Kingston St Mary
| Kingston St Mary | |
| Somerset | |
|---|---|
 St Mary's Church, Kingston St Mary | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST225295 |
| Location: | 51°3’34"N, 3°6’26"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 921 (2011) |
| Post town: | Taunton |
| Postcode: | TA2 |
| Dialling code: | 01823 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Somerset West and Taunton |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Taunton Deane |
Kingston St Mary is a village in Somerset, at the southern end of the Quantock Hills four miles north of Taunton. The village has a population of 921.
The parish includes the hamlets of Yarford which includes the grade II Cutley Farmhouse[1] and Fulford where Fulford House was built about 1830, which is a grade II listed building.[2]
History
The first part of the village name comes from the kings settlement having belonged to the kings of the West Saxons before being ceded to the Bishop of Winchester as part of the manor of Taunton Deane, with the church's dedication being added in the 20th century.[3]
About the village
The manor house on Lodes Lane dates from around 1560. It was originally known as Lodes and was probably built for Robert Knight whose descendants subsequently altered it.[4]
Tetton House dates from 1790 and was enlarged and mainly rebuilt in 1924-6 by Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel for H M Herbert.[5]
The Grange was built around 1862, by Sir George Gilbert Scott for Mr Steele Perkins,[6] and was visited by the future prime minister Anthony Eden during his holidays.[3] It was later converted into an old peoples home. It is unlikely that the Grange was built by Scott but according to letters from Scott's architect Richard Coad, Scott did 'trifling alterations to a small house for Mr Perkins'.[6]
Parish church
The Church of St Mary, Kingston St Mary's parish church, stands on the Quantock Hills: it dates from the 13th century but the tower is from the early 16th century and was reroofed in 1952, with further restoration 1976–8. It is a 3-stage crenellated tower, with crocketed pinnacles with bracketed pinnacles set at angles, decorative pierced merlons, and set back buttresses crowned with pinnacles.[7]
The churchyard includes tombs of the Warre family who owned nearby Hestercombe House.[8]
Events
Kingston St Mary, has long been home to a country & folk music festival located at Yarford Farm, named Yarstock. The festival has run since the mid 2000s, the festival has taken on cult status in some circles.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about St Mary Kingston St Mary) |
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1307850: Cutley Farmhouse (Grade II listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1307928: Fulford House (Grade II listing)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Bush, Robin (1994). Somerset: The complete guide. Wimborne: The Dovecote Press Ltd. pp. 125. ISBN 1-874336-26-1. https://archive.org/details/somersetcomplete0000bush/page/125.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1060501: The Manor House (Grade II* listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1307958: Tetton House and terrace to garden on South front (Grade II* listing)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 National Heritage List 1344486: The Grange and East boundary wall (Grade II listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1176326: St Mary's church, Kingston St Mary (Grade I listing)
- ↑ Waite, Vincent (1964). Portrait of the Quantocks. London: Robert Hale. ISBN 0-7091-1158-4.