng village, the
'island' of Athelney with its Alfredian monastic
foundation and stronghold, and the detached
settlement of Burrow, a possible defensive outpost of Athelney abbey. (fn. 25) The name Lyng derives from the Old English hlenc, meaning a
hill; Athelney means 'the island of the princes'. (fn. 26)
The parish occupies a ridge c. 3 km. long which
protrudes north-eastwards as an extension of the
Quantocks into the moors of the Parrett basin
between North Petherton to the north and
North Curry and Stoke St. Gregory to the south.
East from the end of the Lyng ridge and attached
to it by a causeway lies Athelney hill, where
Athelney abbey stood east of the Alfredian fortress. (fn. 27) The monument to Alfred on the eastern
end of the hill was erected by John Slade in
1801. (fn. 28) Just over 1 km. further north-east on the
east bank of the Parrett and formerly a detached
part of Lyng parish is Burrow, named after
Burrow Mump or Mount, (fn. 29) a rocky outcrop
forming a flat-topped hill with a ruined chapel
on its summit. (fn. 30) The hamlet below the hill,
formerly known as Burrow, was called Burrowbridge by the early 19th century after the bridge
there. (fn. 31) A smaller detached part of the parish,
lying 0.5 km. north-west of Burrow on the west
bank of the Parrett in Salt moor (fn. 32) and including
2 houses and 8 persons, was in 1885 transferred
to Stoke St. Gregory. In 1886 Burrowbridge (14
a., 8 houses, and 44 persons) was transferred to
Othery. In 1882 uninhabited parts of North
moor, including a large triangular area north of
East Lyng village, had been transferred to Lyng
parish from North Petherton, and a detached
part of Lyng parish had been added to North
Petherton; in 1888 Priestwood, formerly in Durston parish, was also added to Lyng. (fn. 33) In 1981
the parish measured 592 ha. (1,463 a.). (fn. 34)
The ridge which forms the thin spine of the
parish is made up of Keuper marl with two
pockets of valley gravel. (fn. 35) At its western end,
where clay was dug in the 19th century for
brickmaking, (fn. 36) the ridge reaches just over 30
m. in height and is nearly 1 km. wide; further
east it falls and narrows, and beyond East Lyng
village it ends abruptly at the 7-m. contour.
Burrow Mump, also of Keuper marl, reaches
31 m.
The boundary described in the perambulation of
Lyng attached to a charter of 937 has not been
identified on the ground, but does not seem to
coincide with the later parish boundary. (fn. 37) The southern boundary is now in part the Old Rhyne, the
eastern end of which is probably the former course
of the West Yeo, (fn. 38) that branch of the Tone which
flowed between East Lyng and Athelney. The
boundary further east follows the Baltmoor wall
built c. 1154 presumably to prevent flooding in
Higher Salt moor to the north. (fn. 39) The wall was faced
in stone in 1675. (fn. 40) The boundary with North Petherton in the north, agreed c. 1204, (fn. 41) follows man-made
watercourses in North moor. Burrow was bounded
on the west by the Parrett and on the north and east
by the former course of the river Cary. (fn. 42)
Settlement has been confined since earliest times
to those areas above the flood plain. Two bronze
palstaves and a Roman bronze mask were found
on Athelney island, and several sherds of
Romano-British pottery were discovered at the foot
of Burrow Mump. (fn. 43) Permanent settlement was
established in the later 9th century. In 878 King
Alfred built a stronghold on Athelney island when
it was still 'surrounded on all sides by very great
swampy and impassable marshes', (fn. 44) the fortress
probably sited at its western end. To complement
that fortress, another was later built, probably
before 893, at the eastern end of the Lyng ridge,
the two joined across the river then flowing
between them by a bridge 'made with laborious
