We look forward to seeing you on Monday 15th May for an illustrated talk on Exmoor Listed Buildings.
Timberscombe History Group now has a dedicated website at St Petrock’s History Group which shows hundreds of historical pictures of Timberscombe and its residents with a wealth of background research. The site is searchable and each week will highlight a featured item of interest. You are able to contact us on any of the topics/places/people included on our dedicated site and either Tom or myself will respond to your message – this has already proved to be a valuable way to enlarge our knowledge base with photographs and information, and of course we can correct any errors.
Our thanks go to the many people who have generously donated images and information to the website, reflecting the life and times of a small Exmoor village. The information already provides a unique insight into rural life that might otherwise have been lost. We hope you enjoy it!
Listed below you will see a summary of the Lectures presented to the History Group to date along with downloadable copies of the Newsletters which were issued on a number of topics during the Covid lockdown period. This is a record of the activity of the History Group to date.
Tom Sperling and Marion Jeffrey







Newsletter: September 2021
The young people of Timberscombe participating in the 20th Century crazes of Scouting and Country Dancing
Much has been written about shorter childhoods in the earlier 20th century, and certainly in a country village such as Timberscombe, on the surface this would appear to be true. As Timberscombe School Log Books and Admission Registers record, most students finished their schooling when they turned fourteen, with “The Cause of Leaving” being “Left Of Age”.
Access the full newsletter here.
Guided Walk around Luxborough 20th September 2021
On a beautiful late summer’s evening Brian Scott, a History Group member, kindly led a group of 12 people around the village of Luxborough where he was born and where his family has lived for more than 100 years, mainly at Butchers Farm. As the first post-covid meeting of the History Group, it seemed right to be meeting outdoors although it was important to restrict numbers able to attend the walk given that so much of it was to take place on narrow country roads. Brian spoke with passion, knowledge and humour about Luxborough and the impact that industrial progress, the second world war and shifting social trends have had on a small Exmoor farming community.








Newsletters published by the St Petrock’s History Group
- Sep 2021: Scouting and Country Dancing
- April 2021: Clicket Revisited
- Mar 2021: Heber Vale and the Lost Allers
- Feb 2021: The First Three Women Head Teachers at Timberscombe School
- Jan 2021: Communist and the Vicar
- Dec 2020: Christmas Day 1952
- Nov 2020: Timberscombe Friendly Society
- Oct 2020: Huxtable Family
- Sep 2020: 250th Anniversary of Timberscombe School
LECTURE TOPIC | SPEAKER | DATE OF MEETING |
---|---|---|
Our History – Through the Lens | Tom Sperling | 20 January 2020 |
Soldier Jack | Patrick Hoyte | 18 November 2019 |
Lorna Doone | Christopher Chanter | 27 September 2019 |
Archaeology of St Petrock’s Church | Dr Jerry Sampson | 16 September 2019 |
Rev JP Martin – Minister and Author | James Currey | 15 July 2019 |
Somerset Archaeology | Stuart Blaylock | 10 June 2019 |
Timberscombe Iron Age Hill Fort walk | Rob Wilson-North | 5 June 2019 |
Farming and Estate on Exmoor | Sir Antony Acland | 20 May 2019 |
English Church Bells and Bellringing | Sara Coward | 18 March 2019 |
Life below Stairs – Servants in Dunster | Patrick Hoyte | 21 January 2019 |
Timberscombe’s Fallen of WW1 | Harvey Grenville | 4 January 2019 |
Timberscombe Iron Age Hill Fort | Rob Wilson-North | 19 November 2018 |
Archiving Images – Quantocks | Keith Edwards | 17 September 2018 |
Stained Glass – our Heritage | Clare Maryon-Green | 17 September 2018 |
A Blacksmith’s Life on Exmoor | Jim Horrobin | 16 July 2018 |
Inaugural Meeting of History Group | Marion Jeffrey | 4 June 2018 |
Our History Through the Lens







Soldier Jack

On 8th November the St Petrock’ s History Group hosted a mesmerising event when Patrick Hoyte, assisted by two readers – one of them was his wife, who stepped in at the last minute – gave us an account of one ordinary man’s experience of the Second World War. That was not all, though, as Mr Hoyte skilfully wove into his narrative, tellingly illustrated with correspondence read by his fellow presenters, the account of how he had pieced together the story. What we were presented was as full of shocks, surprise turns and dramas as an episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?” all delivered with a pace and energy which earned a well-deserved round of applause from the audience after the surprise ending.
I shall say no more as I do not want to be accused of leaking a spoiler, given that the whole story is published as a book, copies of which Mr Hoyte made available at the meeting.
Allan Sutton
Lorna Doone







Jerry Sampson has kindly made available the text of his research which is available in full on https://timberscombevillagehall.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/somerset-churches-project.pdf




- The diagram on the upper left indicates the probable position of the three altars, in red, with the Chapel of the Five Wounds on the bottom centre.
- Bartenders of the evening, Tom Sperling and Alan Hines.
- Slides of the Five Wounds boss and the altar positions were supplied by Dr. Sampson. All other photographs are by Marion Moncrieff.






