BAWDRIP
Bawdrip 1841
Bawdrip parish lies on the south side of the
Polden ridge 5 km. north-east from Bridgwater. (fn. 1)
It stretches for 5 km. along the slope from
Dunball in Puriton on the west to Stawell village
on the east, and for 2.5 km. from the Polden
ridgeway which forms its northern boundary to
Chedzoy in the south. The stream which forms
its western boundary may have been a tributary
of the Parrett; the southern boundary is also a
natural watercourse. (fn. 2) The parish includes the
village of Bawdrip and subsidiary settlements or
former settlements at Knowle and Crook to the
west, Horsey to the south-west, Bradney and
Peasy to the south, and Ford to the east. It
covered 768 ha. (1,898 a.) in 1981 before minor
changes were made. (fn. 3)
Bawdrip village, Knowle, and Ford shelter
below the 30-m. contour on marls between
alluvium and the Blue Lias of the Polden ridge
which rises to over 61 m. above Knowle. (fn. 4) There
may have been quarrying on the hillside in the
15th century (fn. 5) and lias was dug in the early 19th. (fn. 6)
There were limekilns at Ford in 1840 (fn. 7) and at
Knowle in 1841, (fn. 8) and lime was being extracted
and processed in the extreme western tip of the
parish under Puriton Hill by 1886 and until 1973
in association with the cement works at Dunball. (fn. 9) Salt was extracted in the early 20th
century. (fn. 10) Bradney, Crook, and Peasy, their
names implying slight elevations on the flat
alluvial moors, are on 'islands' of marl, and
Bradney is also partly on an area of Burtle Beds
which extends from Chedzoy. (fn. 11)
King's Sedgemoor Drain crosses the parish
from south-east to north-west, passing between
Bawdrip village and Peasy Farm and under
Crandon bridge. Completed by 1798 and widened during the late 19th and the 20th century, (fn. 12)
it followed, at least in part, a 'great drain' which
had been made in the late 16th century from the
moors to Crandon bridge. (fn. 13) That drain, in the
17th century known as Peasy rhyne or Black
Ditch, flowed from Great Lake near Parchey in
Chedzoy. (fn. 14) It was thought to have been part of
the Cary river, (fn. 15) and the lords of Bradney and
Bawdrip paid rent to Castle Cary manor for the
'use' of Cary Water in the 17th and 18th centuries. (fn. 16) Below Crandon bridge the river was
evidently navigable in the Roman period. (fn. 17)
Navigation was proposed in 1829 and the owner
of Knowle Hall had a sailing boat for use on it. (fn. 18)
Other watercourses in the parish include the
stream from Stawell through Ford which flows
west through Bawdrip Level and was known in
the 17th century as Bawdrip Brook. (fn. 19)
A Roman road from Ilchester followed the
Polden ridge and descended to the river west of
Crandon bridge where a port was in use between
the 1st and the 4th century A.D. (fn. 20) At the bridge,
mentioned in 1614, (fn. 21) roads from Bristol and
Glastonbury to Bridgwater converged and the
route from the bridge was causewayed and maintained in the early 17th century jointly by
Bridgwater and Bawdrip parishes. (fn. 22) The roads
were turnpiked in 1730 by the Bridgwater
Trust. (fn. 23) A new route from Bristol to Bridgwater
avoiding Crandon bridge was built in Bridgwater parish in 1822 but the old route was
retained and in 1971 was improved to provide
access to the M5 motorway. (fn. 24)
Just south of the Roman ridge road on the
Poldens and east of the present Bawdrip village
stood a Romano-British homestead overlying an
Iron-Age site; and a site at Bradney was occupied from the Iron Age until the 4th century A.D.
