A picturesque village near the Quantocks,
Stogumber has many fine cottages and a sandstone church that dates from
around 1300. Stogumber Station is a mile away on the West
Somerset Railway.
The White Horse Inn Stogumber
Stogumber is a village off the beaten track about 5 miles south of Williton. Many colour washed cottages line the slope up to the parish church which is a large building with interesting features.
Other interesting buildings include the house of the seven crosses, which is believed to date from the 14rh century. Apparently the crosses were put on the wall by the vicar of the parish whose seven children had died of the plague.
There are also six almhouses that were built the Sydenham family.
Stogumber Station is unusual in that the main building is on one side of the track and the platform is on the other.
Where once stood a large goods shed and cattle pens are now the most wonderful gardens, lawns and shrubs - a great place for a picnic or meditation.
The platform, on the re-opening of the line to Stogumber in 1978, had been reduced to a short length, the rest being rotten and so removed. Rebuilding started in the 1980s with a short extension to the
north, and recently extended to the south to revive the former glory.
The village of Stogumber lies about one mile to the west and is, as the celebrity Fred Wedlock said "a beautiful village..." Rowcliffe, the solicitor who dealt with much of the local legal aspects for the first West Somerset Railway in the 1850s, lived at Stogumber.
The countryside is very pretty, with many small hills and deep valleys, mostly livestock and a little arable farming, and it is good walking country.
Wildlife abounds in these parts - it seems you only have to stand or sit still and nature is at your feet or it all passes by. Look out for the abundant primroses which once gave the West Somerset Railway the nickname "The Primrose Line".
www.stogumber.org.uk
The village of Stogumber website. |
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