Village History

HISTORY OF PAWLETT

Written by Mrs Stella. M. Weatherdon (nee Haggett),

 Bella Vista, Pawlett (1948)

(Pawlett - spelt in Saxon times as Pavelet : in Norman times as Poulet

and later times spelt Powlet, Pawlet and Pawlett)

IN SAXON TIMES

There is little doubt that the history of our Village dates back to Saxon times, even before the time of Alfred the Great, who became King of the southern half of England in 871 A.D.  It is thought almost certain that the foundations of the NAVE of our Church are of Saxon origin and that a little stone Church existed here in the 7th Century.

THE SAXON VILLAGE

The Village in these early days would be just a clearing in the woods – a collection of little wooden huts and ruled by a Chief or Thane.   Roads would be mere rough tracks.

KING ALFRED AND THE DANES

But it is interesting to hear that King Alfred fought the Danes not far from our Village.  In 878 A.D. the Danes sailed up the River Parrett in their large boats to make a raid on the big Fort on Cannington Hill.  (called Cynwit Castle held by K. Alfred.)  Some landed on the Combwich side of the River and some on ‘the other side’ (probably near where White House stands), says the old Chronicle and, a battle was fought at Combwich, ending in a decisive victory for King Alfred.  But the larger force of the Danes, who were on our side of the River, were unable to cross over to assist their brethren because of the thick mud, the tide then being low, and Alfred, after winning the battle, was able to make his retreat to the Quantocks.

THE FIRST WARSHIPS

We have all heard that King Alfred was the founder of the English Navy and it is reputed that the first warship was built on the bank of the Parrett at Combwich.

THE  ‘COMBWICH PASSAGE’

There was a notable and historic ford across the River Parrett at the place near where White House now stands and it existed at least from Saxon times.  In fact, some people tell me they have actually seen some of the old stepping stones in the bed of the River at low tide.  The ford was known as ‘Combwich Passage’, but of course, could only be used at low tide (the River had not been banked and the land around would be often flooded and probably mostly swamp).   But, we are told that from Saxon times, Pilgrims used this route coming from the little sea-ports of Watchet and Minehead in West Somerset, on their way to worship at the shrines at Glastonbury.  Having crossed the River, they came along the beaten-track, now known as Ham Lane, passing through the little Village that existed here, probably wending their way down the “Pilgrims’ Path” (Church path leading off by Mrs Jeans’ house to the Barton Cottages – supposed to date back to Saxon times) to pause at the little Saxon Church before continuing their journey over the Polden Hills to Glastonbury.

MENTIONED IN DOMESDAY BOOK 1086

It is interesting to note that our Village is mentioned in the Domesday Book, which was compiled in the reign of William I, 1086.  Pawlett is called PAVELET.  It was owned by a powerful Norman Baron called Walter de Dowai, who was also Lord of Bridgwater, Horsey, Dunball, Walpole, Stretcholt, Huntspill and Burnham.   In fact, he was master of all the manors in the valley of the River Parrett and his castle was at Castle Cary.  I thought that the following extract from the Domesday Book (translated from the Latin) would be interesting:-  “Rademer holds of  Walter – Pavelet.   The arable land is one carucate (which is in demesne, with one servant and two bordars (cutters of wood etc.) and three cottagers (workmen) and five acres of meadow.  It was, and is, worth ten shillings.” (very interesting compared with today).

 (Note:  a ‘hide’ was 100 to 120 acres and was reckoned to be the average amount that a team of oxen could plough in one season.  ‘Bordars’ were labourers, such as cutters of wood, stone hewers, etc.  ‘Cottagers’ were workmen who were given a piece of land to cultivate for themselves, attached to their cottages).  The little Village was bounded by thick woods and the lands bordering along the River were mostly swamp.  Stretchill’ and ‘Wallepille’ are also mentioned in the Domesday Book as two separate Manors.  Stretchill was worth fifty shillings, Wallepilee – twenty shillings.

Stretchill  (note spelling)

Stretched along under the hill.

About 200 years ago it was known as Stretchold.

Wallepille (note spelling)

A ‘pille’ or ‘pill’ was a little creek in the River and possibly a mud bank or a wall had been made to keep back the water.  The name Wallepille in course of time, gradually became Walpole.

Gaunts

It was from the family known as the Gaunts that the hamlet got its name.  It was a Robert Gaunt, who (about 12th Century) ‘embanked from the sea a thousand acres, which have since been called Gaunt’s Ham’  (Note:  ‘ham’ is an old English word for ‘home’).  The land thus reclaimed became rich pastures.  A hamlet grew up nearby called Gaunts.  We have all heard of the famous John of Gaunt, to whom these lands descended in the 14th Century.  The following is an extract from John of Gaunt’s Will, bequeathing the Hams to his son.  “I John of Gaunt, do give and grant from me and mine, to thee and thine, all that portion of land known by the name of Pawlett Hams….”  Some years ago, a piece of an old tombstone was unearthed in the barton at Gaunt’s Farm, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that possibly a little church or chantry chapel once existed here.

