East Pennard
| East Pennard | |
| Somerset | |
|---|---|
 Church of All Saints, East Pennard | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST595375 |
| Location: | 51°8’7"N, 2°34’34"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 348 (2011) |
| Post town: | Shepton Mallet |
| Postcode: | BA4 |
| Dialling code: | 01749 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Mendip |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Somerton and Frome |
East Pennard is a village in Somerset sitting four miles north-west of Castle Cary and five miles south of Shepton Mallet.
The 2011 censuus recorded a population of 348 in a parish which includes the hamlets of Stone, Parbrook and Huxham.
Since the village is close to the site of the Glastonbury Festival, residents receive free tickets to the Festival.
History
The village takes its name from the ancient British language or Old Welsh, from penn-ardd meaning high hill.[1]
The estate was granted by King Edred to Ælfgyth, a nun of Wilton and she transferred it to Glastonbury Abbey. The Abbey retained the manor until the Dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. It then given to William Paulet and eventually to his descendants the Napiers of Tintinhull.[1]
East Pennard is part of the county's Whitstone Hundred, while Stone is within the [[Carhampton Hundred.
Parish church
The parish church, the Church of All Saints, dates from the 14th century.
Its tower contains a clock and five bells; the second heaviest peal of five bells in the world.[2]
Within the church is a Norman font and several stained-glass windows, also an altar screen and monuments of the Martines and Napiers. It is a grade I listed building.[3]
Huxham Green
The hamlet of Huxham Green is just off the A37, south of Shepton Mallet. It is notable for the large area of common land at its centre (comprising two adjoining registered commons).[4][5] This is one of the few areas of common land in this part of Somerset and is thought to have once been a holding area for cattle being driven to the markets at Lydford-on-Fosse and Glastonbury. Several public footpaths extend across the surrounding countryside. Huckeymead Lane, which crosses the common, ends at a bridleway that leads to the Monarch's Way.
Local wildlife include roe deer, barn owls and (in the large pond on the common) greater-crested newts.
Huxham Green includes four farms which date back to the Middle Ages and were once owned by Glastonbury Abbey. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the farms passed into private ownership and in the nineteenth century one of the farms was owned by Wadham College, of the University of Oxford.
The southern edge of Huxham Green is marked by the Fosse Way (now the A37).
Huxham Green has a small airfield and a bed and breakfast establishment which is one of the closest accommodations to the Glastonbury Festival site. There are two vineyards nearby, a car repair business, a wedding venue and a local cheesemaker.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about East Pennard) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bush, Robin (1994). Somerset: The Complete Guide. Dovecote Press. p. 93. ISBN 1-874336-26-1. https://archive.org/details/somersetcomplete0000bush/page/93.
- ↑ Harris, Brian (2006). Harris's Guide to Churches and Cathedrals: Discovering the unique and unusual in over 500 churches and cathedrals. Ebury Press. pp. 120. ISBN 978-0091912512. https://books.google.com/books?id=bBj6l7e-kAoC&pg=PA120&lpg=PA120&dq=East+Pennard++heaviest+five+bells&source=bl&ots=pOFjD9oFVW&sig=9cmr4p7fC4E_mSA39O8UY_4vC00&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9giyUJbOF8TW0QWAtoG4Aw&ved=0CCwQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=East%20Pennard%20%20heaviest%20five%20bells&f=false.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1058488: Church of All Saints
- ↑ "Common Land Registration No. CL31". http://www.acraew.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/Somerset/HUXHAM%20GREEN%20-%20EAST%20PENNARD%20NO.CL.31.pdf.
- ↑ "Common Land Registration No. CL71". http://www.acraew.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/Somerset/HUXHAM%20GREEN%20-%20EAST%20PENNARD%20NO.CL.71.pdf.
