Barwick, Somerset

Barwick
Somerset
St Mary Magdalene, Barwick
Location
Grid reference:	ST564139
Location:	50°55’24"N, 2°37’14"W
Data
Population:	1,221  (2011)
Post town:	Yeovil
Postcode:	BA22
Dialling code:	01935
Local Government
Council:	South Somerset
Parliamentary constituency:	Yeovil

Barwick is a village in Somerset, in the south of the county about two miles south of Yeovil and by the border with Dorset. The wider parish (which includes the village of Stoford) had a population of 1,221 in 2011.

The name of the village is Old English and means either 'farm village' or 'barley village'.

History

The earliest signs of habitation in the area were the relics of a Bronze Age burial which were found in 1826, a little to the north of the village of Stoford, which may be a Saxon name derived from Stow-Ford.

The earliest surviving written mention of Barwick being in 1185.

In the Middle Ages, Stoford was shown as a new town and in an Inquisition or survey of 1273 there were 74 burgages each paying 10d a year. The total population of the borough in 1273 was probably over 500. Stoford kept its borough status for at least 300 years. A guildhall was mentioned in 1361 and there is proof of a separate borough court. There was still a 'borough of Stoford' in the musters of 1569.

Barwick Park

Jack the Treacle Eater, one of the Barwick follies

The estate originally formed part of the property of Syon Abbey, and passed through various hands after the Dissolution in the 1530s. The present house and park are thought to have been built in 1770 by John and Grace Newman, whose relations owned neighbouring Newton Surmaville.

The house was set in pleasure grounds containing a lake and grotto, while the surrounding parkland was ornamented with a Gothic lodge and a group of four follies: the Barwick Park Follies.

In the early 19th century the estate passed to Thomas Messiter, a barrister, who was John Newman's nephew and in 1830 the mansion was remodelled in a Jacobean Revival style. An orangery was constructed adjoining the north side at the same period.

During the early 20th century the estate was let to various persons.

During the Second World War, Barwick Park was the location of a prisoner of war camp, initially housing Italian prisoners from the Western Desert Campaign, and later German prisoners after the Battle of Normandy.

Following derequisition of the property, after the war, the Messiter family carried out considerable modernisation and repairs and took up residence. They remained there until some time in the 1960s.

From the early 1970s through to the mid-1980s the mansion and surrounding grounds were let to Pagems Schools Ltd and Headmaster Major Arthur Gray for use as a privately run boarding school attracting boys from London, Liverpool, Bristol, Swansea and several other areas around the country. The school was also part of the Sea Cadet Corps, known as T.S. Gryphon with affiliations to HMS Hampshire (D06)|H.M.S. Hampshire and nearby RNAS Yeovilton H.M.S. Heron. The school closed around 1986/87 due to bankruptcy.

In the 1990s the estate was sold to a private owner, and substantial repairs were carried out to the house, orangery and landscape structures. The site remains in private ownership.

Barwick Park follies

Main article: Barwick Park Follies

Barwick Park boasts four follies. Locals say they were built to give the estate labourers work during a time of depression in the 1820s. They were possibly commissioned by George Messiter of Barwick to mark the park boundaries at the four cardinal points: Jack the Treacle Eater to the east, the Fish Tower in the north, Messiter's Cone (or the Rose Tower), which is 75 feet high at the west and the Needle to the south. Paintings of Barwick House in the 1780s, forty years earlier, include two of the follies.

The follies collectively rank on Countryfile's 2009 countdown of "Britain's top 10 follies".

The church

The parish church, St Mary Magdalene is just off the A37 at the western end of the village, about half a mile away from the main centre of population.

The church was built before 1219 as a chapel of the minster church in Yeovil. It has been rebuilt and restored since, particularly in the 1850 when the chancel was rebuilt. The parish is now part of the benefice of Holy Trinity, Yeovil.

The most architecturally significant features of the church are the bench ends, dating from 1533 - the eve of the Reformation. The bench ends depict scenes from village life as well as typical symbolism from that period such as the Green Man and the unicorn, a symbol of eternal life. There are also religious objects dating back much earlier, presumably from the church originally on the site, e.g. the Norman font.

The church has been designated as a Grade II* listed building.

Sport

A short lived greyhound racing track was opened on Saturday 22 August 1931 at Barwick Field on Long Lane near Barwick Park. The racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the National Greyhound Racing Club) and was known as a flapping track, which was the nickname given to independent tracks. The race distance was 525 yards, the racing ended in early 1932.

Gallery

• 
  The Cone
• 
  Jack the Treacle Eater
• 
  Fish Tower
• 
  The Royal Oak in Stoford

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Barwick, Somerset)