skill'. The second fortress, 'very strong' and 'of
most beautiful workmanship', has been convincingly identified as the compact settlement of East
Lyng, where traces of a defensive bank and ditch
west of the village coincide with reasonable accuracy with the dimensions of a burh listed in the
Burghal Hidage. (fn. 45) At the eastern end of Athelney
island King Alfred established a monastery c. 888,
possibly in succession to a hermitage. (fn. 46) The monastery, possibly refounded c. 960 after destruction in
Danish raids, was dissolved in 1539. (fn. 47)
The charter of 937 described the estate west of
the 'town', an estate later known as West Lyng
manor. (fn. 48) By the 17th century four settlements
were named in the main part of the parish: East
Lyng (so called by 1334), (fn. 49) Middleton, and West
Lyng all lay along the crest of the ridge, and
Outwood in the north-western end of the parish,
a scatter of cottages around a green. (fn. 50) Outwood
may be the 'Prostrat' Lenge' mentioned in
1497, (fn. 51) the name either suggesting desertion or
referring to its site on ground falling towards
North moor and the Durston stream. East and
West Lyng in the 20th century were the main
settlements, on the Taunton-Wells road, the
latter (probably including Middleton) a group of
regularly spaced farmhouses, the former school,
and local-authority and private houses nearly all
on the north side of the road. Outwood expanded
with the building of the Bridgwater and Taunton
canal and later of the railway and with the
exploitation of the brick field. (fn. 52) Tenements
below Burrow Mump were referred to in the
early 16th century, (fn. 53) and later included at least
two inns in Lyng parish. (fn. 54)
Lyng 1843
The Taunton-Wells road keeps to the crest of
the ridge and forms the main route through the
parish. Its course until the early 19th century,
turnpiked by the Taunton trust from 1752 to
1875, passed through West and East Lyng and
then ran along the Baltmoor wall south of
Athelney Farm to cross the Tone at Athelney
Bridge. (fn. 55) A new road was built between 1803
and 1806 across Salt moor from the eastern end
of East Lyng village direct to Burrowbridge. (fn. 56)
Improved alignment there involved a new tollgate in 1804-5 and a tollhouse c. 1805. (fn. 57)
From the central spine, roads or lanes lead
north and south into the droves of the moors.
At Outwood a lane to Hedging in North Petherton was cut by the Bridgwater and Taunton
canal, and was replaced by a footpath beside the
later brickfields. (fn. 58) Further east Hitchings Drove
leads north into the moors of West Lyng. A field
lane south from Lyng Court Farm to Curry
moor was established by 1427 (fn. 59) and was later
known as Streaked or Streaky Lane. (fn. 60) A second
southward route from West Lyng to North
Curry was planned in 1829 but was not made
until c. 1869. (fn. 61) The north side of East Lyng
village is an irregular rectangle formed by lanes,
but only one lane, formerly called the Lane or
Lyng Drove Lane, survived in use in 1985 and
has recently been called Hector's Lane. (fn. 62) It leads
to the former demesne lands of Athelney abbey
beside Lyng Drove in an area known as Culer
or Cular. (fn. 63)
The bridge over the Parrett at Burrow consisted until the earlier 19th century of three high
arches with cutwaters. (fn. 64) It was replaced in 1826
by a wider bridge slightly to the north, designed
by P. B. Ilett of Taunton. (fn. 65) Tolls, let annually
by sand-glass auction, were charged until 1945. (fn. 66)
New Bridge, rebuilt c. 1876, takes the road over
the old course of the river Cary NNE. of Burrow
Mump. (fn. 67) Athelney bridge, where the former
turnpike crossed the Tone south-east of Athelney island, was a two-arched wooden structure
in 1791. (fn. 68) The present bridge is of concrete.