The Manor of Pawlet given to Gaunt’s Hospital in Bristol – 13th Century

During the reign of Henry III (1216-1272) this Manor of Pawlett – Gaunts was owned by a nobleman called Robert de Gournay, a descendant of the Gaunts.  Robert de Gournay gave this Manor of Pawlett – Gaunts to the ‘Hospital of Gaunts’ in Bristol, in memory of its founder, (his Uncle), Maurice de Gaunt.   (This ‘Hospital’ was a home for the maintenance and support of a hundred poor people).  This Estate remained in the possession of this Hospital for three-hundred years, until its suppression by Henry VIII about 1536.  Then Pawlett Manor went back to the Crown.  (The Lord Mayor’s Chapel in College Green,  Bristol was built to serve the ‘Hospital of Gaunts’ and probably all that remains of this old Institution).

The family known as the Poulets

We are all interested in the family of the Poulets.  (The family became divided into several branches, spelling the name Poulett and Powlett).  The first of the Poulets was a French nobleman, named Hercules, from Picardy, who came to England in the 12th Century.  He was given lands in Pawlett (then spelt Poulet) and took his name from the place.  The Poulets held other lands in the locality including the Manor of Horsey, and Bere (near Cannington).  William de Poulet* had lands in Ham (Gaunts) and two new houses in Poulet in 13th Century.  They occupied a Manor House (not the present Manor House) here in the 14th Century, but they were never Lords of the Manor.  They remained in possession of certain lands here until the 16th Century when they eventually sold their lands to Richard Cooper.  The large oil painting hanging in the South Transept of Pawlett Church is that of the coat-of-arms of Queen Anne (early 18th Century).  It was presented to the Church by Lord Anne Poulet, who was Queen Anne’s godson.  He was M.P. of Bridgwater in 1768 -  (He, it was, who presented the beautiful altar picture to St Mary’s Church at Bridgwater).  Thus, the Poulets still took an interest in the home of their ancestors.  (Descendants of the Poulet family still live at the old mansion at Hinton St George, where, for hundreds of years they were Lords of the Manor).

*  William de Poulet occupied a house in Poulet in 13th Century.

How the Manor of Poulet came into the hands of the de Mauley family.

Henry VIII (16th Century) granted the Manor of Pawlett to a Richard Cooper, who was the ancestor of the Earl of Shaftesbury.  The present Lord de Mauley has a picture of the first Lord Shaftesbury, under which it is written:- “The Right Honourable Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury, Baron Ashley of Wimbourne St Giles and Lord Cooper of Pawlet,  Lord Chancellour of England, Lord Lieutenant of the County of Dorset and one of the Lords of the Most Honourable Privy Counsel to King Charles the Second Anno Domini 1673”.  Lord Cooper’s Estate comprised of the Village itself with the adjoining hamlets.  We are all interested in the de Mauley family, the last owners of the Estate.  Their family name was Ponsonby and the Manor came to the Ponsonby family by marriage in the 19th Century (beginning of the 19th Century).  The first Lord de Mauley (William Ponsonby) married Barbara, only daughter of the fifth Lord Shaftesbury.  On being raised to the peerage, he took the title de Mauley, which had been held by his wife’s ancestors, but had fallen into abeyance in 1415.

The first Lord de Mauley

Lord de Mauley did not reside in the Village and only came on rare occasions.  At such times, the Church bells were rung.  I am told that there is, at North Farm, a large coach-house, which was built to house the Lord’s coach, when he visited the Manor.  Lord de Mauley employed a steward, or estate-agent, who managed the Estate.  The latter was a very important person who exercised great authority.  Some of the older inhabitants can remember the late Mr Henry Smith-Spark, known as the Squire, who was agent for fifty years and died in 1904.  He, it was, who built the Manor-house.  It was originally a cottage, which he enlarged.

The second Lord de Mauley

He, it was, who created the Pawlett Hams as Lettings.  He pulled down all the farm houses and buildings, except the White House.  The present Lord de Mauley (his grandson) says he has a very old gun which was found in the thatch of one of these houses.  The fields were let annually, by auction, at the old ‘Shoulder of Mutton Inn’ (new Monmouth Farm, occupied by Mr Harry Fry).

The Ferry at White House

While we are on the subject of the Hams let us take a look at the White House, now almost in ruins and uninhabited.  For hundreds of years a ferry existed here and travellers were ferried across the River in boats.  It is only about the last thirty years that this practice has been discontinued.  Mr Clifford Wilkins’s grandfather – Thomas Wilkins, who lived at the White House for many years, kept a boat for this purpose.  Cattle were also conveyed in large boats known as ‘lighters’.  Rowing-boats were used for passengers.  The fare for a single person was 3d. for a man, and  a bicycle was 6d.   Before motor-cars became common, hikers and cyclists found the route a short cut to the Quantocks,  Minehead and the West Country, on their way from Bristol and the North.  (Note: before the Turnpike Road connecting Pawlett with Bridgwater was made in the first half of the 19th Century, the road to Bridgwater lay via Puriton Hill and the Bath Road.

