Martock

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Martock
Somerset

All Saints, Martock
Location
Grid reference: ST463192
Location: 50°58’13"N, 2°45’55"W
Data
Population: 4,766  (2011)
Post town: Martock
Postcode: TA12
Dialling code: 01935
Local Government
Council: Somerset
Parliamentary
constituency: 		Glastonbury and Somerton

Martock is a large village in the south of Somerset, sitting on the edge of the Somerset Levels, seven miles north-west of Yeovil. The wider parish includes Hurst, about one mile south of the village, and Bower Hinton to the west. The A303 runs by just south of Martock.

The village had a recorded population of 4,766 at the 2011 census. It was historically a market town.[1]

Name

Martock is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Mertoch. Its name is said by some scholars to mean 'Rising bright from the shining sea' from the Old English meretorht ('sea-radiant' or 'lake-radiant'). The manor was the property of Edith (Eagdith), wife of Godwin and mother of Earl Harold (Harold II). By 1066 it was the property of Queen Edith, wife of Edward the Confessor.

As an alternative, the root word 'Mer-’ might be the Old English mære' meaning a boundary, and the name may come from the Old English element stoc, for an enclosed place.[2]

A further alternative theory for the name Martock is that it a market oak; "mart ac",[3] , but the word 'Mart' for a market is a later Mediaeval usage and the market was founded only in 1247; both long after the name was first recorded.

Ekwall suggested that the name derives from merkestoc meaning 'a place on a boundary'.[4]

Prebendary G.W. Saunders, vicar of Martock from 1917 to 1951, cites two more possibilities: one (from 1790) was the 'market oak' idea. His second suggestion is that the name is derived from a Celtic personal name 'Merti'; hence Merti-oc, the settlement of Merti. Both of these seem to be flights of fancy.[5]

Bower Hinton was called 'Hanton Mertoc' in 1225 and 'Burhenton' in 1280. 'Hinton' meaning a poor enclosure, from the Old English 'hean' and 'tun'.[2]

Newton means the new enclosure from the Old English 'niwe' and 'tun'. The mediæval hamlet of Newton, which lay between Bower Hinton and Hurst, was first referred to in 1327.[2] Stapleton was first recorded in 1195. It means the steep enclosure from the Old English 'steap' and 'tun', or from the Old English 'stapel' and 'tun', meaning 'settlement by a post'.[2]

History

Martock had a single entry in the Domesday Book and expanded rapidly in the succeeding years to include dependent settlements at Bower Hinton, Hurst, Newton, Coat, Stapleton, Ash, Witcombe, Milton and Long Load, expanding between 1086 and 1302 from 89 tenants to more than 200.[6] It was the only parish in the Martock Hundred hundred.[7][8]

In 1810, 1,025 acres of common land were enclosed as a result of the Inclosure Acts.[9]

The village was once a junction on local branches of the Great Western Railway, now dismantled.

Economy

Local businesses include arts and crafts (stonemasonry, woodworking, silversmithing) a reclamation yard,[10] and a fish and chip shop. Historically a market town, these days a monthly farmers market is held in Martock.[11]

Landmarks

The Market House and cross

The Treasurer's House is a National Trust-owned property, built from hamstone during the 13th century.[12]

Notable dwelling houses include Church Lodge. Local places of interest include the Burrow Hill Cider Farm.

The Parrett Iron Works was a series of industrial buildings next to the River Parrett. The site was originally named Carey's Mill and the adjoining bridge is called Carey's Mill Bridge, which was built of hamstone in the 18th century.[13] The Iron Works was founded in 1855,[14][15] on the site of a former snuff mill.[16] The site included a foundry, with a prominent chimney,[17] ropewalk,[18] workshops[19][20] and several smaller workshops and cottages.[21][22][23][24] The sluice which powered the waterwheel[25] and sluice keepers cottage still exist.[26]

The hamstone Market House on Church Street was completed about 1785.[27] It is a Grade II listed building.[28] A grant of £190,000 was obtained from the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore the building and establish a community office on the ground floor in 2008.[29] In front of the Market House is a Market Cross, also known as The Pinnacle, with a column which dates from 1741 with a fluted Tuscan order column, on a stepped plinth, which supports a ball finial crowned with a wrought iron weathervane.[30]

Madey Mill is a Grade II* listed watermill with mediæval origins. The current buildings date from the 17th century.[31] It has suffered from a lack of maintenance and has been placed on the Heritage at Risk Register.

