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Friendly Society Brasses
Friendly society brasses were the emblems of village friendly societies or clubs common in the west of England between the late 18th and early 20th centuries. The use of brasses as emblems was particularly prevalent in Somerset and the surrounding counties. Use On the society's annual feast day or walking day, usually in spring, the members would hold a parade around the village, with the officers or sometimes all the members carrying poles or staves between four and eight feet (1.2 to 2.4 meters) in length and usually painted. Some poles (also known as rods, wands or 'club sticks') were headed by garlands of flowers, while in the West Country, the poles were commonly headed by a brass finial with a distinctive shape and decorated with ribbons. It is thought that the use of brass was due to the proximity of the brass industries in Bristol and Bridgwater, and the two separate manufacturing centres may account for there being two principal forms of brass pole-head. Those used nort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friendly Society
A friendly society (sometimes called a benefit society, mutual aid society, benevolent society, fraternal organization or ROSCA) is a mutual association for the purposes of insurance, pensions, savings or cooperative banking. It is a mutual organization or benefit society composed of a body of people who join together for a common financial or social purpose. Before modern insurance and the welfare state, friendly societies provided financial and social services to individuals, often according to their religious, political, or trade affiliations. These societies are still widespread in many parts of the developing world, where they are referred to as ROSCAs (rotating savings and credit associations), ASCAs (accumulating savings and credit associations), burial societies, chit funds, etc. Character Before the development of large-scale government and employer health insurance and other financial services, friendly societies played an important part in many people's lives. Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stave Dancing
Stave dancing is a style of folk dance from the south-west of England, especially Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltshire. Teams of dancers carry long decorated poles, known as staves, over their shoulders whilst performing. Having effectively died-out in the 1920s, interest in the style revived in the 1980s, and today a number of morris dancing, Morris and country dancing teams perpetuate the tradition. Some claim the tradition's origins lie in the annual ‘club-walks’ of the friendly society, friendly societies. Dancing style Stave dances are, essentially, English country dances adapted to have dancers perform whilst carrying a stave over their right shoulder. They are performed by mixed groups of dancers, organised into sets of four, six, eight, or more who perform figures to the accompaniment of traditional country dance tunes. The steps are similar to those used in some Morris and country dances including double-stepping, a travelling ‘ranting’ or ‘polka’ step, and a coun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bishops Lydeard
Bishops Lydeard () is a village and civil parish located in Somerset, England, north-west of Taunton in the district of Somerset West and Taunton. The civil parish encompasses the hamlets of East Lydeard, Terhill, and East Bagborough, and had a population of 2,839 persons as recorded in the 2011 census; this figure, however, includes the village (and now separate parish) of Cotford St Luke. The village has been bypassed, since 1967, by the A358 road; the West Somerset Railway also runs through the area. The hamlet of East Lydeard is less than a mile to the east of the village; East Bagborough is a mile to the north, and Terhill another mile or so further on while west of the village is Sandhill Park, an eighteenth-century country house. History The name of the village probably relates to Gisa, Bishop of Wells, who was its principal tenant and one of the major episcopal landowners in Somerset at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086. Lydeard is a compound of two Saxon personal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Butleigh
Butleigh is a small village and civil parish, located in Somerset. The nearest village to it is Barton St David, and it is located a short distance from Glastonbury and Street. Its population is 823. Butleigh has a church, small village shop, a Church of England primary school and Butleigh Nursery School. History Butleigh was mentioned in the Domesday Book, belonging to Glastonbury Abbey. It had two separate entries, with the names Bodeslege and Boduchelei. The parish of Butleigh was part of the Whitley Hundred. Butleigh Court, which was abandoned for many years and has now been brought back into use, is noted for its interesting architecture including the tall carved chimney stacks, which are all different. Another interesting landmark is the cedar avenue, just outside the village. It was built in 1845 by J. C. Buckler, for Henry Neville-Grenville, on the site of an earlier building. The village history is told in a slim book, ''Butleigh: One Thousand Years of an English V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chilcompton
Chilcompton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in the Mendip Hills two miles south of Midsomer Norton and 3.0 miles south-west of Westfield. It is situated on the B3139 road between Radstock and Wells, close to the A37 (between Shepton Mallet and Bristol). History The parish was part of the hundred of Chewton. The village's history is mainly that of farming and mining. There is a coal waste mound in the north-east end of the village. The village used to have Chilcompton railway station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, which closed in 1966. Governance The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council’s operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wells And Mendip Museum
