Pendomer
Pendomer is located in Somerset
Pendomer
Pendomer
Location within Somerset
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom

Pendomer is a village and former parish in the parish of Closworth, 4.5 miles south-west of Yeovil, in the county of Somerset, England, and on the border with Dorset.

Twentieth-century administrative changes

Civil parish

In 1931, the parish had a population of 54.[1] On 1 April 1933,[2] the civil parish of Pendomer was united with that of Closworth and Sutton Bingham.[3]

Ecclesiastical parish

In 1906, the benefices of Pendomer and Sutton Bingham were united to form the benefice of Pendomer with Sutton Bingham.[4]

In 1969, this amalgam was divided, and the historical parish of Pendomer was united with Hardington Mandeville to form the benefice of Hardington Mandeville with Pendomer.[5]

In 1981, the benefice of Hardington Mandeville with Pendomer was united with the benefice of East Chinnock.[6]

Geography

In 1919, the parish covered 1,114 acres.[7] The contiguous parishes were Hardington Mandeville, East Coker, and Halstock.[8]

The village of Pendomer stands at the end of a no through road, with access via Hardington, East Coker, and Halstock.

The surrounding vale is on Fuller's Earth Clay, which can be sticky after prolonged rainfall.[9]

Birt's Hill, which is over 500 feet above sea level, was, in 1887, used to fire signal rockets to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.[10]

Other high ground is at Kit Hill (336), Pen Hill (365), and Abbot's Hill (c. 400).[11]

"Broad River," a tributary of the River Parrett, begins in the fields south of the village.

Pen Wood lies on the northern slope of Birt's Hill. In 1958, the Forestry Commission bought the wood (which covered 242 acres) along with other land in Pendomer, East Coker, and Sutton Bingham. Between 1964 and 1967, the Commission cleared and replanted 80% of the area, leaving the remainder to conserve the flora and fauna.[12]

The railway line between Exeter and London Waterloo runs through the parish.

The Macmillan Way Abbotsbury-Langport Link crosses the parish diagonally from northwest to southeast, intersecting with the village.[13]

History

The Domesday Book has an entry for Pendomer under the name "Penne."[14] In the 12th century, "domer" was added to denote ownership by the Domer family. [15]

Pendomer's tithe map was surveyed by William Wadham of Martock in 1840.[16]

The railway line was built between 1858 and 1860. The single track line was opened on 19 July 1860, and subsequently improved to double lines, which was opened on 1 June 1866.[17] Two ganger's cottages stood near the bridge at Kit Hill until their demolition in the late 1960s.

During the 19th and early 20th century, the Helyar/Heneage family of Coker Court owned much of the parish. This family also held the advowson of the church until 1958.[18]

In the 19th and early 20th century, the farms in the parish comprised Abbot's Hill, Bryant's, Grove, Kit Hill, Lower Pen, Manor, Parsonage, and Pen Hill.

A school opened in the village in 1875. [19][20] In the 1880s, it closed and the village children were sent to East Coker School instead.

During the Second World War, Austin, Arthur, and Alan Whetham (three brothers born in the village) and John Philip Jones (of Pen Hill Farm) made up half of the top secret "Coker Patrol", part of Churchill's clandestine resistance network.[21] Alan Whetham later joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and was killed in action in Belgium in February 1945. [22]

The population as recorded by the decennial census was as follows:

Males Females Total
1801 48 47 95
1811 37 41 78
1821 38 32 70
1831 52 46 98
1841 47 34 81
1851 45 33 78
1861 48 48 96
1871 44 47 91
1881 35 34 69
1891 39 33 72
1901 25 29 54
1911 30 21 51
1921 38 33 71
1931 31 23 54
Looking southeast from Pen Lane towards Pendomer village and Birt's Hill.

