AISHOLT
Aisholt c.1838
THE ancient parish of Aisholt or Asholt lay in
two parts: the larger included Aisholt village on
the eastern side of the Quantock ridge 4 km.
south of Nether Stowey; the smaller was 4.5 km.
north-east of Aisholt village, east of Spaxton
village. The larger area, irregular in shape,
measured 3.5 km. from east to west and 1 km.
from nsorth to south, the smaller was roughly
oval, 1.7 km. east to west. (fn. 1) In 1885 the smaller
area (11 houses, 53 persons) was transferred to
Spaxton, leaving the civil parish of Aisholt with
875 a. (fn. 2) In 1933 the civil parish was absorbed into
Spaxton. (fn. 3)
The larger part of the parish is divided into
three by two streams which flow in steep-sided
valleys, the land between rising at Black Knap
on the Quantock ridge to 335 m. In the centre
it reaches 198 m. at Aisholt wood, and in the
east 220 m. on Hawkridge Hill. The valley
bottoms, converging in the north-east where
Hawkridge reservoir was completed in 1964, (fn. 4) lie
at 30 m. above sea level. The land is largely on
Cutcombe slates with bands of limestone, but
Aisholt common is on Hangman grits. (fn. 5) The
parish boundary on the east and south followed
a footpath, lanes, and a stream, on the west an
earth bank, (fn. 6) and on the north Parsons' Lane,
probably an ancient route to the Quantock ridgeway. (fn. 7)
The smaller area, on the more fertile lower
slope of the Quantocks, included a shallow valley
watered by a tributary of the Durleigh brook,
between the 61-m. and 30-m. contours bounded
on the south by the Durleigh brook, on the west
by the road between Enmore and Four Forks,
and on the east by a lane. (fn. 8) It lies on marl with
pockets of gravel. (fn. 9)
Aisholt village, named from its position in or
near an ash wood, lies sheltered on the side of a
valley called Holcombe running north-east. It
comprises the church, the former rectory house,
and a few cottages. Holcombe was the name of
an estate with at least eight households in 1086, (fn. 10)
and West Holcombe, possibly a settlement
around Durborough Farm at the head of the
valley, was named in the 15th century. (fn. 11) Holcombe Street was recorded in the 18th century (fn. 12)
and several cottages stood at the upper end of
the valley in 1833. (fn. 13) By the 20th century only
Durborough Farm and two cottages, one probably medieval, the other with 16th-century
origins, survived. (fn. 14) Durborough Farm is a Tshaped house in which the short central arm
appears to survive from a house of the late 16th
or the early 17th century and the long range was
rebuilt in the late 17th or the early 18th century.
Lower Aisholt comprises a farm and a cottage
on the Nether Stowey road.
In the smaller part of the parish a Roman villa
west of Roughmoor Farm was occupied in the
3rd and 4th centuries. (fn. 15) There were two farms
at Postridge in the Middle Ages, and a smallholding called Longthorns, on the road towards
Bridgwater, recorded c. 1461. (fn. 16) Roughmoor and
Crossfield farms had emerged by the 18th and
19th centuries respectively. (fn. 17) Several houses
were built along the Four Forks to Enmore road;
they included two rows built in the later 19th
century behind a house called Barford Villa (fn. 18) and
demolished in the later 20th.
At Holcombe in 1086 15 a. of woodland were
recorded. (fn. 19) Field names current in the 19th
century suggest former coppices and woodland
cleared and converted to arable. (fn. 20) In 1791 the
parish was described as well wooded (fn. 21) but by
1842 Aisholt wood and small plantations covered
only 50 a. in all. (fn. 22) By 1905 there were over 100
a. (fn. 23) William de Reigny was granted free warren
in his demesne of Aisholt in 1268. (fn. 24) In the 17th
century there were commons at Hawkridge Hill
and at Holcombe, later called Aisholt common,
small areas of which were ploughed, including
c. 23 a. in 1602. (fn. 25) By 1696 a quarter of Hawkridge
common was let. (fn. 26) In 1721 a lessee was required
to plant an oak, ash, or elm sapling every year. (fn. 27)
In 1842 inclosed areas of former common were
called Breaches, but there were still 240 a. of
common at Aisholt common and Hawkridge
Hill. (fn. 28) Aisholt common measured c. 171 a. in
1920 and 1986. (fn. 29)
In 1652 a woman was licensed to continue her
limekiln for three years. (fn. 30) In 1842 there was a
quarry near Durborough and quarries and kilns
on Hawkridge Hill, beside Parsons' Lane, and
by the road to Lower Aisholt. (fn. 31) Quarrying and
limeburning continued on the side of Hawkridge
Hill until 1930 or later. (fn. 32) Marl was dug at
Postridge. (fn. 33) There was some mining in the early
18th century. (fn. 34)
There was a licensed victualler in the parish in
1657. (fn. 35)
Thirty-one households were recorded in the
later 17th century. (fn. 36) In 1801 the population was
136; it rose to a peak of 228 in 1831 and then
fell steadily to 180 in 1871 and more rapidly to
121 in 1881. By 1921 the population of the
reduced parish was 60. (fn. 37)
The poet and author Sir Henry Newbolt
(1862-1938) lived in the Old School House in
Aisholt from c. 1927 until his death. (fn. 38)