WEMBDON
The main part of the ancient parish of Wembdon
lay close to the town of Bridgwater on the
north-west side. (fn. 25) A small part of it was within
Bridgwater borough from 1835, (fn. 26) and the southeast corner has been increasingly occupied since
the 1840s by the expanding suburbs of Bridgwater. North-east of the town a detached part of
Wembdon parish, c. 170 a., (fn. 27) including Sydenham which gave its name to a medieval estate,
lay between the Parrett and Horsey rhyne, much
of its boundary formed by a curving ditch which
may mark a former course of the river.
From 1 km. beyond the town's west gate the
southern boundary of the main part of the parish
ran for 3 km. west, first along the road to
Wembdon village and then along a hedge, part
of which may have been the northern edge of
Queen's wood in Bridgwater parish. (fn. 28) From that
line the parish stretched northwards for more
than 5 km. to the river Parrett. The western
boundary with Cannington followed a stream,
called in succession from south to north Perrymoor brook, Cannington brook, and Fenlyns
rhyne. In the north the parish boundary followed the limit of high water in a wide curve of
the Parrett and ditches and embankments around
detached parts of Chilton Trinity parish. The
irregular eastern boundary, from 1802 modified by
the inclosure of Chilton common, (fn. 29) is marked in
part by the Chilton road at Crowpill.
The boundaries were altered in 1886, when
parts of Wembdon including the part in Bridgwater borough and the detached area of
Sydenham, containing together 21 houses and 81
persons in 1891, were transferred to Bridgwater
parish, and a part containing 1 house and 9 persons
was transferred to Chilton Trinity, while uninhabited parts of Bridgwater and Chilton Trinity
parishes were added to Wembdon. A further part
of Wembdon, containing 270 houses and 1,141
persons in 1901, was transferred to Bridgwater
borough and civil parish in 1896, reducing the
area of Wembdon from 2,470 a. (1,000 ha.) to
2,351 a., and another 69 a., uninhabited in 1921
but with 6 persons in 1931, were transferred in
1933. (fn. 30) In 1938 Wembdon successfully resisted
Bridgwater's attempt to absorb the rest of the
parish. (fn. 31) The history of Sydenham, taken into
the borough under Acts of 1928 and 1938, (fn. 32) is
treated here with that of Wembdon.
Most of the northern part of the parish and the
whole of the Sydenham area lies on alluvium
below the 8-m. contour, with small areas of
Burtle Beds in the centre; (fn. 33) sand was dug at
Sandford in the early 15th century (fn. 34) and sandstone occurs north of Wembdon village near
Perry Court. (fn. 35) The southern part, formed largely
of Keuper marl, comprises two parallel eastwest ridges, both reaching over 30 m. above sea
level, the valley between them drained by the
Kidsbury rhyne. The northern ridge, its centre
known as Mount Radford from the mid 18th
century, from a messuage named Mount Rodburd c. 1727, (fn. 36) contains a deposit of Upper
Sandstone which was quarried from 1842 until
after 1909. (fn. 37)
A watercourse known as Crowpill channel was
dug before 1439, (fn. 38) Bradelake was mentioned c.