Literary references

In Thomas Hardy's poem, "At Wynyard's Gap", the unnamed gentleman tells his female hunting companion that the hounds have headed in full cry "Towards Pen Wood...and bear towards the Yeo."[23]

Notable people

Pendomer Rectory was the childhood home of Brigadier-General Arthur Beaumont Helyar C.B.E. (1858-1933), of the Royal Artillery, whose commands included the Territorial Artillery (Lowland Division) Scotland between 1908 and 1912, the artillery of the 13th Division in Egypt in 1915, and the artillery of the 10th Division in Greece and on the Bulgarian frontier in 1915-16.[24] [25]

His grave is in Pendomer churchyard, close to those of his parents, brother, and two of his sisters.[26]

Manorial documents register

Entry for Pendomer in John Collinson's History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset (1791)

References

  1. ↑ "Population statistics Pendomer CP/AP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  2. ↑ "Relationships and changes Pendomer CP/AP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  3. ↑ Kelly's Directory of the County of Somerset. London: Kelly's Directories Ltd. 1935. p. 183.
  4. ↑ "Page 4640 | Issue 27929, 6 July 1906 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-09-26.
  5. ↑ "Page 5656 | Issue 44858, 30 May 1969 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-09-26.
  6. ↑ "Page 10193 | Issue 48699, 6 August 1981 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-09-26.
  7. ↑ Kelly's Directory of the County of Somerset, 1919. London: Kelly's Directories Ltd. 1919. pp. 360–61.
  8. ↑ Humphery-Smith, Cecil R., ed. (1984). The Phillimore atlas and index of parish registers. Chichester: Phillimore. pp. Map 30. ISBN 978-0-85033-398-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  9. ↑ Forestry Commission (c. 1968). Pen Wood Trail. p. 2.
  10. ↑ "The Jubilee Beacon Fires". Western Gazette. 10 June 1887. p. 8.
  11. ↑ Ordnance Survey six-inch map, Dorset sheet XIA.SE, Revised: 1901, Published: 1904.
  12. ↑ Forestry Commission (c. 1968). The Pen Wood Trail. p. 1.
  13. ↑ www.jameskirby.me.uk, MKH Computer Services Ltd-www mkh-computer-services co uk / James Kirby-. "Long Distance Walkers Association". www.ldwa.org.uk. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  14. ↑ Thorn, Caroline; Thorn, Frank (1980). Domesday book. History from the sources. Chichester: Phillimore. pp. ref 19, 51. ISBN 978-0-85033-367-1.
  15. ↑ "Sir John Domer (d. after 1321) Pendomer (Somerset) – Church Monuments Society". churchmonumentssociety.org. Retrieved 2023-09-29.
  16. ↑ Kain, Roger J. P.; Oliver, Richard R. (1995-07-20). The Tithe Maps of England and Wales: A Cartographic Analysis and County-by-County Catalogue. Cambridge University Press. p. 444. ISBN 978-0-521-44191-9.
  17. ↑ John Nicholas and George Reeve (2009). Main Line to the West; the Southern Railway Route between Basingstoke & Exeter-part 3 Yeovil to Exeter. Irwell Press Ltd. p. 3.
  18. ↑ "Page 6495 | Issue 41531, 24 October 1958 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-09-26.
  19. ↑ "Appointment". Western Gazette 1. 5 October 1875. p. 8.
  20. ↑ "Pendomer and Sutton Bingham School". Western Gazette. 2 April 1880. p. 5.
  21. ↑ "CART Auxiliary Unit Research". www.staybehinds.com. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  22. ↑ "CART Auxiliary Unit Research". www.staybehinds.com. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  23. ↑ Hardy, Thomas; Hardy, Thomas (1981). Gibson, James (ed.). The complete poems of Thomas Hardy. The new Wessex edition / Thomas Hardy. Gen. ed.: P. N. Furbank (New Wessex ed., repr ed.). London: Macmillan. p. 745. ISBN 978-0-333-32538-4.
  24. ↑ "Death of General Helyar". Wells Journal. 9 June 1933. p. 5.
  25. ↑ "Pendomer, Brigadier-General A. B. Helyar, Funeral at Pendomer". Western Gazette. 16 June 1933. p. 6.
  26. ↑ M. T. Medycott, Monumental Inscriptions of Pendomer, Somerset, (1993), memorials 8-13.
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