Thursday 19th March - Dad has told me that he had seen a 'tin tabernacle' near Wedmore yesterday. I have in the past sent photos to Ian Smith the author of a book which was reviewed in the times (and I was acknowledged in!) so everytime I hear of a tin tabernacle I'm in a rush to photograph it and send to Ian. This was one that he hadn't come across. So met up with my dad and drove to Wedmore on this lovely almost (!) Spring day and had a look around the huge medieval church here - which is on a large scale. We then drove on to the Somerset levels where this disused tin-church was and took some photos - before the owner could come out! Our next stop was the small medieval church at Meare with its manor house adjacent and also a medieval fish house nearby. The whole area had been a massive lake up until the 18th cent. However I didn't cross the field to have a look at it as there were some very angry and huge highland cattle in the way - and I didn't fancy arguing with them.
Our next stop was at Compton Dundon near a iron age fort by Somerton. The church here was open. We then sped off to Babcary where some ancestors came from and dad had a good look around the churchyard and found some graves. My grandad could remember playing at a stream near some cottages outside the village so we located that. Grampy could remember playing there during the 1st world war and when he last went in the late 1990's he said that it looked exactly the same as it did back in those days. A resident came out of one of the cottages and was curious as to who we were. When dad said that some distant relatives had lived in one of the cottages the man was a bit indignant and said he had lived there all his life and never heard of them ( I think he thought we were going to put a claim in for his property!). However he warmed up a bit when he realised that we were just looking at the place where grampy used to play. He used to travel up on the train and stay with his relatives. It's kind of strange to think how much the world has changed in all that time yet some places look the same.
Our next stop was Barton St David which has a medieval octagonal tower and a very early chancel arch. Our last stop as dad had to be back in Bristol to help Julie with buying her house was at Butleigh - and we couldn't find it!! After about an hour trying to find it we did - and had a very quick look around.
