GLASTONBURY CONSERVATION SOCIETY

Newsletter 102 January 19952002 January

Chairman’s report toAGM 2001  John Brunsdon

Happy new year! 2001 was again anactive year for Glastonbury ConservationSociety. Your committee met regularlyto discuss items and comment to MendipDistrict Council on planning issues. Wemet with the Antiquarian Society atpublic meetings. Quarterly newsletterswere delivered to members even if some-times a little late (we are always lookingfor interesting articles, please). Wecelebrated our 100th issue this summer.

Our guidebook Glastonbury FootpathWalks continues to sell well, and wecontinued to keep the definitive publicfootpaths clear under the Parish Scheme.This proved extra hard work after thepaths had been closed due to foot-and-mouth disease, and Alan Fear is stilllooking for more helpers.

A day-long exhibition about the EU’sSingle Regeneration Budget was held atSt Dunstan’s School and we had a photo-graphic display of our work. A grant fromthe Community Chest helped us surveyand maintain amenity trees about the town.

Tree-planting continues as our majoractivity. We welcomed and assisted thecreation of the new Street Society. Yourchairman was awarded an MBE forservices to conservation in Glastonbury,and Bill Knight got a prestigious awardfor his quality fish and chips.

Joe Joseph represents us at theMendip-sponsored Environmental Forum,which Alan Gloak chairs. I represent thesociety on Mendip’s conservationadvisory committee and am the CivicSociety’s representative on the SomersetBuildings Preservation Trust.[Update: Joe has to give up this seat dueto a new job — can anyone volunteer torepresent us? It’s an interesting forum.]

I thank the committee members fortheir support, especially the key officersand Ena Allen as newsletter secretaryand John Morland as photographer andartistic adviser.

All may seem well, but we are anageing society in need of new memberswilling to actively participate in a numberof roles. We have tended to contract intoa situation where a few key members runthe society, and it would be better ifmore of the membership were involved.

We are an active amenity society, butwe need to be more proactive in findingnew members who would like to dosomething for Glastonbury. For instance,why not each member influence a friendor neighbour to join the society? Ask forcopies of the newsletter to give them.

Market Place“redecoration”

The Victorian listed building at the corner of Benedict Street, gutted by fire beforeChristmas, makes a sad sight. Police are investigating possible arson. The building—Heaphys department store until 1970 — is owned by Malcolm Slocombe. We must hopeits condition will allow complete restoration with minimum delay. Written on the boardsis the same hope: “Grafton’s Café is closed for redecoration—see you in 2002.” >>> page 4

Annual meeting represents 165 membersAbout 22 members and friends attendedthe society’s annual general meeting onNovember 30 in the Archers Way library.

Trees: Last year we planted 901 treesincluding cider apple trees and forest trees.This year we have planted withies and willplant more trees and hedgerows. Ian Randsthanked tree-planters for their hard work.

Accounts: The financial year showed aslight increase in reserves from £10,323 to£10,950. There are 165 paid-up members.

Officers: All were reappointed un-opposed: chairman John Brunsdon, vice-chairman Ian Rands, treasurer DennisAllen and secretary Janet Morland. Allcommittee members were reappointed.

Other business—Flyposting: Weshould rip down illegal posters and sendany address or phone number on them tothe district council’s enforcement officer.There should be one organisation respon-sible for cleaning up— at present it maybe Mendip, Somer-set or the bus firm.

Tatty flags: Amember complainedthat old flags outsidethe Market HouseInn make a poorwelcome for tourists.John Brunsdon willsee to it.

Arthurian cen-tre: Two designershope to turn the oldCo-op building at

the top of the High Street into a KingArthur exhibition, having done a similarproject for Canterbury Tales. MartinLofthouse said this has been ongoing fortwo years. They need to raise £1 million.

Tribunal: A member complained thatthe Tourist Information Centre is verydull. However, many overseas visitorslike it and it is a suitable use for theGrade I listed building.

Morlands site: Stephanie Morlandemphasized the need to rescue and pre-serve memorabilia still on the site. JohnBrunsdon is on the steering committee.

Oaks: Some oak trees on ButleighRoad are being strangled. A Street project,this will be referred to Richard Clark.