Coaching Days

In the days of the stage-coach,  White House Inn was a very important junction for the West Country;  the coaches from Bristol and the North proceeded around Stretcholt, Lipyat Lane, Gaunts and Ham Lane to the White House Inn.  Here, travellers were ferried across to Combwich to get their connection at the Anchor Inn.  At the White House were large stables and, horses were exchanged for the return journey.  Letters were also carried by stage-coach.

The Pawlett Brickyard

The Pawlett Brickyard was a very flourishing business during last Century.  It was started about 1800 and closed down about 1895.  The business was owned by a Mr John Brown of Bridgwater and a very important man at one time Mayor of Bridgwater and a Justice of the Peace.  The land for the purpose, was leased to him by Lord de Mauley.   The Brickyard employed many men and the row of houses by the River were erected and one opposite for the foreman.  The row of cottages near the Chapel was built by the said Mr Brown and until only recently known as Brown’s Buildings.  Ships were loaded by the side of the River with bricks and tiles and took their cargoes far afield.  We are told, by Lord de Mauley, that Cape Town (South Africa) was roofed with Pawlett tiles.

The Manor about 50 years ago

In 1904, the Hon. Hubert William Ponsonby (then only a young man – now Lord de Mauley) came to reside at Pawlett at the Manor House, as sub-agent under Mr Tremayne Buller (brother of General Sir Redvers Buller) and succeeded Mr Buller as agent, two years later.

The Manor House

Many of us can remember what a lovely place the Manor House was in those days;  the beautiful drives, the well kept lawn, the conservatory stocked with choice flowering plants, the greenhouses and kitchen gardens laid out with fruit trees, the peaches, pears, apricots, nectarines and figs trained around the sunny walls, the stables that housed the lovely horses in their sleeky coats, tended so carefully by the groom.  We, as children, looked upon the place with a kind of awe.

The Villages

The people of the Village were like one big family and all looked up to the Lord of the Manor as their head.  Practically everyone paid rent to him for his house and land.  House-rents were cheap compared with today.  One could rent a fair-sized cottage for 1/- (one shilling) per week.   Lord de Mauley employed his own carpenters, carters, masons, etc., to do the work of the Estate.

Changes in the Village within the last 50 years

The Village has seen great changes since those days, owing to the selling of the Estate.  There was only a sprinkling of houses in the Village itself compared with today.  Out of a total of some 135 houses today (including bungalows) there were only 88 houses in the whole Village and the population has increased by nearly half.  The Old Post Office was, for many years, opposite the old ‘Shoulder of Mutton’ Farm, which was previously an Inn, but was closed in 1883. There used to be a BLACKSMITH’S SHOP and the ‘clang-on-the-anvil’ was a familiar sound in the Village shops.  There was also the Village baker.  The bake-house and oven were next to the shop. The almshouses, were where aged widows lived at a rent of 7½d. per week. There are still some very old houses in the Village.  Quite a few date back to more than 300 years.

Amusements in the Old Days : Pawlett Fair

One old custom, I am told, was the holding of the Pawlett Fair, in the centre of the Village – near the ‘Shoulder of Mutton’ Inn.   Horses, cattle and sheep were sold, stalls set up and amusements held in the paddock attached to the Inn.  There was always a performing bear with a pole, which was always a feature of these fairs.

The Meets

It was a great day when the ‘Meet of the Hounds’ took place at Pawlett.  The hunters worked the south side of the Village as far as the White House, where a luncheon was prepared for them (this always included a large salmon from the River Parrett).  Resuming the hunt, they worked the north side of the Village, finally ending the day’s sport with another spread in the ‘Pound’ (the large barn next to Miss Groves’ house).

Club Fetes

The Druids’ Club held their fete every summer and on this day the whole Village turned out dressed in their best.  A procession, headed by a band, marched around the Village.  Sports and amusements were held in a field and tea served in a large marquee.  A great thing was the athletics performed by the young men, who often competed in a 4-mile walking or running match from Bridgwater.

The Disposal of the Estate

It was a sad loss to the Village when the Hon. Hubert William Ponsonby (now the present Lord de Mauley) went to serve his King and Country in 1914 (his elder brother was killed in action).  In 1918 he inherited the Estate from his Uncle, but he found it necessary to sell it and so started a new chapter in the history of the Village.  But a very generous gesture on the part of Lord de Mauley was the gift of the Playground to the Village-children – for all time and it will always remind us of the Mauley family.  At his Lordship’s request, a Walnut Tree was planted in the corner, by the Church gates, at an impressive little ceremony, which took place at the time.

I wrote to Lord de Mauley for certain particulars and he very kindly sent me a most helpful letter.  His Lordship concluded by saying that he was afraid there were not very many people now living at Pawlett who remembered him, but he expressly asked me to convey to all, his very best wishes.

--------------------oOo--------------------

By kind permission from Nigel Coombes
Last printed in The village welcome packs on behalf of Churches Together in Pawlett, typed by Margaret Sims