1540, (fn. 39) Fichet's rhyne in 1579, (fn. 40) Great or Wildmarsh rhyne in 1705, (fn. 41) and Pippins rhyne in
1802. (fn. 42)
Saxon burials have been discovered on the
northern ridge where Wembdon Hill and
Moore's and Hollow lanes may outline a triangular defensive site of the Bronze Age and later. (fn. 43)
The hill gives the second element of the name
of the parish. Traces of Romano-British settlement have been found further north near Perry
Court and enclosures of uncertain date southwest of Perry Green. (fn. 44)
Wembdon village remained small until the
1840s, confined largely to the ridge between
Mount Radford in the west and the church and
parsonage house in the east. Houses were thereafter built along the road to Bridgwater, first
detached houses south of the village in the 1840s
on what came to be called Wembdon Rise and
later terraces and semidetached houses stretching along Wembdon Road. (fn. 45) By 1851 a street of
small terraced houses called Provident Place had
been built, (fn. 46) and by the 1880s Newtown had
been established as a suburb of Bridgwater for
workers at the docks, (fn. 47) and higher-quality dwellings at Washington Terrace in Malt Shovel Lane
(later Victoria Road) and Alexandra Villas, later
Alexandra Road. By the same date there were
larger houses on the ridge in Wembdon village,
including Elm Grove (later Down House) and
Mount Radford, Hoxton House, and Prospect
Cottage, besides terraced cottages at 'Top of the
Hill' and others called Sunny Banks, later Sandbanks. (fn. 48) In the 1920s building began off
Wembdon Road in Hillgrove and Orchard lanes,
and in the 1930s smaller houses on Wembdon
Hill. (fn. 49) More houses were built off Church Road
in the 1950s, (fn. 50) and in the valley west of Wembdon Road (later Wembdon Rise) in the 1970s
and 1980s. (fn. 51)
Perry and Sandford were the most populous
areas of the parish in the earlier 14th century;
Wembdon tithing, presumably including
Wembdon village, had only 5 taxpayers in 1327
compared with 28 in Perry tithing. (fn. 52) West Perers
or West Perry was a distinct settlement in the
later 13th and the earlier 14th century, (fn. 53) and was
perhaps an earlier name for Perry Green. There
is some evidence of depopulation there, possibly
in the 17th century. (fn. 54) Earthworks south of Sandford Manor may represent a change of site of the
manor house rather than a lost village. (fn. 55)
Sydenham may have been only a single farmstead until the division of the estate in the 15th
century. (fn. 56) By 1881 there were some cottages and
a group of substantial farm buildings called Mile
End barn along the Bristol road. (fn. 57) Much of the
southern part of Sydenham was from 1935
covered by the factory of British Cellophane
Ltd. (fn. 58)
Cheslade Farm, later known as Chislett, lay in
the north end of the parish and was the centre
of an estate by the mid 13th century, surviving
as a single dwelling until the 1920s; (fn. 59) west of it
by 1670 was a farm known as Hillocks. (fn. 60) After
the inclosure of the commons in 1802 (fn. 61) a farm
was established beside Harp common, known in
1809 as Wallen and later as Waldings or Waldrons farm. (fn. 62) In the earlier 14th century there
was a small settlement at Kidsbury, (fn. 63) 0.5 km.
SSE. of Wembdon church. At least one house
survived there in the mid 18th century, (fn. 64) but by
1841 only fields bore the name. (fn. 65) The spring
below Wembdon Hill, whose curative properties
were discovered in 1464, (fn. 66) was then known as
St. John's well, and later as Holywell or Holowell. (fn. 67) The well head was rebuilt in 1855. (fn. 68) The
name Medigdon given to land near Wembdon
village in the later 13th century (fn. 69) may be the
origin of Haddington Green, named in the 16th
and the 17th century. (fn. 70)
The Saxon burial site on Mount Radford lies
beside an east-west route which seems to have
linked a possible crossing-point of the Parrett at
Crowpill with Cannington, passing close to the
site of Wembdon church. It may have given its
name to a field called Hareway. (fn. 71) By the 14th
century two other routes through the parish
from Bridgwater seem to have been formed, one
through Kidsbury, (fn. 72) the other further south to
Bridgwater park. (fn. 73) The southern route later
turned north-west as the main route to Cannington, leaving the parish church on a side road. It
was turnpiked in 1730. (fn. 74) A toll house and gate
were erected at the foot of Wembdon Hill; (fn. 75) by
1886 the house was used as a police station (fn. 76) and
in 1987 was no. 119 Wembdon Road. There was
also a toll gate at the crossroads on Wembdon
Hill west of the village, where Moore's and
Skimmerton lanes joined the Cannington road. (fn. 77)
In 1922 a new route, called Quantock Road, was
