SPAXTON
The ancient parish of Spaxton comprises scattered hamlets and farmsteads on the eastern side
of the Quantocks. The main part of the parish
included settlements at Spaxton, Four Forks,
Merridge, with Lower Merridge and Courtway,
Pightley, Radlet, and Tuxwell, and entirely surrounded a detached part of Charlinch called
Bush. A detached area to the north, the former
manor of Stockland Lovel and later known as
North Street, included Coultings and Farm.
There was also a smaller area to the south-east,
surrounded by Enmore parish, which was the
11th-century holding of Quantock, later Quantock Durborough. (fn. 55) The highly irregular
boundaries and their relationship with other
parishes in the immediate vicinity suggest that
Spaxton parish may be the residue of a larger
unit, possibly with a minster at its centre, (fn. 56)
which included Charlinch and perhaps Postridge and part of Nether Stowey.
The main part of the parish measured up to 4
km. from west to east and nearly 6 km. from
north to south. North Street was 3 km. from
west to east and 1.5 km. from north to south,
and Quantock Durborough 1 km. by 0.5 km. In
1839 the total area was reckoned as 3,387 a. (fn. 57) In
1878 North Street (11 houses, 51 persons) was
transferred to Fiddington, and Quantock Durborough (no population) to Enmore. Two years
later detached parts of Nether Stowey at Radlet
(4 houses, 18 persons) were added to Spaxton
and in 1882 the detached part of Charlinch at
Bush (2 houses, 6 persons) was also added. In
1885 Spaxton acquired Postridge (11 houses, 53
persons) from Aisholt and small areas from
Goathurst (1 house, 4 persons) and Nether
Stowey. In 1891 the parish measured 3,646 a. (fn. 58)
In 1933 the civil parish of Aisholt (875 a.) and
Currypool and Rowden from Charlinch (740 a.)
were added to Spaxton, making a total of 5,261
a. (fn. 59) The civil parish of Charlinch was taken into
Spaxton in 1981, but the extreme south-west
part of Spaxton ancient parish was transferred
to Broomfield, making a total of 5,876 a. (2,378
ha.). (fn. 60)
West and south-west of Spaxton village and
Pightley the land rises up a spur formed between
two streams flowing from the Quantocks, one
through Holwell Combe where it marks the
boundary with Enmore, the other called Peartwater. Hawkridge Hill (fn. 61) rises in 2.5 km. over
slates and grits to more than 213 m. and then
falls abruptly into a valley at Lower Merridge,
where a stream divides the parish from Bishop's
Lydeard and Aisholt. In the south, where the
parish reaches the Quantock ridge, the land rises
to over 244 m. near the Travellers Rest inn,
further south-west to above 228 m. on Gib Hill,
and then up the scarp to the boundary ridge
which gave Merridge its name on the 305-m.
contour just below the summit of Cothelstone
Hill. North of Peartwater is a smaller spur
shared with Over Stowey parish, a shallow valley
of gravels and marls occupied by Radlet common
and wood, (fn. 62) and then a small ridge of slates and
grits. The north-western and eastern part of the
parish, below the 91-m. contour, lies largely on
marl and valley gravels with a band of sandstone
running along the Peartwater through Spaxton
village. The North Street area is on marl, Quantock Durborough on slates and grits. (fn. 63) Pockets
of limestone were worked at Merridge in the
18th and 19th centuries, (fn. 64) and licences to mine
near Spaxton were granted in 1714. (fn. 65) Black Pit,
north of Four Forks, may be the result of marl
digging. (fn. 66) A mine at Merridge is said to have
produced iron, copper, malachite, and possibly
silver in the 19th century, (fn. 67) and sulphur ore was
extracted at Merridge. (fn. 68)
Spaxton, Charlinch and Postridge c.1838
Flints have been found on the Quantock ridge
and bronze torcs and palstaves are said to have
been discovered within the parish. (fn. 69) Evidence of
Iron Age occupation was found at Peartwater
near Court Farm. By the later 11th century there
were at least seven settlements, of which the
most populous was Spaxton, followed by Pightley and Tuxwell. (fn. 70) By the 13th century
farmsteads or hamlets had been established,
possibly by woodland clearance at Ebsley, (fn. 71) and
at Durland or Durnland (fn. 72) and Pleabury, (fn. 73) called
Claybury Castle in 1838, (fn. 74) the last on marginal
land near the 122-m. contour. By the later
Middle Ages at least four farmsteads were
named: Coultings, Wrenmore, Southam, (fn. 75) now
Holmes Farm, and Clarkes Farm. (fn. 76) Halsey and
Twinell farms and the hamlet of Splatt were
recorded in the 17th century. (fn. 77)
Until the 19th century there was no significant
nucleated settlement. Spaxton village comprised
the church, manor house, rectory, church house,
two mills, and some cottages beside the Peartwater, all on a loop running from the Old Way, (fn. 78)
a road from Cannington which led directly to
the Quantock ridgeway. The road from Bridgwater and Durleigh to the Quantocks ran slightly
south of the village. There a roadside settlement
grew up, known from the 15th century to the
18th as Fursegate, (fn. 79) and later as High Street. In
the 20th century it formed an almost continuous
built-up street for a mile from the 19th-century
crossroads settlement of Four Forks. (fn. 80) This last
hamlet expanded rapidly in the 1840s when the
community known as the Agapemone was established there. (fn. 81) Lower Merridge and Courtway
hamlets were roadside settlements on the Taunton to Nether Stowey road, and there was similar
development in the 17th century at Keenthorne,
Halsey Cross, (fn. 82) and Cuckolds Row. (fn. 83)
The scattered settlements produced the complex network of roads in the parish. Three
parallel routes from Bridgwater and Cannington
crossed the parish to the Quantock ridge. The
most northerly was the only one to be turnpiked,
in 1759. (fn. 84)
There was woodland on all the 11th-century
estates in the parish (fn. 85) with the exception of
Pightley. That name suggests pre-Conquest
clearance, and field names indicate that clearance continued. (fn. 86) In 1380 a tenant on Spaxton
manor had to dig up tree roots. (fn. 87) Felling was
carried out in the later 15th century to the east
of Spaxton park and at Stockland Lovel, where
timber was sold with faggots and underwood. (fn. 88)
Coppices at Merridge were cut for charcoal
burning in the 1650s (fn. 89) and there were over 40 a.
