The five sections total 2.1 km. If you want to shorten the walk use sections A, C & E which total 1 km. Enjoy your stroll around our historic market town!
Start your tour in Cox’s Yard car park by the public library. The Library was built in 1997 and today is a community-led facility.
Go ahead into the passage to the right of the supermarket.
Brunel Precinct was established in the mid 1980s on the site of a brewery dating from 1840 which closed in 1930. It now comprises a supermarket, a range of therapy treatments, independent shops, a dress agency, charity shop, hairdresser and café.
Go through the precinct to reach West Street and go left.
West Street (North side) contains several old buildings including Leavers Court dating back to 1500 and the Methodist Church of 1845 (now West St Church). Beyond is Market Place. On the west side is the Manor House, built for stewards of the Ilchester estate. The part occupied by the bank is 18th century but the older part is Elizabethan. The north side includes the Market House, now a restaurant, and shops of 18th and 19th century. In the centre of the Market Place are the octagonal Market Cross, (aka Buttercross), which was built in 1673 and the Old Town Hall also built in 17th century as a place to sell corn. Later, the town’s fire engines were housed here but it is now an arts centre so go inside to have a look. In the open space by the churchyard gates is the War Memorial of 1921 which has the names of the many who died in the two World Wars, as well as those who were killed in the milk factory bombing of 1942. In the north-west corner is the Lady Smith Memorial Institute, (the Parish Rooms), opened in 1902, which is used for meetings and a variety of other community activities. Over the door note the lantern which was formerly at the railway station.
Go ahead along the church path (made of flagstones from the railway station when it closed in 1962).
St Michael & All Angels Church was built during the 13th century and has an octagonal tower – unusual in Somerset but extremely rare elsewhere. Above the nave is a wonderful wooden ceiling, thought to have come from Muchelney Abbey around 1500, which is made up of about 700 carved wooden panels. It includes two barrels – perhaps the mark of the carpenter. The altar and the pulpit are 17th century and among the best in the county. In the chancel are memorials to the two Tremlett brothers who were both serving Admirals in the Royal Navy when they died in their 90s. Church modernisation was undertaken in 2012 to include stepless entry, more efficient heating, a modern organ and replacement of many pews with modern comfortable chairs.
Leave the church and follow the path left round the east end.
Note the almost illegible diamond shaped monument on the east wall to Midshipman John Jacob, aged 13, who drowned in a storm when HMS Hero sank on Christmas Day 1811 – a stark contrast to the Tremlett monuments!
Exit through the north east corner of the churchyard.
The Old Hall is ahead as you leave the churchyard. It was built in the 18th century on earlier foundations. On its side wall is a plaque recording that the County gaol may have stood here in the 13th century. To your left a lane leads to the old vicarage. In front of the Old Hall is Cow Square. This was part of the market area where cows with calves were kept on market days and now has two very attractive town houses on the north side, Hopefield (1770), in the corner and Donisthorpe on the north side. George Donisthorpe, steward to the Earls of Ilchester, was granted permission to build a modest house. But when the Earl visited Somerton after the house was finished he was astonished at the scale and luxury of the building and refused to allow a front garden, so all residents had to use the back entrance.
At the east of the square is the Coronation Fountain erected in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VII. It had a gas lamp in the globe at the top, then water spouts for people to take a drink. Below that there was a water trough for horses (now filled with flowers) and at foot level troughs for dogs to drink.
Go ahead to Section B or go right to Section C.
Directly opposite the fountain continue into New Street.
In 1349 New Street was the main road to London. Walk on the left and view the pleasant 18th and 19th century buildings. Further along on the left is the 18th century former Somerton Hotel. As an inn close to the toll gates, it would have been in a commanding position for trade coming into the town on market days. Next door is a building now known as the Old School. It was built in the early1800s and later rebuilt as a Quaker meeting house but in the 1950s became a private house. At the end is Cockspurs, so named because there was a cock-fighting pit here. Note the turnpike milestone marker at the entrance to Hillhead Cottage on the opposite side of the road. The London road continued straight on along Acre Lane eventually to join the ancient route-way nowadays known as A303. New Hill was constructed about 1840 to make an easier climb from the Cary bridge on the road between Street and Ilchester.
