Twerton History Society

hi, was there an air raid shelter in the field between the centurion pub and the farm,somewhere below kelston view.as a kid i remember a structure in a bush in this field.

(submitted via email from B. M. Stott)

I am doing my family tree and live in the South East, so getting to Twerton is quite a journey.

I was wondering if anyone can tell me if there is a church yard/grave yard at a place called Twerton way? I believe my Grandfathers brother to be buried there. Any help would be brilliant.

Thanks in advance.

Janette

I’m not one for being morbid, but here are some epitaphs from grave stones in St. Michael’s churchyard.  They remind me of the struggles that so many people have in life – and how precious life is in the here and now.  How do they make you feel?

1795

Here in my silent Grave I lie

Free from all Pain and Grief

Tho my disease was long and sharp

God sent at last Relief

(1803)

Long lingering on the borders of the grave

From which no Skill on Earth had power to save

In racking pain I spent my daily breath

And found no refuge till relieved by death

And now I sleep no more by (pain) oppress’d

And trust my Saviour for eternal rest

1805

Confident that ere long you must

Depart and soon return to dust

Or suddenly as well as I

By some sad accident must die

And in this world as some can tell

How short a time he has to dwell

O let it be your chiefest care

For death and judgment to prepare

1811

Young men I pray be wise betimes

For I was cut off in my prime

For as the flowers doth fade away

So did my Life and Strength decay

My Friends as you my Grave doth see

Stay but a while you’l follow me

1812

All you young youths my grave may see

Pray you prepare to follow me

Had Youth I was and Youth I am

And forc’d to go at God’s command

1815

Farwell to you my Children dear

For (no) you was (to) me

My time of life was (agains) in (pain)

But death hath set me free

1817

The Rose within this earthly Bed

Tho wither’d and reclin’d its Head

Shall soon in new born Beauty rise

And blossom in its native Skies

1825

I was so long with pains oppress’d

That wore my strength away

It made me long for endless rest

Which never can decay

1826

Peaceful rest ye silent Babes

Mingled with the Valley’s clod

Rest till Nature’s cry shall call ye

Call ye to approach your God

1835

Death ! why so fast ? pray stop your hand

And let my glass run out its sand

As neither death nor time will stay

Let us improve the present day

1853

There calmly rests beneath this lowly tomb

A gentle flowr pluck’t in her early bloom

Too fondly loved too hardly parted from

Rent from her life her friends her happy home

Yet a celestial hope springs from the earth

And dear Ellen claims a second birth

Where the kind shepherd bids all sorrows cease

And calls his lambs to endless joy and peace

1855

Whilst in this world I did remain

My latter Days were full of Pain

But when the Lord he thought it best

He took me to a Place of Rest

1856

What joy !  when he resigned his breath -

For as his eyelids closed – he smiled in death

1863

So kind so young so gentle so sincere

So loved so early lost may claim a tear

Yet wherefore mourn ? the life resumed by heaven

Doubtless fulfilled the end for which ’twas given

1875

Her labours below have ceased

Her trials and pains are o’er

Her sun hath set at noon of day

To rise on the heavenly shore

This is scanned from the original writing of the long deceased gentleman. The poem was written about 1940 when Alfred Kettlety was in his 70’s.

I am interested in the mills in Twerton in the 1780s. My relations lived in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and in the 1780s went to Twerton. Why? They had a child in Notts in 1785 but then had one in Twerton in 1788, 1791, 1795, 1798 then had one in Notts in who died in 1801. They would have gone for employment in the mills but Twerton must have been the other end of the earth at that time? Why did they go there, how did they get there and why did they come all the way back to Notts. I beieve from someone else that they worked in a mill owned by Paul Bamford. A water mill converted to a worsted mill. Daniel Comery repaired heavy machinery i.e. an iron turner.

Can you provide any further information?

Somerset by car is a long way but in the 1780s I am surprised they knew it existed. Would they have travelled by road or boat as rail had not been invented and they probably had no money anyway.

Any thoughts will be most appreciated.

Jane

(submitted via email)

Does anyone know anything about the short lived Twerton Fountain which was placed in the high street back in the early 1900s?

Apparently, Bath City Council commissioned a fountain for Twerton and installed it only to take it away soon afterwards to do road works. People of the village expected the fountain to reappear, but it never did. Rumour has it that it was spotted in a dump somewhere. I think it may have been when Twerton was incorporated into Bath, but can not be sure.

I know about it from a book that was in the Bath Library. It was like a scrapbook of articles about Bath and was very entertaining.

The origins of place names around Twerton are not always as straightforward as they might seem, especially when there is more than one possibility. For example, is Newton Road named after Gilbert Newton, who was vicar of Twerton between 1529 and 1560, or is it so called because it was the road you would follow to get to the village of Newton St Loe? My money would be on the latter explanation. (In fact, the footpath which cuts across the camp site at Twerton and out to Newton St Loe, seems to survive as a relic of the greater contact that the two villages once had with each other.)

Pennyquick, at the far end of Newton Road, presents a similar problem. According to the local researcher Peter Little, the name is derived from the Saxon term: Penna-cu-wick – meaning “the dairy farm belonging to Penna”. While it is true that “wick” in a place name does often record a dairy farm that once existed, local recollections and traditions in Twerton offer a different explanation.

It is said by some of the older generations, that a pub once existed on the corner of Newton Road, near when the old Twerton mine used to be. After work, the miners found it convenient to spend a quick penny on a pint of beer in there, before returning home. The pub and its location became known as Pennyquick for this reason. I have also heard it said that the pub was demolished by a steam roller which ran down the hill and crashed into it.

Anyone got the answer to that one?

Part of Pennyquick View in the evening

EDITED TO ADD

Actually, the pub explanation does seem a bit of a long shot. I’ve just seen a map of Twerton in 1807 and Pennyquick already occurs as a field-name back then, before the Pennyquick mine came into existence.