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