Parish church

The Church of All Saints dates from the 13th century. It was acquired by the Treasurer of Wells Cathedral in 1227 and he became the rector and patron of the church.[32] The church was restored by Benjamin Ferrey, who was architect to the Diocese of Bath and Wells from 1841 until his death, and also in 1883–84 by Ewan Christian. The tower was built in four stages, to replace the previous one over the central crossing. It has offset corner buttresses to the full height of the tower. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.[33] It is said to be the second largest in Somerset and has unique carved wooden statues in the eaves.

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Martock)

References

  1. ↑ West Country Genealogy Martock Parish, Somerset
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Robinson, Stephen (1992). Somerset Place Names. Wimborne, Dorset: The Dovecote Press Ltd. p. 95. ISBN 1-874336-03-2. 
  3. ↑ Robinson, W.J. (1915). West Country Churches. Bristol: Bristol Times and Mirror Ltd. pp. 6–10. 
  4. ↑ Ekwall, Eilert, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 4th edition, 1960. p. 317 ISBN 0198691033
  5. ↑ 'The Hundred of Martock', Prebendary G.W. Saunders, Yeovil (Western Gazette), 1933–34.
  6. ↑ Havinden, Michael. The Somerset Landscape. The making of the English landscape. London: Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 107–108. ISBN 0-340-20116-9. 
  7. ↑ "Hundred: Martock". Open Domesday. http://opendomesday.org/hundred/martock/. 
  8. ↑ Martock Hundred: Introduction
  9. ↑ Havinden, Michael (1982). The Somerset Landscape. The making of the English landscape. London: Hodder and Stoughton. p. 133. ISBN 0-340-20116-9. 
  10. ↑ "Castle reclamation". Castle reclamation. http://www.castlereclamation.com/. 
  11. ↑ Martock Online Farmers Market
  12. ↑ National Heritage List 1225764: The Treasurer's House (Grade II listing)
  13. ↑ National Heritage List 1266523: Carey's Mill Bridge (Grade II listing)
  14. ↑ National Heritage List 1225080: Mill at Parrett Iron Works (Grade II listing)
  15. ↑ "Former rope walk, about 65 metres south-east of main building, Parrett Iron Works, Carey's Mill". Somerset Historic Environment Record. Somerset County Council. http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/52616. 
  16. ↑ "Mill at Parrett Iron Works, Martock, Somerset". Heritage Explorer. English Heritage. http://www.heritageexplorer.org.uk/web/he/searchdetail.aspx?id=7888. Template:Dead link
  17. ↑ National Heritage List 1225752: Boiler Chimney (Grade II listing)
  18. ↑ National Heritage List 1225754: Former Rope Walk etc, Carey's Mill (Grade II listing)
  19. ↑ National Heritage List 1266185: Workshop buildings etc, Carey's Mill (Grade II listing)
  20. ↑ National Heritage List 1225753: Workshop building etc. Carey's Mill (Grade II listing)
  21. ↑ National Heritage List 1266186: Nos. 1 & 2 Parrett Works Cottages (Grade II listing)
  22. ↑ National Heritage List 1225756: Nos. 3 & 4 Parrett Works Cottages (Grade II listing)
  23. ↑ National Heritage List 1225757: Nos. 5 & 6 Parrett Works Cottages (Grade II listing)
  24. ↑ National Heritage List 1225078: Carey's Mill Cottage (Grade II listing)
  25. ↑ National Heritage List 1266524: Waterwheel house (Grade II listing)
  26. ↑ National Heritage List 1266221: Sluice and sluice keepers house (Grade II listing)
  27. ↑ "Martock Information Centre". Martock Community Website. https://www.martock.org.uk/directory/martock-information-centre/. 
  28. ↑ National Heritage List 1225758: The Market House (Grade II listing)
  29. ↑ "Martock Community Office". Somerset Rural Renaissance. http://www.somerset-rural-renaissance.co.uk/projects-martock-community-office.html. 
  30. ↑ National Heritage List 1266188: Market Cross (Grade II listing)
  31. ↑ National Heritage List 1226550: Madey Mill (Grade II* listing)
  32. ↑ Leete-Hodge, Lornie (1985). Curiosities of Somerset. Bodmin: Bossiney Books. p. 81. ISBN 0-906456-98-3. 
  33. ↑ National Heritage List 1065888: Church of All Saints (Grade I listing)
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