John Brunsdon then talked aboutgoing to Buckingham Palace to receivethe MBE for his conservation work andshowed a video of the occasion.

  

Accounts for year ending 2001 July 31  Dennis AllenIncome

Opening balancestotal £ 10,546.22:Current account 177.73Reserve account 45.38Building society 10,323.11

Subscriptionsand donations 913.04

Trees 5,383.28Footpath books 180.00Footpath grant 120.00Interest 228.58

6,824.90

£ 17,371.12

ExpenditurePostage 59.25War memorial 110.00Secretarial expenses 20.20John Morland expenses 15.58Civic Trust 151.50Bank interest 0.29

subtotal 356.82Trees 5,760.96Newsletters 303.00

6,420.78

Closing balances total £ 10,950.34:Current account 177.32Reserve account 45.74Building society 10,727.28

£ 17,371.12

*first

photo byJim Nagel, usingOlympus C2040z

which was under tree

newsletter 102 — page 2        Glastonbury Conservation Society

The role of Mendip’s conservation team

A walk onfrozenSplottsMoorJohn Brunsdon

Distance 4–5 miles.Best walked in summeror when ground frozen.

Start from DodLane 1, go up BushyCoombe, past the Torvia Wellhouse Lane 2and continue straighton down StonedownLane. Take the firstleft (a green lane 3,almost all the way down the slope) and just before the ancient oaks Gog andMagog 4 turn right along a public footpath through Wick Farm. Go left intoWick Lane 5. Then, just past Norwood Farm, turn right 6 down the drove.

Continue straight down this drove over the dismantled railway 7 straight overfields and a new sleeper bridge over the Twelve-Foot Rhyne 8 and a further fieldto reach the Hartlake River (which the OS Explorer map mistakenly callsTwelve-Foot Rhyne). Turn left 9 along the bank until you reach an obstructingrhyne with shutter control aJ, then turn left 20 yards to a field gate. Go throughthe gate aA and left along the rhyne with the Tor and Stonedown ahead. Recrossthe old railway line aB to join Gales Drove, which takes you to crooked BrindhamLane (the continuation of Wick Lane); turn left aC. Carry on to Maidencroft Lane,where you turn right aD. Walk through the Paddington Trust farm aE and up theslope through the oak avenue aF (which our society planted). Where MaidencroftLane bends sharp left aG, continue straight ahead into a footpath. Past the secondstile you come to Wick Hollow. Turn right aH, bringing you into Bovetown.

Choose a good day, and you will have fine views to Wells with a real chanceto see deer and birdlife. Use an Ordnance Survey map.

Death of CecilHamilton-MillerCecil will be remembered as aquiet-spoken gentleman whopractised as a solicitor in theold firm of Austin and Bath inChilkwell Street. He was firstelected to the old boroughcouncil in 1958; as mayor in1969 he wore his full robes toclimb the Tor for a meeting of the Druids.

On the committee of our society, he gaveinvaluable advice during early difficult times.He lived at Parkside, Bere Lane, later retiringto West Pennard and then to live near hisdaughter Juliet Smith near Norwich. He diedat age 91 in early December, and his ashesare to be scattered in Glastonbury.

Many, like your chairman, have had causeto be grateful for his professional help. Hispleasant face continues to look down fromhis portrait at meetings of the town council.

Our speakers — do come and hear themZ   January 25 — Richard Raynsford has been with Mendip District Council’splanning department since its formation in the 1970s, both as senior planner and asconservation officer (as well as a tree-planter!). He was involved in the workleading to the Street Conservation Area — hence the title Street’s distinctiveness.This talk was recently well received by a large audience of the new Street Society.Richard has kindly agreed to repeat it for our benefit — don’t miss it again!Z  February 8 (note new date) — Patrick Brown, a university lecturer and chairmanof Wells Civic Society, speaks authoritatively on Why buildings are listed.Z March 15 — Brig. David Morgan followed a distinguished career in the Brigadeof Gurkhas with an equally successful custodianship of the Abbey. Much hashappened, and he recalls My time at the Abbey.Z April 26 — Michael Orchard looks forward to hosting us at the Chalice Wellgardens. There is much to see and talk about.

