STRINGSTON
The ancient parish of Stringston, west of and
detached from Cannington hundred at the
northern edge of the Quantocks, was divided
into four separate parts. (fn. 51) The largest, roughly
square and measuring c. 650 a., included
Stringston village and the hamlets of Dyche
and Corewell, and had as its northern boundary
in 1839 the line of a road, in 1886 only a
footpath, called Harford Lane between Shurton in Stogursey and Putsham in Kilve, and as
its southern boundary the course of a stream. (fn. 52)
About 1.5 km. west lay the tithing of Alfoxton,
an irregular area of c. 360 a., nearly 3 km. from
north to south and at most 1 km. wide, between
Kilve parish on the west and the stream flowing
down Hodder's Combe and the Holford stream
on the east. Its south-western boundary was
marked in 1839 by the course of the Hunting
Path. The tithing included a house, known as
Alfoxton Park, the home of the St. Albyn
family. The third part of the parish, 0.5 km.
south-east of Stringston village, comprised in
1839 eight fields between Dodington and Stogursey parishes near Perry Mill. The fourth
part, 2 km. south of Holford village and 3.5
km. from Stringston village, is an irregular
block of land on the top of the Quantock scarp,
c. 124 a. in extent, (fn. 53) including the hill fort
known as Dowsborough. Its boundary with
Holford common was marked in the 18th century by heaps of stones. (fn. 54) The four parts
together measured 1,193 a. (fn. 55) In 1883 the Dowsborough and Perry Mill areas, both without
houses, were transferred to Dodington, and in
1886 Alfoxton, said to contain 1 house and 5
persons, was transferred to Holford. The detached part of Kilton at Plud was added, forming
the civil parish of Stringston measuring 859 a. (fn. 56)
In 1933 Kilton-cum-Lilstock civil parish was
added to form an enlarged civil parish of Stringston. (fn. 57)
Stringston 1839
The main part of the parish lies on ground
rising from Stringston village northwards to a
slight ridge of just over 107 m. on its northern
boundary at Harford Lane. The slope comprises
bands of valley gravel, Lower Lias, limestone,
and marls. (fn. 58) Limestone was quarried in that part
of the parish by 1662 (fn. 59) and two quarries survived
into the 19th century. There was a limekiln
north of Prior's Farm and another in a marlpit
further west. (fn. 60) Valley gravels predominate south
and south-west of Stringston village, the land
rising gently to 107 m. (fn. 61) Sand was dug on the
edge of Stringston common, south of the village,
by 1519 (fn. 62) and gravel at an unknown site by
1651. (fn. 63)
The Alfoxton part of the parish rises from just
below the 46-m. contour at Putsham up the
Quantock scarp to 244 m. on Longstone Hill,
whose steep and wooded south-eastern slope,
known as Willoughby Cleeve, forms one side of
Hodder's Combe. The slope was known as
Wildway Edge in 1681 (fn. 64) and as Willine Cleeve
in 1839. (fn. 65) Hodder's Combe is named after Anthony Hodder, tenant of a house and land there
by 1809 and in 1839. (fn. 66)
The Perry Mill part of the parish included
fields called claypits, and was largely on marl. (fn. 67)
Dowsborough, formerly common land and coppice (fn. 68) and in 1986 oak scrub, occupies a steep
hill rising to 333 m., and is composed of Hangman Grits. (fn. 69)
Within the single bank and ditch of the probable Iron-Age hill fort at Dowsborough are two
earthworks, one a ditched round barrow, the
other possibly a saucer-barrow. (fn. 70) In the later
16th century the site was called Dolesbery or
Dolebery, and in the 17th Deuxbarrow or Dewsbarow. (fn. 71) Late forms such as Danesborough have
given rise to speculation about Danish invasions. (fn. 72) A late-Roman coin hoard is said to have
been discovered above Alfoxton, (fn. 73) apparently
near the Great Road which, until the later 18th
century, was the main route westwards from
Bridgwater to Watchet. (fn. 74)
Two roughly parallel east-west roads cross the
main part of the parish, both from Stogursey;
the southern road, leading to Holford and the
Great Road, was called Portway Lane. (fn. 75) Two
parallel north-south roads may also have existed,
but only parts survive. Stringston village lies at
the junction of the eastern and northern routes,
and comprises the church, Stringston Farm, and
a cluster of small houses around a now enclosed
green. No. 1 Stringston and the Cottage are
medieval in origin; nos. 5 and 9-11 (originally
one house) are probably of the 16th century.
