Barwick, Somerset

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 50.9233
longitude= -2.6205
official_name= Barwick
population = 1,289
shire_district= South Somerset
shire_county = Somerset
region= South West England
constituency_westminster= Yeovil
post_town= YEOVIL
postcode_district =BA22
postcode_area= BA
dial_code= 01935
os_grid_reference= ST564139

Barwick is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated two miles south of Yeovil in the South Somerset district and on the border with Dorset.

Settlement may go back as far as Saxon times, with the earliest mention of Barwick is in 1185. The village has a population of 1,289.cite web |url=http://www.somerset.gov.uk/somerset/statistics/contents/population/estimates/2002mye/ |title=2002 population estimates |accessdate=2008-01-05 |format= |work=Somerset County Council ]

Barwick Park

The estate had originally formed part of the property of Syon Abbey, and passed through various hands after the Dissolution in the 1530s. The present house and park are thought to have been built in 1770 by John and Grace Newman, whose relations owned neighbouring Newton Surmaville.

The house was set in pleasure grounds containing a lake and grotto, while the surrounding parkland was ornamented with a gothic lodge and a group of four follies. In the early 1800s the estate passed to a Yeovil glove manufacturer, George Messiter, and in 1830 the mansion was remodelled in a Jacobean Revival style. An orangery was constructed adjoining the north side at the same period. [cite web | title= Barwick House and orangery | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=263563 | accessdate=2008-01-05] During the early 1900s the estate again passed through several hands, and for a period in the mid 1950s through to the 1970s the mansion was used as an approved school. During World War II, it was the location of a Prisoner of War camp, initially housing Italian prisoners from the Western Desert Campaign, and later German prisoners post the Battle of Normandy.

In the 1990s the estate was sold to a private owner, and substantial repairs were carried out to the House, orangery, and landscape structures. The site remains in private ownership [http://www.southsomersetmuseums.org.uk/heritage/barwick-park-follies.htm]

Barwick Park Follies

Barwick Park boasts four follies. Bought by South Somerset District Council for a nominal £5 when the estate was sold in the early 1990s, these extraordinary follies are something of a mystery. Locals say they were built to give the estate labourers work during a time of depression during the 1820s. They were possibly commissioned by George Messiter of Barwick to mark the park boundaries at the four cardinal points: Jack the Treacle Eater (a rought stone arch topped by a round tower) to the east, [cite web | title= Jack the Treacle Eater | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=263573 | accessdate=2008-01-05] the Fish Tower in the north, [cite web | title= The Fish Tower | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=263576 | accessdate=2008-01-05] Messiter's Cone (also known as the Rose Tower), which is convert|75|ft|m|0|lk=on high,cite book |title=Curiosities of Somerset |last=Leete-Hodge |first=Lornie |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1985 |publisher=Bossiney Books |location=Bodmin |isbn=0906456983 |pages=91 ] at the west [cite web | title= The Rose Tower | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=263564 | accessdate=2008-01-05] end and the Needle to the south. [cite web | title= Needle Obelisk | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=263562 | accessdate=2008-01-05] However, paintings of Barwick house in the 1780s, forty years earlier, include two of the follies.

St Mary Magdalene Church

The church is located just off the A37 on the western end of the village, about 1/2 mile away from the main centre of population.

The church was built at the turn of the thirteenth century and continues to offer weekly worship today. No longer with a resident Vicar, these days the parish is part of the benefice of Holy Trinity, Yeovil.

The most architecturally significant feature of the church are the benchends, dating from 1533 - the very eve of the English Reformation. The benchends depicts scenes from village life as well as typical religious symbolism from that period such as the Green Man and the unicorn, a symbol of eternal life. There are also religious objects dating back much earlier, presumably from the church originally on the site e.g. the Norman font

In spite of some re-ordering during the Victorian period, it is still very easy to imagine how the church would have looked almost 500 years ago. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building. [cite web | title= Church of Saint Mary Magdalene | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=263559 | accessdate=2008-01-05]

Gallery

References