of wood there in 1709. (fn. 90) Shortly before 1833
acorns were sown on 145 a. for coppice, and 40
a. of oak coppice were sold with the earl of
Egmont's Spaxton estate, together with small
plantations on many of the tenant farms. (fn. 91) In
1838 there were 90 a. of woodland, mainly
plantations and coppices, the largest plantations
being on Hawkridge Hill and encroaching on
Merridge common. (fn. 92) Between then and 1887
there was more planting on the lower ground
but some woodland at Merridge was cleared. (fn. 93)
By 1905 only 80 a. of woodland were recorded (fn. 94)
and some was later cut down both at Hawkridge
and Merridge. (fn. 95)
A park including woodland belonging to Spaxton manor, probably north of Spaxton village
between Peartwater and the Old Way boundary,
had been established by the mid 13th century. (fn. 96)
It had been let by 1440 and was partly ploughed
by 1475. (fn. 97) By the 17th century the 74-a. park
had been entirely converted to agricultural use. (fn. 98)
John de Columbers was granted free warren at
Stockland Lovel in 1304 (fn. 99) and a park there
produced an income of 54s. 4d. in 1484-5. (fn. 1) No
further trace of it has survived. There was a
park at Tuxwell in 1540 (fn. 2) and a field at
Merridge was known as the Park in 1838. (fn. 3)
A gore on the area known as Spaxton Down
and small crofts elsewhere may have been remnants of open-field arable. (fn. 4) There was common
pasture at Radlet and on Merridge Hill. Radlet
common remained open until the late 19th century, but by 1919 belonged solely to Radlet
farm. (fn. 5) Merridge common measured 161 a. in
1720. (fn. 6) By 1838 half remained while a further 50
a. were shared between a few proprietors, who
let pasture rights. (fn. 7) Land at Merridge remained
common in 1987.
A water works and pumping station were
established near Ashford mill, on the northern
boundary of the parish, in 1879 to provide water
for Bridgwater. The small Ashford reservoir was
opened in 1934. (fn. 8)
A friendly society, probably started in 1807,
had been dissolved by 1834 for fear of government intervention, but another had been formed
by 1845 and existed in 1857. (fn. 9) A tradesmen's
friendly society was recorded in 1897, together
with a working men's club and parish reading
room. (fn. 10)
There were two licensed tipplers in the parish
in 1607. (fn. 11) A cottage on the waste mentioned in
1651 may have become the Bell at Keenthorne
by 1680, (fn. 12) and licences were granted to a man at
Radlet in 1674 and to one in Merridge in 1690. (fn. 13)
The Bell had probably been licensed by 1726 (fn. 14)
and remained in business until 1798. There were
two, and occasionally three, licensees in the 18th
century. One ran the Crown, also known as the
Three Crowns or the Fursegate inn, in High
Street, established by 1750 and the sole inn in
the early 19th century. (fn. 15) It was still open in 1919
but had closed by 1926, (fn. 16) and was a private house
in 1987. The King William IV inn had opened
by 1851 (fn. 17) but by 1866 was called the Victoria
Arms. (fn. 18) In 1987 it was known as the Victoria or
the Victoria at Spaxton. The Lamb at Four
Forks had been opened by 1856 (fn. 19) and was in
business in 1987. There was also a beerhouse at
Four Forks in the earlier 1860s and another at
Courtway in 1861. (fn. 20) The Travellers Rest on the
ridge route above Merridge had been opened by
1837, having been recently converted from cottages. (fn. 21) It remained open in 1987. The Bell at
Courtway, opened by 1841, was closed c. 1962. (fn. 22)
Among the houses not attached to substantial
estates in the parish are some dating from the
16th century or earlier including Peacock
Cottage at Pightley, Jack O'Knights at Lawyer's
Hill, Hawkridge, and Tuckers in Splatt Lane,
north of the church. Clarkes Farm, east of
Pightley, has a late-medieval open hall of two
bays with a jettied upper room at the dais end,
and a wing added in the 16th century. Several
'Arts and Crafts' style houses were built at Four
Forks in the early 20th century by Joseph Morris
(d. 1913) and his daughter Violet (d. 1958), both
members of the Agapemone. (fn. 23)
There were 392 communicants in the parish in
1623. (fn. 24) The population increased steadily from
662 in 1801 to a peak of 1,080 in 1851, partly
through the growth of Four Forks and the
Agapemone. There was a gradual decline in the
later 19th century to 797 in 1901 and a further
fall to 666 in 1931. The incorporation of Aisholt
civil parish with 60 people and of Currypool
from Charlinch with 63 in 1933, and later 20thcentury housing led to an increase in population
to 920 in 1971, but only 831 people were normally resident in 1981. (fn. 25)
Ten Spaxton people were implicated in the
revolt of 1497 (fn. 26) and one man in the Monmouth
rebellion in 1685. (fn. 27)