Dyche lies on the eastern route whose junction
with Portway Lane is a staggered crossroads.
That crossroads was mentioned in the mid 12th
century in association with land called 'Aladich'
and with meadow 'on the lower way', (fn. 76) the way
perhaps now represented by the footpath between Dyche and Corewell. Dyche Farm is an
18th-century building; an adjoining barn has one
jointed-cruck truss. Corewell, a group of cottages, was mentioned in 1275-6 and there was a
house at Gugglemoor, adjoining to the north, in
1317 and 1592. (fn. 77)
In the Alfoxton area of the parish are the
former capital messuage, now the Alfoxton Park
Hotel, reached from Holford by a long woodland
drive, and Granfield's Tenement, a house on
the edge of Hodder's Combe, mentioned in
1629. (fn. 78)
There were small areas of open-field arable at
Dyche in the early 14th and the 17th century, at
Shortridge, west of Stringston village below the
road to Kilton, also in the 14th century, (fn. 79) and at
the Raps, immediately north of Stringston village. Traces of strips remained in all three places
in the 19th century, (fn. 80) but most arable was
inclosed by the later 16th. (fn. 81) The field at Alfoxton, probably in open cultivation, was
mentioned in 1242. (fn. 82)
There were commons at Stringston, Alfoxton,
and on the Quantocks. Stringston Heathfield,
south of Stringston village, was already being
encroached upon by 1519, (fn. 83) but part of it still
remained in 1751. In 1807 it was said that 13 a.,
probably the last to survive, had been recently
inclosed. (fn. 84) Four acres of Alfoxton common, on
Longstone Hill, 'measured out by an ancient
measure called Quantock measure', were inclosed c. 1629; (fn. 85) there were probably further
inclosures later in the 17th century, (fn. 86) and by
1839 just over 34 a., then known as Stringston
common, had been absorbed in the Alfoxton
estate. (fn. 87) In the mid 12th century a holding in the
parish claimed housebote and haybote in the
wood of Quantock. (fn. 88) Dowsborough, c. 1620
comprising some 80 a. of coppice and the remainder of 'clear down', was all subject to
common rights for sheep pasture. (fn. 89) Dowsborough woods, 60 a. in extent, were let from 1717
to a Nether Stowey innholder for 99 years, (fn. 90) and
by 1812 comprised stunted oak coppice on and
within the ramparts, and 60 a. of hill pasturage
outside. (fn. 91) By 1839 there were 167 a. of wood in
the whole parish, including four copses north of
Stringston village and woods near Alfoxton at
Willoughby Cleeve and further north at Dog
Pound, part of the Alfoxton estate. (fn. 92) Willoughby
Cleeve and other land, acquired from the St.
Albyns, was given to the National Trust by Mr.
G. A. Falk in 1951, (fn. 93) and other woodland was
bought by the League Against Cruel Sports in
1981. The Dog Pound, a small walled enclosure
by the entrance to the drive to Alfoxton Park,
was restored and presented to Holford village in
memory of Mr. J. L. Brereton, the former owner
of the Alfoxton estate, in 1982. (fn. 94)
Fields west of Stringston village, probably held
with the capital messuage, seem by their names
and shape to have formed a park. (fn. 95) A park at
Alfoxton had been created by 1797 which, under
the terms of the will of Lancelot St. Albyn (d.
1878), was to be stocked with at least 50 head of
deer. (fn. 96) About 1900 there were 80 fallow deer in
the park. (fn. 97)
A victualler in the parish was licensed in 1676
and there were two more in 1690. An innkeeper
was in business between 1735 and 1756. (fn. 98) There
was no inn by 1802. (fn. 99)
There were 14 households in the parish in
1563. (fn. 1) By 1801 the population was 121. It rose
gradually to 159 in 1851 but fell rapidly to 114
in 1881. The population of the civil parish was
121 in 1891, but fluctuated to 92 in 1921. In 1931
it stood at 155. (fn. 2)
William and Dorothy Wordsworth occupied
Alfoxton House between July 1797 and April
1798, and S. T. Coleridge and other members
of their literary circle visited them there. (fn. 3)