A bronze hoard of the 1st century A.D. was
discovered, probably near Crandon bridge, in
1800. (fn. 25) Bawdrip, Bradney, Crandon, and Crook
were centres of estates in the 11th century. (fn. 26)
Bawdrip village may have originated as a roadside settlement on a route along the edge of the
moors from Crandon to Stawell. In the 19th
century most of the cottages there stood along
the road, with the church and the remains of a
small green to the north. Two lanes east and west
of the churchyard led north to more widely
spaced farmhouses and yards and to a second
east-west route between Knowle and Ford
which, as Eastside Lane, was built up in the 17th
and in the 18th century. (fn. 27) In the 20th century
houses were built along the abandoned railway
track and within Bawdrip village. Arable fields
called west, middle, and east fields, and Furthenfield lay on the slope north of the village,
and the first three seem to have been divided
by the early 17th century into north and south
'laynes'. (fn. 28) Small scattered plots, including two
called North and Dock fields, two others called
Middle and Higher furlongs, and several landshares persisted into the 19th century. (fn. 29)
Bawdrip tenants had common rights until the
mid 16th century (fn. 30) in Bawdrip moor, south-east
of the village and later known as Bawdrip Level,
on marshland between the village and Bradney, (fn. 31)
and on King's Sedgemoor, where c. 300 a. were
used by Bawdrip and Bradney tenants in the
17th century. (fn. 32)
Bradney hamlet had about 12 houses in 1841
but in 1988 consisted of a farm and a few cottages
built mainly of brick. North field there was
mentioned in 1635 (fn. 33) and Southfield Lane was
so named in the later 19th century. (fn. 34) The settlement at Crandon may have been replaced by
Knowle, first recorded by name in 1567. (fn. 35) A
house appears to have been built at Crandon
between 1430 and 1450 and may have been
standing in the early 16th century. (fn. 36) Knowle
Farm, (fn. 37) now called Manor Farmhouse, is an
18th-century house with a Tuscan portico.
Houses have been built along the Glastonbury
road at Knowle during the 20th century. Crany
or Crandon and West Crandon fields were still
worked in common in the early 17th century. (fn. 38)
Crook seems to have been abandoned as a
settlement after the 11th century. (fn. 39) There was a
house at Ford c. 1300, (fn. 40) possibly on the site of
the later Ford Farm.
In the 20th century a group of houses beside
the Bath road on the western edge of the parish
has been named Horsey after the farm and
former manor to the west in Bridgwater parish.
In 1890 the Bridgwater Railway Co. opened a
line between Bridgwater and Edington Burtle to
link the town with the Somerset and Dorset line.
The track was constructed through the middle
of Bawdrip village. A passenger halt was built
there in 1923. The line closed in 1954 and at
least one house has been built along part of its
course in the village. (fn. 41)
Two acres of underwood were recorded at
Crandon in 1086, (fn. 42) and in 1324 the lord of
Bradney had a willow copse. (fn. 43) Plantations on
Knowle Hill to screen the new hall and park
accounted for most of the 45 a. of wood in 1841. (fn. 44)
In 1905 there were 34 a. of woodland. (fn. 45)
Three people were presented for breaches of
the assize of ale in 1479, (fn. 46) two tapsters were
recorded in 1538 although only one was licensed
in 1543, (fn. 47) and an unlicensed ale seller was
presented in 1612. (fn. 48) There was only one licensed
house in the parish, held by one family between
1618 and 1657 and said to be used by travellers
on the highway. (fn. 49) It was almost certainly the
Knowle inn, so named by 1663, (fn. 50) part of Bawdrip manor until it was sold to the tenant in 1770.
It was then called the Bull but had resumed its
old name by 1806. (fn. 51) It remained open in 1988.
There was a friendly society at Bawdrip. (fn. 52)
Horse races were held at Crook in the 19th
century. (fn. 53)
There were 90 communicants in 1548. (fn. 54) The
population rose from 244 in 1801 to 372 in 1821,
then to a peak of 472 in 1861, falling to 340 in
1891. Numbers remained stable until the 1950s
when new housing brought the total to 510 in
1961. There were 504 persons normally resident
in 1981. (fn. 55)
Fifteen men from Bawdrip were fined for
involvement in the rebellion of 1497. (fn. 56) The duke
of Monmouth's army marched through the parish on the night of 5-6 July 1685, taking a route
along Bradney and Marsh lanes and across
North moor to Langmoor in Chedzoy before
engaging the royal forces. (fn. 57)