The Wells and Mendip Museum is a museum in the city of Wells. It is a registered charity and an accredited member of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The exhibits include items of local history and archaeological finds. Building The museum is next to Wells Cathedral, and housed in the former Chancellors' House, with 15th-century origins, however most of the current fabric of the building is from the 17th and 18th centuries. The stone building has gabled roofs of Welsh slate. A small entrance hall provides access to a staircase hall leading to a salon in gothic revival style with a marble fireplace. The front of the building was remodelled around 1828 and the rear includes a 20th-century extension. It has been designated as a Grade II listed building. Museum history It was founded by Herbert E. Balch in 1893, to display his collection of local artefacts and memorabilia, and further exhibits have been added since. It is run by the Wells Natural History and Archaeologi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Templecombe
Templecombe is a village in Somerset, England, situated on the A357 road five miles south of Wincanton, east of Yeovil, and west of Salisbury. The village has a population of 1,560. Along with the hamlet of Combe Throop, it forms the parish of Abbas and Templecombe. History Prior to the Norman Conquest Combe was held by Leofwine Godwinson. One part of the village was known as Abbas Combe which was recorded in the ''Domesday Book'' of 1086–7 as ''Cumbe'', when it was held by the church of St Edward, Shaftesbury. The other manor within the parish was held by Godwinson, but after the Norman Conquest, was given to Bishop Odo of Bayeux. It was his descendant Serlo FitzOdo who granted it to the Knights Templar. The parish was part of the Hundred of Horethorne. Templecombe derives its name from ''Combe Templariorum'', after the Knights Templar who established Templecombe Preceptory in the village in 1185. After they were suppressed in 1312 it was granted to the Knights Hosp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oakhill
Oakhill is a village in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, in Ashwick parish approximately north of Shepton Mallet. It lies between the A37 and the A367 (which is part of the ancient Fosse Way). Oakhill is today is mainly a commuter village of in size, and is notable for former activities which including brewing. The village contains a Church of England primary school and a surgery, as well as a public house, the Oakhill Inn. Little London is the name given to a cluster of houses at the western end of the village. It is sometimes referred to by tradespeople etc. as a settlement in itself for the purpose of location, because of the elongated character of the village. History A brewing industry led to the growth of the village, and as a result a parish church, All Saints, was built in 1861 to a design by J. L. Pearson to provide a place of worship for the inhabitants, who previously had belonged to the parishes of Ashwick or Shepton Mallet, the boundary between which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morris Dance
Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may also be wielded by the dancers. In a small number of dances for one or two people, steps are near and across a pair of clay tobacco pipes laid one across the other on the floor. They clap their sticks, swords, or handkerchiefs together to match with the dance. The earliest known and surviving English written mention of Morris dance is dated to 1448 and records the payment of seven shillings to Morris dancers by the Goldsmiths' Company in London. Further mentions of Morris dancing occur in the late 15th century, and there are also early records such as bishops' "Visitation Articles" mentioning sword dancing, guising and other dancing activities, as well as mumming plays. While the earliest records invariably mention "Morys" in a court s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. The county town is Dorchester, in the south. After the reorganisation of local government in 1974, the county border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch. Around half of the population lives in the South East Dorset conurbation, while the rest of the county is largely rural with a low population density. The county has a long history of human settlement stretching back to the Neolithic era. The Romans conquered Dorset's indigenous Celtic tribe, and during the Early Middle Ages, the Saxons settled the area and made Dorset a shire in the 7th century. The first recor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fifehead Magdalen
Fifehead Magdalen is a small village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It lies within the Blackmore Vale, about south-southwest of Gillingham and west of Shaftesbury. It is sited on Corallian limestone soil and surrounded by Oxford Clay, about from the west bank of the River Stour. Its name means "the place of five hides dedicated to tMagdalene". In 2013 the estimated population of the parish was 80. The village was a venue for stave dances. Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene The Parish Church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurre ... after whom the village is named, dates mostly from the 14th century. However its most striking feature is the small "Newman chapel" built onto the north side of the nave some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stourton Caundle
Stourton Caundle is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southwest England. It lies within the Blackmore Vale, about east of Sherborne. In the 2011 census the parish had 181 households and a population of 439. Stourton Caundle is one of several settlements in the area to bear the name "Caundle", the others being Bishop's Caundle, Purse Caundle and Caundle Marsh. The origin of "Caundle" is uncertain. In the Domesday Book in 1086 there are seven Domesday entries connected to the village, recorded as "Candelle", "Candel" or "Candele" in the hundred of Brunsell. The entries record a total of 45 households and a total taxable value of 17 geld units. Sir Henry de Haddon, a lord from Northamptonshire, bought land and founded a manor here in 1202, and the resultant settlement was called "Caundel Haddon" or "Caundle Haddon". The Haddons retained the manor until 1461 when it passed to the Stourton family, which resulted in the current village name. The manor was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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