Somerton
Somerton maps (2 available)
Map of Somerset
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Somerton books (7 available)
Somerton memories
Read and share memories of Somerton and Somerset inspired by Frith photos
The station
Our cottage in West Street used to almost back on to the railway line. We lived next door to Mr and Mrs Dummet (Aunty Mable and Uncle Ern) next door again was the telephone exchange (I think a boy called Michael Elliot lived there) then there was Station Lane then the Alms Houses. I remember when we moved up to the Old Brewery House I couldn't sleep because I really missed hearing the trains go by. We were all sad when they closed the station.
Contributed by Denise Lazenby
Brown's Fields
We knew this spot as Brown's Fields. Farmer Brown had the dairy in Broad Street and used to drive his cows down the lane by the Lynch. In summer time we used to go down to the river to play and have picnics. In the winter time it was a great place to use your sledge. We often used to sit inside big sacks and slide down the hill (hopefully missing the cow pats). In the summer we used to pick little wild strawberries off the viaduct. I'm sure we weren't supposed to go there but we never came to any harm.
Contributed by Denise Lazenby
I used to live here
I grew up living in a cottage on West Street (just out of shot on the left) Next door to Mr and Mrs Vincent. Mr Vincent had the garage over the road... I remember that he had a penny farthing bike in the window.
The Cooper's had a fish shop in the Triangle there was a marble slab in the middle of the shop and they also sold fruit and vegetables. I think Mr Cooper (Ron) also had a van and delivered fish to the surrounding villages.
One the left you can see Leonard Hughes Shop - my friend Phillip Mitchell lived there. They were next door to Mr and Mrs ...read more here
Contributed by Denise Lazenby
Langport Road and the School
Mr Bryant had a hardware shop (on the right) I seem to remember Mrs Bryant had a Corgi dog (I was always quite scared of it) Up the road a bit on the right I’m sure Mr Garland had a little shop – he was a boot maker.
On the corner you can see the Infant’s School. Mrs Williams ran the school and she had a lovely Labrador dog called Sally. The school became a bit crowded so the little ones were sent around to the Drill Hall Behind Berry. Mrs Lareham was our teacher. We had to walk round the corner to the school two by two holding hands. It ...read more here
Contributed by Denise Lazenby
Post Office and Boy's School
The Red Lion Building used to be a Post Office run by Mr and Mrs Salter. Next door to was the Boy's School. The boys and girls went to separate schools in those days – the girls were taught by Miss Bibby at Monteclefe and the boys by Miss Lacy at the Boy’s School. I think I’d been at Monteclefe for a year when they moved us all up to the Boys School. We were crammed in together while they modernised Monteclefe. When we eventually moved back Monteclefe became co-ed and we were taught by Mr Davis and Miss Swain – Miss Lacy was our head mistress. Miss Lacy was very creative and I loved our art ...read more here
Contributed by Denise Lazenby
Gran and Grandpa Lazenby's Shop
Gran and Grandpa Lazenby had a grocery shop here. I believe they also had a café next door but I can’t remember that. I do remember looking through the window in the back of the shop and seeing my Mum slicing bacon on a big red machine.
Mum tells me her worst job was to turn the handle of the coffee roasting machine – she hated the smell of roasting coffee and to this day only ever drinks tea.
My other memory is having my lunch in the garden at the back… I used to sit in Grandpa’s lovely garden on a little flower pot and use a bigger one as a ...read more here
Contributed by Denise Lazenby
The Market Square
The Library was in the building on the left – I was a real book worm so I loved being able borrow new books every week. We used to go to Sunday school at the church. Reverend Hayter was our vicar (daughters Pauline and Janet) and Mrs Leach used to teach us. She had children about my age Jonathon and Rachel. Behind the Church next to the vicarage was a hall where we went to Brownies… I was a Gnome Sixer! Our Brown Owl was called Mrs Stocker and she had a daughter called Jill.
Next door to the Church (the house with the bay window) was Mrs Witty’s wool shop. I particularly remember she ...read more here
Contributed by Denise Lazenby
Extracts From Somerton & Somerset books
To reach our final village, Pilton, we must
leave our straight route at East Pennard and
travel almost due north for a couple of miles
or so. Pilton is a large but quite dispersed
village beside the Glastonbury to Shepton
Mallet road, and we are now some six miles
from the former.
The parish church, dedicated to St John
the Baptist, developed from the Norman
period onward through the Middle Ages, and
is down in a dip at the junction of several
streets. The church has an attractive Norman
south door, with corbels with heads of a bish-
op and two angels inside the porch. Inside
there is an Easter sepulchre, and the nave
and north aisle have Somerset-style timber
tie-beam roofs with carvings of angels.
Next to the church there is the manor
house. It was established in the 13th century
as a residence of the Abbots of Glastonbury
and added to by them for the next couple
of hundred years. After the Dissolution, it
passed into private hands and what we see
today from the outside is the result of various
alterations made during the 17th, 18th and
19th centuries, including some by one of the
Earls of Hereford who owned the place in the
17th century. In the yard at the back there is a
rare survival, a dovecote dating from the 13th
or 14th century.
An extract from from"Glastonbury Photographic Memories".
An intriguing photograph - are the men beside the pile of stones carrying out repairs or new construc-
tion? It looks as though they may be finishing work on the wall in the foreground, perhaps linked to the
new frontage for the main building constructed around this time. The wall was probably demolished
when the factory was extended in 1933.
An extract from from"Glastonbury Photographic Memories".
Now around to the south-west side of Glastonbury, where
Wearyall Hill lies between the town and the river Brue. The
name is a corruption of ‘Wirral Hill’, a deer-park established
by the Abbots. This view, from the north, is across country-
side, whereas today the foreground is occupied by housing
and an industrial estate. The Glastonbury Thorn on the
hilltop left of the wood is missing from the photograph.
Although this is said to be the original Thorn, the
photograph shows how it needs to be re-grafted every
century or so.
An extract from from"Glastonbury Photographic Memories".
A view that has changed more
than in the previous two. The
two 18th century buildings on
the left are still there, as is the
smaller one beyond. The next
one, however, has been replaced
by the junction with The Archers
Way. Then, the tall building
belonging to Brooks & Sons the
Drapers, who boast of being
established in 1831, has been
replaced by the Post Office,
which has a datestone GR 1938.
An extract from from"Glastonbury Photographic Memories".
Nearby, just into the
High Street, there
is another building
of similar antiquity,
the Tribunal. It dates
from the early 15th
century and is so-
called because it was
thought to be the
courthouse of the
Abbots. In fact the
earliest use of the
name was only in
1791 and the place
is now considered to
have begun merely as
the house of a wealthy
local merchant. It was
later used by the
infamous Judge
Jeffreys when he
was trying support-
ers of the Duke of
Monmouth after the
failure of the Duke’s
rebellion. The origi-
nal timber front was
replaced with stone
around 1500. This is
an interesting pre-
Museum shot, with
the building showing
signs of dereliction in
the windows and roof.
The emblems over the
door are the Tudor
Rose and the Tudor
Royal Arms.
An extract from from"Glastonbury Photographic Memories".