The Villages

Mells Post Office

Mells

Mells is now well known for its Daffodil Festival which is held on Easter Monday each year. The nursery rhyme, ‘Little Jack Horner’, relates to the village. At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Thomas Horner was steward to the last Abbot of Glastonbury, Richard Whiting. The abbot tried to placate the King by sending the deeds of many manors to London in a pie, accompanied by Horner. Along the way Horner extracted the deeds to Mells. The Horner family did indeed become the Lords of the Manor of Mells although their descendants deny the connection to the rhyme to this day.

Nunney

There is a ruined fourteenth century castle in the centre of Nunney. Its design was apparently based on the infamous Bastille in Paris but built on a far smaller scale. During the English Civil War, the castle was held for the King and successfully besieged by the Parliamentary forces in 1645. After the siege the castle was slighted (made indefensible). The wall that was damaged eventually collapsed in 1910! Nunney now has a Street Fayre which take place each August.

Nunney Castle

Norton St Philip

The George Inn in Norton St Philip has been dispensing hospitality for about 700 years. In 1685 the Duke of Monmouth stayed at the pub during his unsuccessful rebellion. During his stay he survived an assassination attempt. The village was the site of a skirmish between the Duke’s forces and those of King James. After the Duke was defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor, Judge Jefferies brought his Bloody Assizes to the village and conducted 12 executions on the village common. The view behind the pub towards the church, overlooking the cricket field, is the archetypal English scene. It has been described as the sort of thing that wars are fought over. You have to see it to believe it.

Great Elm and Whatley

There are other interesting villages in the area. Great Elm has a long standing connection with music. For a tiny village, there are a surprising number of concerts by acclaimed artists. Grapes are increasing popular as a crop in the South of England. Whatley is home one of these vineyards which encourages visitors to wander around the site and sample the produce.

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