logo.gif - 4Kb   2010 April 14

Edgarley mystery to be revealed on Friday

Edgarley Hall (sepia) -- 99K

Back in the 1840s, the Porch family owned both the Abbey and Edgarley Hall (which in this photo looks rather like a period location for Alfred Hitchcock). Edgarley’s modern occupant is Millfield Prep School, since the 1940s.

The Porches were one of Glastonbury’s most prominent and influential families until they suddenly disappeared in the early 20th century — for reasons explained in an illustrated talk by Roger Parsons on Friday April 16 at 7pm, starting with a short guided tour of the house and grounds. Free and open to all.

In the grounds stands the Hermitage, a small-scale replica of the Abbot’s Kitchen built of Abbey stone in the 19th century. Millfield refurbished it while Roger taught languages.


About the society

It is somewhat startling to calculate that the Conservation Society has been doing its bit for more than 10% of the tercentenary that Glastonbury as a town recently celebrated: 38 years out of the 300. The society was formed in haste in 1971 in order to save the Crown Hotel in the central Market Place from being pulled down, as had several interesting medieval buildings nearby; swift spot-listing saved a number of other sites too. Today the Crown thrives as the Backpackers Inn. Another project was to rescue some of Glastonbury’s pre-Beeching heritage: the canopy from the railway station, by relocating it (ironically?) amid parked cars, in the main central carpark, where it shelters market stalls and makes two acres of asphalt easier on the eye. The trees in the carparks are the society’s work too.

Today, Glastonbury Conservation Society

  • obtains copies of all planning applications and exercises the right to comment
  • plants trees in town and 10 miles around: 43.653 trees in 39 years!
  • hears interesting talks from experts on various aspects of our environment
  • publishes a quarterly newsletter

The membership subscription is only £5 a year (and dare i say it, the newsletter alone is worth that much); members are of course free to give more.
 


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  • Eric King’s memories of the High Street in the 1940s (four-part series published in newsletters 95–99) Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

55 years in Glastonbury: John Brunsdon looks back over his time here
This is the full text of a talk John gave recently, updated from reminiscences he wrote down 10 years earlier.


clock (small) - 5Kb How did Kiwi pioneers come to keep Glastonbury time?

Robin Huggett, touring New Zealand after a wedding, discovered a longcase clock with “R. Woollan, Glastonbury” inscribed on its face, at The Elms, a historic mission house built in 1847 amid warring Maori tribes. Can anyone shed light on the clock? Who made it? How did it come to be where it is? Write to the newsletter.
   Mr Huggett and his wife founded Becket’s Inn in Glastonbury High Street (in a building that was the town surgery for 250 years); they now live in France.


somerspaint40.jpg - 25Kb Memories of childhood in Somers Square

David Orchard grew up in the 1950s in a forgotten square near the top of the High Street. His schoolboy painting of it won him a scholarship. Somers Square was flattened to become a garage and eventually the Co-op supermarket. Now that too has been demolished and new cottages and flats have gone up; the developer called it Avalon Mews. Click here for a fuller version of David Orchard’s piece, from Newsletter 115.


Links to some affiliated and like-minded organizations
  The Glastonbury Conservation Society was founded in 1971 in appreciation of our built and natural environment here at Glastonbury, in Somerset, England.


tree2aw.png - 28k bytes Tree-planting volunteers always welcome
The society has so far planted 43.653 trees in and around Glastonbury. Contact Alan Fear, 83 3185.


Become a member — contact Janet Morland, treasurer:
83 5238 or email or download form (PDF)
The Conservation Area ...
History
Summary of the society’s doings since 1971
The quarterly newsletter
Issue 131 was published on April 13.
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Articles include:
•  Victorian Glastonbury was in transition too
•  “Bees and mankind” talk at AGM
•  Somerset defences in wartime
•  John Cannon chronicles from 1730s published
•  Civic Voice launches as national champion
A few recent articles in full:
•  Morlands buildings occupied at last — but it’s not what the RDA intends [from Newsletter 127, published 2009 Jan 12]
•  Assuring the future of the Abbey: Vicky Dawson outlines the conservation plan
•  Where was the Swan Inn? (Still a mystery.)
•  Bushy Coombe is now a wildlife area — and the path up the hill is now mud-free!
•  The hidden history of the Roman Catholic church in Glastonbury (a talk by Michael Protheroe


Contents list of issues 90–126


Website first published 2005 February 21. Page updated by Jim Nagel    tor.gif - 3554 bytes
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