made further south to bypass Wembdon village
and rejoin the former turnpike road just within
Cannington parish. (fn. 78)
A medieval route further north snaked along a
causeway at the edge of the marsh, linking
Chilton Trinity village with Perry. One part of
the route was described in 1340 as the highway
to Cannington, (fn. 79) and it may be the route indicated by the field name Rudgeway. (fn. 80) Roads were
created in Harp and Chilton commons after
inclosure, and were extended in the mid 19th
century. (fn. 81)
Open-field arable farming has been traced
south-west of Wembdon village where there
were fields called Waeforland, Godyvelond,
Blackland, and Checkacre; (fn. 82) and also on Wembdon hill. (fn. 83) A cultura called Cokke at Sydenham
was mentioned in 1414, a north field there in
1507, and Sydenham field in 1573 and 1604. (fn. 84)
There was still a common arable field on Perry
Furneaux manor in 1582. (fn. 85)
A common meadow called Monemede or
Mowing mead, near Perry, was mentioned in
1397, (fn. 86) and by the later 16th century there was
common grassland called Perry moor, Chilton
moor, Harewey, and Langland, all north of
Wembdon hill. (fn. 87) Bound stones in Perry moor
were reported down in 1747 and stones and posts
were replaced in 1785 by stones marked 'O' to
define the limits of the Oglanders' manor of
Perry Furneaux. (fn. 88)
Extensive common grazing north of Wembdon
village (fn. 89) included Chislett Warth, also called
Sheepsleight or Sheepwalk, in the extreme north
beside the Parrett in both Wembdon and Chilton
Trinity parishes. (fn. 90) There was also common adjoining on Potter's Slyme, (fn. 91) and elsewhere. A
second common called Sheepsleight, on the east
bank of the Parrett, belonged to Sydenham. (fn. 92)
Wildmarsh and Harp common seem to have
been names for common land shared between
Wembdon, Durleigh, Chilton, and Bridgwater
parishes north-west of Chilton Trinity village.
In 1705 the common was variously known as
Wildmarsh, Harp common, Chilton common,
Wembdon common, Wembdon marsh, and
Wembdon warth. (fn. 93) During the 18th century
parts of the common were inclosed by agreement, and the remainder, about 260 a. of
common meadow and pasture mostly in Durleigh and Bridgwater, was allotted in 1802 under
an Act of 1798. Included were c. 23 a. in
Wembdon. (fn. 94) There was a small piece of common
near Wembdon church in the 18th century. (fn. 95)
There were 55 a. of woodland recorded in the
parish in 1086, most of it evidently on the
low-lying ground around Perry. (fn. 96) A coppice
with oak and ash standards lay on Perry Furneaux manor in 1586 near a field called Rams
Park. (fn. 97) A wood formerly called the king's wood
adjoined Cokers farm in the south in 1664. (fn. 98) By
1841 there were 4 a. of wood in the parish. (fn. 99)
A field between Bridgwater and Kidsbury was
called Euyn churchyard in 1540 and Jews Churchyard in the 19th century. (fn. 1) The origin of the
name is not known.
In 1659 an unlicensed tippler was reported in
the parish. (fn. 2) Victuallers had been licensed by
1674 and two were in business in 1690. A further
licence was issued in 1741. (fn. 3) The Malt Shovel
inn had been established at the junction of the
Wembdon road and Kidsbury Lane by 1785, (fn. 4)
and the present building replaced it in 1904. (fn. 5)
The Rest and Be Thankful inn was open in 1856,
the Cottage inn, combined with a grocer's shop,
in 1861, and Templer's inn, probably later the
Rock House inn, in 1875. (fn. 6) The Rock House
continued as an inn until 1899 or later; (fn. 7) the
Cottage inn was in business in 1987. In 1881 the
George coffee tavern was open in Wembdon
village and the British Flag public house in
Chilton Street, Newtown. (fn. 8) In 1947 a private
house called Halesleigh or Halesleigh Tower, at
the junction of Wembdon and Quantock roads,
was converted into the Quantock Gateway
Hotel. (fn. 9)
The Wembdon friendly society was established c. 1852 and was evidently re-formed in
1868. It was dissolved c. 1907. (fn. 10)
The population of the parish in 1801 was 244.
It rose to 296 in 1811 and with minor fluctuations reached 370 in 1841. In the next decade it
increased to 819, and by 1871 reached 1,107,
much of the increase housed in those parts of
the parish within Bridgwater borough. By 1881
the total was 1,299 and in 1901 1,842. The total
continued to rise as houses were built in the part
of Wembdon that had been added to Bridgwater.
In 1921 the population within the ancient parish
of Wembdon was 2,162 and in 1931 3,612. There
was little increase in the next two decades and
in 1951 the total of 4,011 comprised 3,116 in
Bridgwater borough and 895 in Wembdon civil
parish. In 1971 the total in the civil parish was
1,574 and in 1981 1,778. (fn. 11)