A Concise Potted History of South Petherton
By Tom Balch
Situated in fertile arable country to the west of the flat, sandy, Yeovil Sands, on a hillside above the meandering river Parrett, in the heart of South Somerset, South Petherton is more than a village and yet less than a town. With a 1991 population of 3,047 (estimated to now be 3,500+) South Petherton is only marginally smaller than the ancient capital of Saxon Wessex, Somerton, whose current population is around 4,000, and the well know market town of Ilminster. Indeed South Petherton is the 7th largest settlement in the local council’s jurisdiction but is still only classed as a village, despite having been granted a Market Charter by King John in 1213. Petherton was also a Saxon burgh and markets, Court Leets and an annual fair were held in South Petherton up until 1870.
South Petherton stands where it stood a thousand years ago, representing a common trend for good agricultural villages to cling to certain inhabited spots for long periods of time. The name ‘South Petherton’ is thought to be derived from the nearby river Parrett, although in other evidence ‘Petherton’ seems to come from the ancient British word ‘Pared’ meaning boundary and the Saxon word ‘ton’ for settlement, forming ‘Paredton’.
This explanation seems to be accurate, as the River Parrett did form the South West boundary between the ancient British lands of Dummonia and Kernow and the “lost lands” or Lloydyr (England) held by the Saxons during the Internecine wars of the 7th and 8th century.
People have settled on the site of modern day Petherton since the earliest nomadic hunters of pre-history. The first true settlement, built on the high land above Mere Lynches at Stoodham, was occupied by tribes of ancient Britons, obviously attracted by the fertile arable land, safe from the tidal flooding much of the surrounding low lying Somerset Levels experienced at the time. The area was also a good defensive site, with its steep sided slopes and far reaching views over the low land (reasons which reputedly later attracted the Romans to build a fort on the same site) and it is claimed, in The Saxon Chronicle of 680a.d that this site, ‘Pedridia’ as the script calls it, was the site of a major battle in which King Kenwalk finally defeated the British. This may or may not be strictly true, but South Petherton did become an important settlement in Saxon times and the palace of King Ina of the Kingdom of Wessex was built on present day Silver Street at the site of the 14th century manor of the Daubeny or `De Albini` family who owned the manor from 1225 when it was granted as a gift from the Crown (formalised c.1243).
From 1017-1066 Petherton was also the site of an important mint and recent excavations in Lightgate Road have unearthed a major forge and pottery site from a slightly earlier period.
Hayes End ManorPrior to the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, visited South Petherton in the hope of raising support for his rebellion which was finally ended at Sedgemoor, twenty miles north. In 1680 he stayed a night at Hayes End Manor while touring the South West, gauging gentry support should he claim the English Crown for himself. Indeed while at the house one of his officer was killed by a servant girl. When the rebellion arrived on the death of his father nine of Pethertons young men joined him to fight for control of the country, but, just weeks later, after Monmouths defeat, Judge Jefferies swept past Petherton to administer his Assizes and try the collaborators, three of which were hung in a gateway, which still exists today in St. James’s Street. Legend also claims further conspirators were hung at the cross roads to the West of the village beyond what is now Compton Road.
A mysterious story from the same period concerns the statue of the two children at Petherton bridge, a mile down the A303 and opposite the remains of an old mill. The statue is very old and shrouded in mystery having first been part of the structure of the Roman bridge that had carried the Fosse Way over the River Parrett. Today it stands separate as the bridge was rebuilt in the 1960’s to take a greater volume of traffic but the stone replaced along side it.
The statue is thought to date to the 17th century and depicts two three feet high child like figures, one male and one female, which are generally thought to have drowned in the river, as near the spot is a locally infamous whirl pool which is believed to cover the entrance to an underground cave system. No matter why the statue was built it is an extremely sad and emotive place.
Thomas CokeFrom 1772-1776 Thomas Coke, founder of Methodism along with John Wesley, was the curate of the village and the present Methodist church is named in his memory, while there is a plaque in his honour on the old Crombleholmes shop in St James Street In more recent history South Petherton played host for over twenty years to a world renowned Folk Festival encompassing a long weekend of Morris dancing, fairs, arts and crafts, magicians and music, firstly in the square and later throughout the whole village. People from around the world came to double Petherton’s population for one weekend a year.
Modern day Petherton is a bustling, lively centre with many shops retaining their original Edwardian and Georgian fronts and providing services to the small outlying hamlets which, once agricultural based, now provide homes to many commuters. The basis of the community has always traditionally been agriculture, interspersed by glove making, cider production and other cottage industries, many of which have folded in recent years.
South Petherton lies just off the major A303 trunk road from London to Penzance, giving it good communication links to most parts of the country, being just 8 miles from the main industrial centre of this rural area at Yeovil, the home of the multi national GKN Westlands Helicopter factory, and just 18 miles from the county town of Taunton and access to the motorway network.