Return along New Street on the opposite side. The tall buildings were used by the Great Western Railway in 1903 as a hospital for railway builders. In 1904, smallpox broke out and a tented hospital was set up in Charlton Mackrell. Later the buildings were sold for private housing. Further along are listed buildings of The Old Manse, The Little House and Green Dragon.
At the end turn right into North Street was a backwater when it was built but is now the main route into town. On the corner is Scott-Gould House built in 1866 (modernised 1981), as a set of six flats for widows and elderly women. Next door is Still Cottage originally three small cottages and just beyond is the late 18th century Old Armoury which was the HQ of the Territorial Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry. Further along are No. 5 and Hogarth Cottage both 17th century. At the end on the right are buildings originally set up as a windmill but insufficient wind forced conversion to horse-powered. In 1895 the mill was converted to five dwellings. The mill gave the road up the hill its name “Horse Mill Lane”, although it is known locally as “Gas House Hill” due to the fact that the gas works was located at the bottom from the mid 19th century until its closure in 1955. Across the road slightly to the left are the grounds of The Lynch, a lovely Georgian house built in about 1815, now a hotel.
Return now along the opposite side of North Street.
On the corner is The Cottage, then Tertia, Fourth House, Granard, Turle House (the home of organist James Turle) and Jenning’s House all 17th/18th century.
Continue into
Broad Street, lined with lime trees planted in 1865, some of which remain. The street was part of the market and the width of the street and the gutters at each side of the carriageway are reminders of the problems that might be caused by animals depositing dung in a town environment! On the E side are four 18th century houses and the former NatWest Bank now a private residence. On the W side, the buildings are humbler. The three-storey Collar Factory (now flats), was built to make linen collars when men wore detachable collars. It employed at least 100 women and operated from about 1860 until 1935. Over Collar Cottage can be seen the stonework of the arched wagon entrance to the factory. A few doors along is Old Vestry House – the meeting place of churchwardens when they controlled aspects of local government. Directly ahead is Morley House (formerly Barclays Bank), built in the early 19th century. On the E side where Broad Street enters the Market Square is the Free Grammar School, founded 1672 but moved to this site in the 19th century and later taken over by the County School Board. It ceased to be a school in 1964 when younger boys were moved to Monteclefe School (now moved out of town) and older pupils to a new school near Langport. Next door was The Red Lion. There had been an inn on this site since the Middle Ages and it was rebuilt by the Earl of Ilchester in 1768. It flourished as long as the stage coach trade survived and by 1830 there were daily coaches to London and thrice weekly to Bristol. Later it became a pub and hotel, with a dance hall and disco behind the main courtyard. In the early 1990s the business failed and the building has been converted into town houses with more new houses behind. Continue past Freeman House and Old Bell House, both 17th century.
Turn right into
Market Place which was decorated as the town of Etaples for the 1986 BBC film “The Monocled Mutineer”. Note the word “TÉLÉGRAPH” over a high-level door. On the left are three late 18th/early 19th century buildings, then the 17th century Globe Inn and the probably Tudor White Hart (re-fronted late 18th century), allegedly the site of Somerton Castle although this may be a mix up with Somerton in Lincolnshire.
Continue ahead into
West Street was laid out in 1650 and now appears rather narrow. Opposite the entrance to the shopping precinct is the 1807 United Reformed Church (now private residences). On the left is Pesters Lane and a few paces down on the right is Sunhouse Farm (1750). Further along West Street on the left are Hext Almshouses built in 1626 by Sir Edward Hext to accommodate eight men from local parishes. Today the eight homes have become four and in 1987 three new ones were built at the rear.
Go ahead to Section D or turn about and go to Section E
Cross bridge over the railway which came to Somerton in 1906, (the station was down the lane on the left).
Continue ahead to The Triangle and fork L to reach
Zion Chapel (1841), used for worship until 1964 and now a private residence.
Go right into
Bartlett’s Row cottages built around 1850 facing an area called “the pound” where stray animals were kept.
At the end turn right into West Street
Passing Little Barns (1700) to the slightly wider section note on the left the Old Bakery which was in use until the 1990s. Just before the railway bridge standing back is the 1906 former Half Moon Inn (now converted to flats), built to replace an inn demolished for the railway.
Continue ahead along West Street.
Eastwards along West Street is the Unicorn Inn, late medieval but remodelled in mid 17th century. Note the Cyclists’ Touring Club roundel on the front.
Continue ahead then left into Cox’s Yard and back to the library.