When and whereThe above meetings are all on Fridays at 7:30. Other than the Chalice Well one, allthese take place at St Mary’s church hall, Magdalene Street (parking via Safeway).This is a comfortable, warm venue.

Z Tuesday January 22 — Forum about the Morlands site, organized by the StreetSociety. Glastonbury councillor Ian Tucker will present his scheme. 7:30pm at theMethodist hall, Leigh Road, Street. (Postponed from the Jan.8 date given last issue.)

Tor fund gets boostThe Heritage Lottery has awarded £314,000for conservation work on the Tor. This news isa big boost for the National Trust’s appeal forthe Tor. The lottery amount has to bematch­funded; £100,000 must still be found.

Already work on the footpaths is nearingcompletion, with new seats installed as wellas entrance gates on the east side. Work willcontinue at the western entrance to make itmore suitable for disabled visitors.

The National Trust is now well placed totackle major restoration of St Michael’sTower and the area around it. The appeal isstill open, so please contribute.

Also, have you purchased your raffleticket for the painting John Morland hasdonated in support of the fund?

The primary aim of Mendip’s conser-vation team is “care of listed buildingsand conservation areas by dealing

with them via direct action or to giveadvice through the development process.”

This was the definition reached byBob Ladd, Mendip council’s servicesmanager for heritage and conservation,after a fundamental review of the districtcouncil’s development control services.

The aim is supported by nationallegislation to protect the historic environ-ment, but delivering it depends onexternal funding and match-funding.

The conservation service is wellregarded — as shown by consultationsduring the review. However, over thepast two years the group’s budget andstaff time have declined.

Mendip has a rich heritage: in 1999the district ranked 26th of all Englishdistricts in the number of listed buildings(Frome was 80th for number of listedbuildings, and Priddy had the sixth high-est number of ancient monuments withinits boundary). But in terms of grant aidMendip was at number 30 in 1999; in thepast two years it is beneath the top 50.

Mr Ladd’s report concludes: “Aslocal resources decline, the emphasis on... the Heritage Lottery and the RegionalDevelopment Agency will increase.”

Glastonbury Conservation Society        newsletter 102 — page 3

Rare black poplars set free to grow  JB, JN

Saplings from Beechbarrow thrive at Sunnyside  Cathie and Alardus van den Bosch

Nearly a thousand feet up above Wells,on the Bristol Road by Cleopatra’sneedle or the Pen Hill TV mast, live acharming retired couple under the shadeof some magnificent beech trees. Pat andTommy Todd of Beechbarrow havekindly allowed the Glastonbury Conser-vation Society to collect saplings fromunder their trees.

Ian Rands had arranged for us tocollect about 70 small trees to transplantto our hedgerow in East Pennard. Wewere the last of the lucky ones, as morethan a thousand trees have beenreplanted from Beechbarrow to placesaround Mendip.

Tommy, who was once a GrenadierGuardsman, and his wife Pat used to livein Whitstable, near Ramsgate in Kent,where Tommy’s dad was known asCockle Todd, having sold cockles from

his barrow there. Tommy had hundredsof relatives living in the area. Aboutsixteen years ago to be closer to theirson, his wife and five grandchildren,they moved to Beechbarrow.

Beechbarrow has a fascinatinghistory. Around 1942, Italian prisonersof war came up from their camp nearWookey Hole (the present EMI site) torepair the stone wall alongside the road.Even after their release many prisonersdecided to stay and work in the area. Onesuch Italian loved the beautiful sceneryaround Beechbarrow because it remi-nded him of the seven hilltops aroundRome. If one takes time to look one cancount seven hills from there.

The Italian asked if he could make astatue with the leftover muck (cement)from the day’s work — he had been astonemason in Rome, and wanted to

mark the spot with a statue dedicated toRomulus and Remus, the twin brotherswho were the legendary builders ofRome. The story goes that they werebrought up by a wolf, and this wolf iswhat he sculpted there, which still standsby the road, on a tall Roman-style pillar.

So now when we plant our beechgrove at Sunnyside, East Pennard, therewill be a story to tell; maybe one daysomeone might tell the tale under theshade of a beautiful glorious beech tree.All thanks to the Todds: what goes roundcomes around.