The proximity of the Westlands headquarters has, along with the Yeovil glove factories, traditionally provided South Petherton people with employment opportunities outside agriculture, a fact made possible by the excellent bus links to Yeovil on the famous Safeway buses (33 buses a day in the 1930’s and still 9 today).
St Peter & st Paul's ChurchThe historical nucleus of the present village is situated around the 15th century church of St. Peter and St. Paul in a tight nucleated arrangement based around the pub and the market place which joins the main thoroughfare full of small shops. The church, with provision for 350 people, has one of the largest octagonal towers in the country and was added to the existing church in 1540, showing that the village must have been affluent even then to afford such a construction. With no buildings in the centre out dating the present church it seems probable that this late medieval nucleus developed on its present site only after the church was constructed, the people probably moving down from the ancient settlements on the higher land at Stoodham.
The two manor houses in South Petherton, that of Thomas Daubney, which was built on the supposed site of King Ina’s palace in Silver Street (formerly called Butt Lane) in the late 14th century and the later Hayes End Manor at Hayes End (circa 1610) are however some considerable distance from both the church and this undoubted early centre. Probably as the limited land was quickly used up around the church and of the prestige value of building on the site of a Saxon palace.
This site was probably chosen as it is close to the stream that even today dissects the village centre, providing a constant supply of clean water to these early inhabitants, for use in washing and cooking. Early expansion of this medieval nucleus took place in the 17th Century as the village developed north-west ward creating North Street and Palmer Street. A collection of small cottages (demolished 1960’s to make way for a sheltered housing development) also grew up at this time about half a mile eastward at Pitway, on the main route to the market town of Martock, in order to accommodate workers on the soft fruit estate in this area (now Barcroft Hall) and the huge orchards. As well as some large farmsteads which survive to the west in Little Petherton.
The Pitway area, on the eastern extremity of the village, was further developed in the 18th and 19th centuries after the railway arrived in Martock and the demand for soft fruit increased as its market became nation wide and market gardeners made the daily journey to the railway at Martock. At that time Pitway became a village to its self and an important break of bulk point for out going agricultural products on their way to Martock, either for sale at its large market or to be exported away via the railway network. Indeed it had its own pub right up to its demolition in the 1960’s, The Fruitier’s Arms, which provided a resting place for the travellers between Martock and Petherton, as well as the Wheatshef Inn which survives today on the untouched western side of Pitway. At this time the narrow winding lane to Martock became the busiest and most economically important route out of South Petherton, making the Roman Fosse Way (now the A303) obsolete right up until the mid 20th century when South Petherton’s function saw a major change and its agricultural importance diminished.
Over the 18th and much of the early 19th centuries Petherton continued to expand in a linear fashion along the main roads in to the village, but this development was restricted to these narrow strips along roads due to the massive amount of orchards and farms spread through out the village.
This forced the village to elongate in all directions to find space for development, subsequently South Petherton has major residential streets named after each of the four main compass points and created a spider shaped settlement with a round compact nucleus and long thin limbs protruding in all directions. Only later in the 20th century has infill of any kind taken place and this has only been possible now because so many farms and orchards have become economically unviable, providing land for development between the older streets. Although today it is difficult to tell the old from the new as so many areas have been engulfed or redeveloped in modern times.
Modern infill development has provided huge revenue for developers as house prices have risen exponentially and Petherton has become an increasingly desirable place to live, a fact which now sees Petherton’s house prices rivalling those of Clifton in Bristol. Strangely much development in Petherton took place through the house price crash of the 1980’s and early 1990’s. A time when the Crown Hotel in the Market Square was converted to flats. In truth, with the growth in the popularity of the motor car and the onset of globalisation, South Petherton has probably experience more changes in the last 40 years than in the last 400.
While growth has been well managed and steady it is undeniable that more houses have been built in the village post second world war than existed in the entire village 60 years ago. The basis of the areas agricultural industry has been destroyed by interventionist policy, supermarkets buying power and the economics of cheap foreign competition, leaving only potato and flax cultivation as major industries. The soft fruit estates have disappeared and the extensive orchards of Somerset cider apples have been all but eradicated from the immediate proximity of the village.
The demographics of the village have undeniably been altered as incomers far outweigh ‘natives’ and the trend looks set to continue, as does the ever ageing population. However South Petherton has never been a fossiled village, and change is at the heart of preserving a dynamic, ‘living’ community, something South Petheton, with its Arts Centre, modern ‘hi-tec’ industries and plethora of clubs and societies, certainly is. The village is big enough to absorb developments and harbour many different aspects of life in modern Britain, but it is important to preserve its history and undeniable character which radiates from its honey coloured stone work, in a manner which is want by and beneficial to all its inhabitants.