There was a wharf at Athelney bridge in the 18th
century (fn. 69) and another at Burrowbridge until the
mid 19th. (fn. 70)
The Bridgwater and Taunton canal, cut
through the western edge of the parish at Outwood, was opened in 1827. It ceased to be used
commercially after 1892. (fn. 71) The BridgwaterTaunton section of the Bristol and Exeter
railway, on a roughly parallel course, was opened
in 1842. A branch line from Yeovil entered the
parish south of East Lyng village, and at its
junction with the main line Durston Junction
station was opened in 1853. A loop line avoiding
the junction was built further south in 1906
joining the main line at Cogload junction in
Durston. (fn. 72) Durston Junction station and the
original branch line were closed in 1964. (fn. 73)
There is no evidence of open-field arable in the
parish. The grasslands to the north and northwest of the Lyng ridge were recovered during
the Middle Ages from North moor and Higher
Salt moor. (fn. 74) There were 50 a. of woodland on
the estate in 1086, (fn. 75) some of which may have
been on the northern moor land where timber
trunks are still discovered under the pastures. (fn. 76)
The name Outwood, used by 1543, may represent part of the former woodland including
the adjoining Priestwood in Durston. By 1543
there were two areas of wood, Walbarough wood
(7 a.) and Conygath copse (6 a.), (fn. 77) the latter
perhaps recalling the grant of free warren made
to the abbot of Athelney c. 1136-9. (fn. 78) The inclosed parts of the parish were said c. 1791 to be
'very woody', but by 1905 woodland had been
reduced to less than 2 a. (fn. 79)
Later 17th-century inventories refer to several
houses of two and three-roomed plan, one having a two-storeyed hall with a chamber and
buttery 'within' it. (fn. 80) Two cottages at Outwood,
Half Thatch and Outwood Cottage, remain relatively unaltered from that period. Modernization
in 1912 obliterated the three-roomed plan of
Council Farm, West Lyng. (fn. 81) Church Farm, East
Lyng, remains of traditional plan. A number of
substantial houses, including Winchester House,
were built in brick in East Lyng village early in
the 19th century, (fn. 82) and further building took
place there in the 1980s.
There were two tipplers in the parish in 1619. (fn. 83)
A victualler was licensed in 1630 and another in
1660, two in 1657 and 1674, and three in 1675-6.
One of the victuallers in 1657 was at Burrow,
where in 1686 the inn had 8 beds and stabling
for 16 horses. (fn. 84) By 1708 an inn called the Anchor
or Burrow inn was established at Burrow. By
1797 it was known as the Bell and by 1806 as
the King Alfred. The building was modified to
accommodate the new turnpike road in that year,
and was still in business in 1985. (fn. 85) The Lyng inn
at East Lyng was so named by 1709 and was
renamed the Rose and Crown by 1786. It was
in business in 1985 and occupies a building
dating from c. 1600. (fn. 86) In the mid 18th century
there was a third victualler in the parish and in
the 1830s two other inns, the White Hart at East
Lyng and the King John (possibly later the Bell)
at Burrow. (fn. 87) There were beer houses at Outwood
and West Lyng in 1851 and a beer retailer at
Burrowbridge by 1875. (fn. 88) The Railway Hotel was
established at Durston Junction by 1861 (fn. 89) and
was in business as an inn in 1985.
In 1563 there were 53 households attached to
the parish church and 12 to the chapel at Burrow. (fn. 90) About 1791 there were 22 houses at West
Lyng, 16 at East Lyng, 8 at Outwood, and 18 at
Burrow, with a total of c. 340 inhabitants. (fn. 91) In
1801 the total was 253. From that date there was
a continuous increase until 1851 (the 1841 figure
including 40 men working on the railway), and
only a small decrease by 1861. Thereafter a slow
decline brought the total in 1901 to 327. (fn. 92) By
1911 the number had fallen to 285 but from that
date it remained roughly stable; between 1971
and 1981 the total rose to 315. (fn. 93)
The bridge at Burrow was recognized as of
strategic importance during the Civil War, and
a fort was built, presumably on the hill above.
It was taken from the royalists after the battle
of Langport in 1645. (fn. 94) In 1685 Lord Feversham
secured the Parrett crossing shortly before the
battle of Sedgemoor. (fn. 95)
St. Ethelwin, brother of King Cenwealh, may
have been a hermit on Athelney island. (fn. 96) The
'fen fastnesses' there were the refuge of King
Alfred in the winter of 877-8 before the battle
of Edington. (fn. 97) George Marston (1882-1940),
artist and explorer, member of Sir Ernest Shackleton's two expeditions to the Antarctic 1907-9,
1914-16, and co-author and co-illustrator of
Antarctic Days (1913), was buried in the parish. (fn. 98)