As the plantations grow here, thereand everywhere, tomorrow will showthat people really do care and will sharewhen there is plenty. With thanks to allwho have helped us put our orchard backtogether, and especially to the indispen-sable Major Ian Rands.

A tale of twinsin the forest   Ian Rands

About thirty years ago I came across anunusual sight in a forest in the Taurusmountains east of the Rhine. Severaltimes between then and now I havereturned to keep an eye on its progress.Last September I took my camera so thatyou might be able to share this phenom-enon with me.

On the corner of a large plantation ofash and oak and beech, and by the sideof a well-worn track, I spotted adamaged young ash sapling. It had beenslit through from north to south, and alsofrom east to west, and then bound up forthe wounds to heal and for the tree tocarry on living.

Now who had done this, and why? Ihad heard that children of families wholived and worked in the woods were,when small babies, passed through a splittree as part of their initiation rites, andthat the practice was not uncommon. Ifyou read Thomas Hardy’s The Wood-landers and enter a large forest, you willunderstand.

Was my tree, with its double split,used to initiate twins? The tree survived,as you will see by the photographs below.Did it bring good luck to the twins?When they die, will the tree die also?

Ash split east to west and north to south

Damaging tree guards have beenremoved from black poplars at ClyceHole weir, on the river Brue halfwaybetween Pomparles Bridge and CowBridge. The guards were necessary toprotect the trees from cattle but were notchecked to allow for growth. The work,by the Advanced Training Unit, took twodays and enabled further pruning; treesshould now recover well.

Our society made a bid to the EU’sSW Region budget to fund this project.

Black poplars (Populus nigra) areBritain’s “rarest and most splendid nativetimber tree.” Only 2,000 to 3,000 remain,many near the end of their lifespan; in1993 environmental scientists predictedthe species would be extinct in 20 years.Reaching 100 feet in height, it was onceas common as oak, a distinctive featureof lowland river valleys. But now thescattered remaining trees do not seem to

An ATU student inspects damage to this black poplar before removing the tree guard.

be regenerating from seed. So much suit-able habitat has been drained since the19th century (roots require dampness allyear). Other threats are hybridization withnon-native poplars and indiscriminatefelling of “unsafe” trees.

This is a fast-growing deciduous treewith broad green leaves a bit like ivy.Flowers appear in spring before leaves:small yellowish-green flowers in catkins;predominant colour is their red stamens.

Traditionally, black-poplar wood, slowto burn, is used for matchsticks, Dutchclogs and Camembert cheese boxes. Folk-lore said the water dripping from hollows“takes away warts, wheals and breakings-out of the body”. Modern herbalists useointment from its flower buds to treathaemorrhoids, arthritis and bronchitis.

The Telegraph invited readers to helplist all black poplars. This and other effortsto save it: http://pages.eidosnet.co.uk/proe

newsletter 102 — page 4        Glastonbury Conservation Society editorial service Abbey PressGlastonbury (01458) 83 3603

Victorian department store gutted; police suspect arson   Jim Nagel

Continental conservation: Bonaparte’s battlesites   Major Ian Rands

Builders are currently working on thefire-damaged Heaphys building at thetop of Benedict Street, carrying out burnttimbers and making it safe. Insurers,structural engineers and conservationexperts will then have to decide aboutrestoration work on the listed building.

A neighbour rang the fire brigade at3:15am on December 6, and 44 menturned out with both engines from Glas-tonbury, two from Wells and one fromStreet plus a hydraulic platform fromBridgwater. They had the fire undercontrol by 4:47am.

The blaze appears to have started onthe first floor and spread upwards, thestaircase acting like a chimney. Upperfloors and the roof were gutted but theground floor suffered surprisingly little:water damage and ceiling ruined but caféfittings and plate-glass windows intact.

Grafton’s Café had its kitchen on thefirst floor along with some seating, andused the second floor and attic for stor-age. Upper floors had been cheap flats inprevious decades, but luckily were unoc-cupied at the time of the blaze or therecould have been deaths. By good fortunethe fire did not spread to the flats nextdoor in Benedict Street, where residentshad to evacuate — nor to the huge stockof second-hand books on three floors ofthe other neighbouring building.

Police are treating the fire as arson.Among other suspicious recent cases,firemen were twice called on January 2to a barn in Godney Road. First theyfound burning bales of hay and put themout. Responding to another call a fewhours later, they found the barn itselfblazing and were unable to save it.

