Local History
Click on Picture for historical jottings
The old rural world still survives in the memories of the men and women who lived and worked in the village during the first decades of the last century. Their lives, shaped by local custom and traditional ideas, seem closer to the 18th century than the new millennium. The aim of this book is to capture the stories of those people who can still recall the time honoured rural way of life in Bishops Lydeard before it vanishes forever. The age of oxen and horsepower on the farm when they pulled everything from ploughs to carts has gone. The old village, once a bustling self-contained community, living off the land or the patronage of the Squire, has now largely become a middle-class enclave. Village life has, for generations, been regarded as the epitome of our national character, forming a central place in our sense of history. There is a huge and growing nostalgia for popular histories and village photograph books, which paint a picture of our rural past. It is these images of a rural idyll, which has fuelled the gentrification of villages by the middle classes.
However there was a darker side. Exploitation by the landowners and farmers who paid very low wages, frequent absence of facilities such as running water and sanitation and the poverty of many who live here. Despite these hardships it is hoped that the writings and words of the people in this book display a dignity, determination, good humour, creativity, resourcefulness and sheer hard graft often in the face of most difficult and demanding circumstances.
The author details the influence of the land-owning squires on village life, from the turbulent years of Sir John Stawell, to the Esdailes, Lethbridges and, in the last century, Colonel Boles. Extracts from the Esdaile Journal give a fascinating insight into Cothelstone during the early Victorian years. The Boles Family and the story of Watts House (now Cedar Falls ) is described in detail with rare family photographs. Cotford Asylum is featured with reminiscences of those who worked there. We hear the authentic voices of a broad spectrum of our oldest countrymen and women whose vivid memories bear testimony to the reality of rural life. The squires and their servants, the agricultural labourer and the farmer, the doctors and teachers, with many photographs.
Documented in the book is the authentic voice of country people from the top to the bottom of the social scale. Featured are the written records of people who have lived in past centuries in this village and the collected stories of those who are now in the twilight of their years. It tells their stories, often in their own words and possibly for the first time.
The 196 pages convey a unique, fascinating, and above all, real story of everyday village life.
The book can be obtained from the author (signed if you wish),
David Hinton, Piffins, Piffin Lane , Bishops Lydeard, Taunton . TA4 3AS.
The book is priced at £14.50 (inc. P&P). Please make cheque payable to D.J.Hinton.