Pendomer
| Pendomer | |
| Somerset | |
|---|---|
 Pendomer | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST522104 |
| Location: | 50°53’31"N, 2°40’49"W |
| Data | |
| Postcode: | BA22 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Somerset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Yeovil |
Pendomer is a small village in the south of Somerset, found four and a half miles south-west of Yeovil, and beside the border with Dorset.
In 1919, the parish covered 1,114 acres.[1] The contiguous parishes were Hardington Mandeville, East Coker, and Halstock.[2]
The village of Pendomer stands at the end of a no through road, with access by way of Hardington, East Coker and Halstock.
Geography
The surrounding vale is on fuller's earth clay, which can be sticky after prolonged rainfall.[3]
Birt's Hill, which is over 500 feet above sea level, was, in 1887, used to fire signal rockets to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.[4]
Other high ground is at Kit Hill (336), Pen Hill (365), and Abbot's Hill (c. 400).
Broad River, a tributary of the River Parrett, rises in the fields south of the village.
Pen Wood lies on the northern slope of Birt's Hill. In 1958, the Forestry Commission bought the wood (which covered 242 acres) along with other land in Pendomer, East Coker, and Sutton Bingham. Between 1964 and 1967, the Commission cleared and replanted 80% of the area, leaving the remainder to conserve the flora and fauna.[5]
The railway line between Exeter and London Waterloo runs through the parish.
The Macmillan Way Abbotsbury-Langport Link crosses the parish diagonally from northwest to southeast, intersecting with the village.[6]
History
The Domesday Book has an entry for Pendomer under the name "Penne."[7] In the 12th century, "domer" was added to denote ownership by the Domer family.[8]
Pendomer's tithe map was surveyed by William Wadham of Martock in 1840.[9]
The railway line was built between 1858 and 1860. The single track line was opened on 19 July 1860, and subsequently improved to double lines, which was opened on 1 June 1866.[10] Two ganger's cottages stood near the bridge at Kit Hill until their demolition in the late 1960s.
During the 19th and early 20th century, the Helyar/Heneage family of Coker Court owned much of the parish. This family also held the advowson of the church until 1958.[11]
In the 19th and early 20th century, the farms in the parish comprised Abbot's Hill, Bryant's, Grove, Kit Hill, Lower Pen, Manor, Parsonage, and Pen Hill.
A school opened in the village in 1875.[12][13] In the 1880s, it closed and the village children were sent to East Coker School instead.
During the Second World War, Austin, Arthur, and Alan Whetham (three brothers born in the village) and John Philip Jones (of Pen Hill Farm) made up half of the top secret "Coker Patrol", part of Churchill's clandestine resistance network.[14] Alan Whetham later joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and was killed in action in Belgium in February 1945.[15]
In literature
In Thomas Hardy's poem, "At Wynyard's Gap", the unnamed gentleman tells his female hunting companion that the hounds have headed in full cry "Towards Pen Wood...and bear towards the Yeo."[16]
Outside links
- Manorial documents register
- Entry for Pendomer in John Collinson's History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset (1791)
References
- ↑ Kelly's Directory of the County of Somerset, 1919. London: Kelly's Directories Ltd. 1919. pp. 360–61.
- ↑ Humphery-Smith, Cecil R., ed (1984). The Phillimore atlas and index of parish registers. Chichester: Phillimore. pp. Map 30. ISBN 978-0-85033-398-5.
- ↑ Forestry Commission (c. 1968). Pen Wood Trail. pp. 2.
- ↑ "The Jubilee Beacon Fires". Western Gazette: pp. 8. 10 June 1887.
- ↑ Forestry Commission (c. 1968). The Pen Wood Trail. pp. 1.
- ↑ www.jameskirby.me.uk, MKH Computer Services Ltd-www mkh-computer-services co uk / James Kirby-. "Long Distance Walkers Association" (in en-GB). https://www.ldwa.org.uk/.
- ↑ Thorn, Caroline; Thorn, Frank (1980). Domesday book. History from the sources. Chichester: Phillimore. pp. ref 19, 51. ISBN 978-0-85033-367-1.
- ↑ "Sir John Domer (d. after 1321) Pendomer (Somerset) – Church Monuments Society". https://churchmonumentssociety.org/monument-of-the-month/sir-john-domer-d-after-1321-pendomer-somerset.
- ↑ Kain, Roger J. P.; Oliver, Richard R. (1995-07-20) (in en). The Tithe Maps of England and Wales: A Cartographic Analysis and County-by-County Catalogue. Cambridge University Press. pp. 444. ISBN 978-0-521-44191-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=SeuA3zA6GJUC&dq=pendomer+tithe+map+roger&pg=PA444.
- ↑ John Nicholas and George Reeve (2009). Main Line to the West; the Southern Railway Route between Basingstoke & Exeter-part 3 Yeovil to Exeter. Irwell Press Ltd. pp. 3.
- ↑ "Page 6495 | Issue 41531, 24 October 1958 | London Gazette | The Gazette". https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/41531/page/6495.
- ↑ "Appointment". Western Gazette 1: pp. 8. 5 October 1875.
- ↑ "Pendomer and Sutton Bingham School". Western Gazette: pp. 5. 2 April 1880.
- ↑ "CART Auxiliary Unit Research" (in en). https://www.staybehinds.com/patrol/east-coker-patrol.
- ↑ "CART Auxiliary Unit Research" (in en). https://www.staybehinds.com/alan-lionel-whetham.
- ↑ Hardy, Thomas; Hardy, Thomas (1981). Gibson, James. ed. The complete poems of Thomas Hardy. The new Wessex edition / Thomas Hardy. Gen. ed.: P. N. Furbank (New Wessex ed., repr ed.). London: Macmillan. pp. 745. ISBN 978-0-333-32538-4.