Malcolm Slocombe (of Four Seasons),who owns the burnt Market Placebuilding along with the adjoining one inBenedict Street and numerous otherproperties around Glastonbury, repairedupper-floor windows to conservationstandards some years ago.

When vandals smashed the curvedglass on the ground-floor corner, areminder of the building’s glory days asGlastonbury’s department store, it wasreplaced with a compromise: three flatpanes of plate glass. In the rebuilding,perhaps curved glass will be restored.

Heaphys department store — the namesurvives in mosaic tiles at the entrance —was still in business when I first came to

Jim Nagel

Heaphys in its heyday — note the curvedglass and grand lamp by the main door.

This autumn, while following Napoleon, Itook myself to the battlefield of Austerlitz(known now to the Czechs as Plavkov).As you will remember: 2 December 1805.

The small bus which serves the sur-rounding villages dropped me off, withlarge-scale map, near the hill calledZuran, where Napoleon madehis initial reconnaissance anddeclared his formations’“dispositions”. Across to thesoutheast stand the PratzenHeights, the key to the wholebattle. Down in the valleybelow me is the Goldbach, thestream which separated the French forcesfrom the allied Russian and Austrianarmies. Consider my delight when I dis-covered that the whole valley had beentaken over as a plantation nursery forforest trees and hedgerow plants. Theremust have been tens of thousands of them— all in little pots ready to be moved.

Behold, by the bridge which carriedthe road over the stream, a large sign-board saying Reklamaci. The arrowspointed to the area known as the Santon,where Napoleon sited his artillery, andwhere I was heading with my sandwich.

At the top of the Santon hill is now asmall white-painted chapel withonion spire and many memorialplaques to fallen generals, and toregiments of the French and Rus-sian armies.    Also on this hilltop, where thecommander of Napoleon’sartillery must have been

positioned, is one of Napoleon’sguns, faithfully preserved by alocal conservation society. Look-ing over the edge of the hill Icould see the recently replantedtrees and, near me up the sur-rounding slopes, a mass ofdogwood and, most spectacular

of all, a thick fringe of spindle busheswith their fluorescent orange and pinkseedheads shining brilliantly in thestrong autumn sunshine. What a place tosit down and have lunch!

My next battlefield was near Ulm, insouthern Germany not far from Stuttgart,where Napoleon thrashed the Austriansunder Mack and took 30,000 prisoners.Oh yes: 14 August 1805.

In the more recent war against Hitler,Ulm was badly bombed but its cathedralwas hardly damaged. The town hall (left)

was gutted but they have put itall back together exactly as itused to be, thanks to the survivalof its architect’s plans. Theextensive medieval paintings onthe outside walls have also befaithfully repainted, thanks to acomprehensive collection of pho-tographs which survived. What amagnificent achievement.

Glastonbury in 1970. I recall a half-flightof stairs leading to departments in anadjoining building, presumably the onein Benedict Street.

A Hong Kong family lived upstairs inthe building in the later 1970s and ranthe China Garden take-away restaurant.Among short-term uses in the 80s and90s the shop sold oriental carpets. For abrief while the name Heaphys wasresurrected as a wine bar until Grafton’sCafé opened two years ago.

Café vows to thrive againLynn Bastian (née Grafton), the caféproprietor, in a letter to the CentralSomerset Gazette on January 10catalogues the vandalism, graffiti andother criminal acts that have plaguedtown-centre businesses. She vows to fightback and reopen as soon as possible.

In this fire, Glastonbury was luckynot to have lost its entire marketplace,she writes. As it is, 16 staff and weekendmusicians lose their jobs, and localsuppliers lose custom from the café.

“Grafton’s had successfullyrejuvenated a run-down corner of theMarket Place. Instead of a thriving caféwith tourists enjoying the sunshine onour outside tables, residents and visitorsthis year will face a boarded-up eyesorein the very heart of the town for at leastsix months.

“If we as a town let the criminals win,Glastonbury will become a graffiti-strewnghost town of empty and boarded-upshops, and none of us want that.The sad thing is that the lawless elementare a small minority in a town that has avery big heart.”

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