Medieval Tithe Barn

 

Somerset has several notable tithe barns scattered amongst its towns and villages. This medieval beauty is at  Haselbury Mill. It was used to store the tithed produce from the local farms, destined for Glastonbury Abbey, the owner of much land and wealth by the fourteenth century. This one has been beautifully restored and is now a popular wedding venue. I had a coffee at the nearby Mill and had the huge site to myself. It was easy to feel yourself back into a earlier period of English history, in spite of the picnic tables and notices. 

New uses for Congregational Chapel

 

The former Congregational Church in Frome is beautifully restored and downstairs is occupied by a bakery and cafe. Where the voice of the preacher once echoed each Sunday, people now gather for coffee and lunch, concerts, talks and, upstairs, the viewing of paintings. It's a thriving community hub and its good to see. Congregational life once gave to local people a sense of belonging, and a taste for education. It may have been narrow, and biblical interpretation from the pulpit was probably literal and restricted, but it was here that music and community cohesiveness was forged. 

German visitors

A message came into the village church website. A man called Harald Spitzer was leading a group of German visitors from Lower Saxony. He asked if they could visit the village church. I went along, mainly to get a photograph or two of the visitors. Two of the local people then showed the group Gunther Anton's stained glass windows, which had been given to the church following the second world war, when Gunther, a POW held in Somerset, returned in 1948 to his home in what had become West Germany.

The group was larger than we had expected and were happy to pose for a photo. It was impressive to see the significance of their visit, and the shared history which lay behind it. Nick recalled the times when Gunther had been with villagers in the local pub, in spite of the fact that he was held in a POW camp. (It was easy enough for him to walk through a carefully opened hole in the fence which surrounded the camp in Yeovil.) It was this camaraderie which led to him later devoting over two decades of his life in giving the village church a set of stained glass windows, as a sign of reconciliation.