Quantock Land & Lore

Haha cheers.. I know you live opposite, but wasn't sure which place. If you saw a trio, older man, young boy, and handsome inbetween guy (lol) pass by, that was us :-)

It's the first church I've seen that wasn't left open for visitors.

Tried to church crawl St Peter & St Paul in Over Stowey recently but it was locked. The graveyard over the the road was interesting too.

4/4 and hidden history in every corner

3/4 many other decorative elements #tiles

2/4 including some intricately carved #stonework

1/4 Did a lot of valuable exploring this weekend.
First up was this wonderful #churchcrawling experience at St Mary’s Church, Stogumber

Thanks for the tag :-)

Hard to place, but my first hunch it's the Trig point above Staple Plain car park?

Not shocked. I remember a statistic about minorities having a high risk of drowning due to that kind of disparity. They should *cough* officially all get a certain amount by 11.

But yes, my Son has had weekly private lessons for approx. 4 years now, and have bumped into many school mates there.

Swimming lessons are already compulsory in the U.K. for children in Key Stage 1 or 2. So much younger.

I forgot the Dragonflies! Inherited some Water Iris with the first pond which I think helped there.

No expert, but I think once you have Newts the Frogs are done for as they eat the tadpoles.

Son loves to raise some wild spawn to mini frogs in a tank to add. Anything smaller and the newts eat em!

Good luck! Perfect time to do it. We had a resident frog when we moved into our house > 10 years ago. It's been a pain keeping the pond clean from leaves + deadfall as it was moved to under an apple tree. I added another small pond next to it. Have a few toads hanging about & lots of newts now too.

Riding up top takes me to the best Quantock views, first across from Higher Hare Knap across to Dowsborough Hill Fort, which I was in the shadows of an hour prior and after interacting with the locals, views from the Cairn across to the Holford Memorial Trees & to each side many northern Combes

Retracing my steps back up to the Quantock Greenway leads to Five Lord’s Bench

Below that point, following the boundary bank through a maze of trees, blown down in a storm long ago, lies a peaty pool described as haunted & mysterious associated with the smith god #wayland #folklore

These boundary banks are a named meeting point of three parish boundaries.

Next stop after climbing Holford Edge was Knackers Hole. A spring that starts as a soggy area in high ground below Dowsborough Hillfort which loses and issues building to a stream that is culverted under the A39 near No Man’s Land.

Beating The Bounds

One train of investigation is tracing what is at named Parish boundary points. I visited a hit list of these today, along with checking in on some other spots to see if seasonal changes reveal more.

First stop the refurb of Hayman’s Pond which fed the Tannery in Holford combe.

Lovely pic! I was hoping for some of the Tor from the usual suspects when I looked across towards it and saw the sky this colour but this trumps that idea.

Lovely images but Lydeard Hill is is on #Quantocks not #Exmoor!

#QuantockHills

A few more.

Halsgrove’s Community Histories series are a wonderful collection of local history combined with old photos.

Sadly the Nether Stowey book marked as forthcoming never happened.

Local Cllr Ken Lee who was working on it in 2001 passed in 2021.

I'd not be shocked if they'd done one along the lines of Celtic myths. Resisting the urge to Google it.
My £2 score was a couple years ago via a rotary club charity book shop. I'd paid about £40 for the other only months prior, which I thought was decent. The going price online was approx £50 then.

I have this one, as well as two copies of the RD one, including a 1st Ed. I got for £2.

My copy of AF&L must be in the loft & must have been deemed off topic, for now - I'm getting low on bookshelf space! 📚

Not aware of any other RD folklore works.. So this post might hit me in the pocket.💸💸

Agree 100% - keep seeing references to the orange one and fromage too. Despite not following or engaging with anything outside my wheelhouse. Even refusing to follow back profiles that post politics

@andykaitken.bsky.social
@drrjwarren.bsky.social
@saocousins.bsky.social
@indikon.bsky.social
@holnicotenh.bsky.social
@jayjewels70.bsky.social
@artistsarahjh.bsky.social

The Quantocks Yesterday.. the light was stunning ..and what a sunset!

Hard to find, but well worth the hunt.

Peter Haggett - The Quantocks: Biography of an English Region (2012)

“I hope a modicum of Quantock legends will long survive unscathed to continue to add their colour to it’s landscape."

Peter Haggett - The Quantocks: Biography of an English Region (2012)

#FolkloreFriday #FolkyFriday

More external views

Half the bench ends on each side are carved

Windows & Parish Chest