Bicknoller
| Bicknoller | |
| Somerset | |
|---|---|
 Church of St George, Bicknoller | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST110396 |
| Location: | 51°8’57"N, 3°16’21"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 371 |
| Post town: | Taunton |
| Postcode: | TA4 |
| Dialling code: | 01984 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Somerset West and Taunton |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Bridgwater & W. Somerset |
Bicknoller is a village on the western slopes of the Quantock Hills in Somerset.
The village is on the routes of the Coleridge Way and of the Macmillan Way West.
History
Above the village lies Trendle Ring, an Iron Age settlement.
The village was known in 1291 as Bykenalre which means Bica's alder tree.[1]
From 1430 to 1857 the manor was held by Wells Cathedral.[1]
Parish church
Part of the Church of St George dates from the 12th century and its churchyard is dominated by a huge elm tree. The church is a Grade I listed building.[2]
The church is decorated with a collection of carved angels and nightmarish animal heads. There is a memorial to William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, who spent his holidays in the village from 1933–44.[3]
About the village
Although it is closer to the neighbouring village of Halsway, Halsway Manor falls within the parish of Bicknoller. It is a manor house, now used as England's National Centre for Traditional Music, Dance and Song. The eastern end of the building dates from the fifteenth century; the western end is a nineteenth-century addition.
The manor is mentioned in the Domesday Book. The manor house was built by Cardinal Beaufort as a hunting lodge.[4] At one point it was occupied by insurrectionist Jack Cade.[4] Thereafter it was a family home until the mid-1960s,[5] when it became the folk music centre. The manor house is now a Grade II* listed building.[6]
Thorncombe House was built in 1744 by the Sweeting family, but has since had a 19th-century facade added.[1] It is Grade II listed.[7]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bicknoller) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Bush, Robin (1994). Somerset: The complete guide. Wimborne, Dorset: Dovecote Press. pp. 35–36. ISBN 1-874336-26-1. https://archive.org/details/somersetcomplete0000bush/page/35.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1057465: Church of St George
- ↑ Waite, Vincent (1964). Portrait of the Quantocks. London: Robert Hale. ISBN 0-7091-1158-4.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Page, John Lloyd Warden (1895). An Exploration of Exmoor and the Hill Country of West Somerset: With Notes on Its Archaeology. Seeley & Co. Ltd. https://archive.org/details/anexplorationex00pagegoog.
- ↑ "About Halsway Manor". Pictures of England. Archived from the original on 5 November 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20071105021856/http://www.picturesofengland.com/England/Somerset/Crowcombe/Halsway_Manor. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1057472: Halsway Manor
- ↑ National Heritage List 1174160: Thorncombe House