All photographs by Richard Jeffrey
The full Lecture notes of the presentation given at St. Petrock’s, are available through this link on the Timberscombe website, with the kind permission of James Currey. https://timberscombevillage.com/timberscombe-methodist-chapel/
Stuart R. Blaylock, B.A., Ph.D., F.S.A., Independent Scholar and Archaeologist from Cullompton, Devon, came to Timberscombe on the 10th of June 2019. He spent two hours in the afternoon discussing specifics of St. Petrock’s Church and in the evening gave a presentation on the art and science of how to “read” and explore the history of a West Country building.




In 1955, when the Tudor south doorway of St. Petrock’s was uncovered, a medieval wall painting of King David playing his harp (seen above to the right) was rediscovered along with accompanying fragments of English text-that have not been able to be deciphered. The climax of Mr. Blaylock’s talk was his belief that there were two texts here. He proposes that the lower text, from the Book Of Common Prayer read “Take the psalm, bring hither the tabret (a tambourine), the merry harp with the lute” and more chillingly, the upper text states (from Ps 112 v 10) “The wicked shall see it, and be grieved, he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away, the desire of the wicked shall perish“.
Photographs by Richard Jeffrey
TIMBERSCOMBE HILL FORT
Rob Wilson-North, Head of Conservation & Access for ENPA was the History Group’s third speaker on the 19th of November 2018, with a talk about Timberscombe’s local iron age fort, first reported as an archaeological site in 1992. On the 5th of June 2019, Mr. Wilson-North returned for a walk to the site, entitled “AN EXPLORATION OF THE TIMBERSCOMBE HILL FORT”.




Sir Antony Acland, the President of the Exmoor Society, was educated at Eton and earned his BA in Philosophy , Politics and Economics at Christ Church, Oxford. Entering the Foreign Office, he has served as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Luxembourg, Spain and the USA. The Acland family has been associated with Exmoor since 1155. In 1745, Sir Thomas Acland, the 7th Baronet, married Elizabeth Dyke, altering his family name and gaining control of the Holnicote Estate. In 1944, Sir Richard Thomas Dyke Acland , the 15th Baronet, presented the estate to the National Trust.
Sir Antony, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, spoke to the History Group about his life, his family and his Exmoor.

Photos: Gabrielle Horrobin






A Ringer’s Meeting held at St. Petrocks on the 13th of May, 1922.

In 2019, at St. Petrock’s Ringing Room, from left to right, Martin Booth, Tower Captain Elisabeth Powls, Allan Sutton, Alan Hines, Gwynie Poole, Andy Cooper, and Eric Lucas
Photo : Jenny Gratton



of Dunster Castle and their families.
Photo : Courtesy of the Rural Life Museum of West Somerset










Photo : Richard Jeffrey

Ms. Green is a member of the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen and a Freeman of the City of London. She lives and her studio is on the moors of Exmoor. As a stained glass artist, she specializes in painted and fine stained glass. Ms. Green is also a painter, learned about old glass and is partial to sheep.

Keith Edwards beginning his slide show, A VIEW THROUGH TIME-AN ARCHIVE OF IMAGES OF THE QUANTOCK HILLS, concerning the twists and turns of archiving historic images. Photo : Richard Jeffrey

Clare Maryan Green exhibiting an example of stained glass in front of the 16th century Rood Screen at St. Petrock’s Church, as part of her presentation, STAINED GLASS – HERITAGE AT WORK. Photo : Richard Jeffrey


He and his wife, Gabrielle, live at Furze View, Timberscombe, where he also maintains his studio.



A photograph of the Doverhay Forge, at Doverhay, Porlock, that has been identified, by different sources, as being taken in 1900 and 1911. The head blacksmith at the time of this photograph was James (Jim) Norman, who was succeeded by his son, Tom. The forge was next owned by Fred Kent, whose family had been blacksmithing in West Somerset since at least 1832. Later the Doverhay Forge was headed by artist/Head Blacksmith Jim Horrobin, who created the designs for some of his most renowned commissions from his studio here. Photograph courtesy of the Rural Life Museum of West Somerset


June 4th meeting agreed that Marion Jeffrey would co-ordinate the History Group for the first year, Carl Farmer would be Treasurer, Tom Sperling would be Photo Archivist and Paul Sheldon would assist with Archiving of objects and images. Gabrielle Horrobin would provide creative input to the production of posters to advertise the meetings, and take photographs of the meetings, along with Richard Jeffrey, to add to the archive. Meetings would be held in St Petrock’s Church on the the third Monday of alternate months and annual membership should be £10, with £1 additional per meeting and £4 per visitor to encourage membership. In view of the support extended by other villages it was decided to name the group Local History Group for Timberscombe, Wootton Courtenay and Neighbours.
Mary Siraut, County Editor of Somerset Victoria County History, kindly gave a Lecture titled Timberscombe and its Neighbours in June 2017 at the invitation of the St Petrock’s Timberscombe Parochial Church Council (PCC), as part of a weekend of celebration of the patronal feast which historically has been celebrated at the beginning of June.
Her research https://www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/sites/default/files/work-in-progress/timberscombe_intro_and_landownership.pdf
Packed attendance at her Lecture in the Village Hall clearly demonstrated the level of interest in matters historical and so in July 2018 a new local group was formed : St Petrock’s History Group for Timberscombe and its Neighbours.
There are a number of interesting websites and history societies which cover our area of Exmoor and some of them are listed here:
Somerset Archives https://swheritage.org.uk/somerset-archives/
Friends of Somerset Archives : https://www.friendsofsomersetarchives.org.uk/
