THE CEDARS, STOKE ST. MARY

Photograph by Liz and David Fothergill, Summer 2001

The Cedars (with Meadow Cottage) is a substantial house of several periods which stands a short distance north-west of the centre of Stoke St. Mary. Its immediate neighbour is the house now called Rose Cottage, which was part of the Cedars estate until sold in 1941, and which may have been built in 1782 (date in roof) as an ancillary building. Further north-west is a large area of roadside verge, which within living memory was the site of the village pond; then follows Higher Broughton Farm. Opposite the Cedars, to the south-west, is the area occupied until the late Middle Ages by one of the open fields of the community.

Maps of 1837 and 1877 show the house as a long building lying parallel to the road, and Meadow Cottage must be a surviving portion of this building. Recent repairs revealed the walls of the cottage to be a patchwork of cob and local Blue Lias limestone, and it seems likely that the cottage represents the kitchen and cross-passage of a 17th century house: the blocked exit-door of the cross-passage is still traceable; the timber uprights of a partition survive, as do the large kitchen hearth and a spiral staircase. The cottage has a later single-storey lean-to additions against its front and side walls. The main part of the present house (the Cedars proper) was probably built in about 1880 and stands at right-angles to Meadow Cottage and the road. It was considerably enlarged within recent years (1977), the north-east kitchen range being demolished and rebuilt to incorporate two additional bedrooms on the first floor.

Meadow Cottage. Photograph by Alan Prime, 2001

Although no part of the building appears, therefore, to be older than the 17th century, the site itself has been occupied by a dwelling-house at least since the Middle Ages, held by successive tenants of the bishops of Winchester, lords of the manor of Taunton Deane until 1822. From manorial records at Winchester and Taunton it is possible to discover the names of those who have held the property from an early date, the property being invariably referred to in the manorial records by its ancient description as 'a messuage and one farthingland of bondland' (i.e. a house and a small amount of farmland). In 1543/4 the property was held by Robert Pope in succession to Ellen Pope, probably his widowed mother. In 1566, it was held by John Pope, and afterwards passed successively to Thomas Sherwood and Francis Hearne alias Boobey. (The alias probably reflects illegitimacy, one name being the father's and one the mother's). In 1631 William Hearne alias Boobey surrendered the property to Christopher Gully, and in 1658 he was succeeded by his son William, who was obliged, however, to allow his widowed mother Susanna Gully to have the property for life. In 1669, William Gully married Susannah Harton of Wellington, and on 4th March 1698, the parish register records that they were both buried at Stoke St. Mary: it seems likely that they had died of smallpox or of some other contagion. By good fortune, one of the handful of surviving probate inventories for Stoke St. Mary was made following the death of William and Susannah Gully, listing the contents of their house room by room. The ground floor contained a hall (the main living room), kitchen, and buttery (normally a room adjoining the kitchen), and on the first floor were three chambers corresponding with the rooms below. Assuming the identification of the inventory with the original Meadow Cottage is correct, the house must have been enlarged after 1698, since the 19th century maps suggest a building whose ground plan would certainly have accommodated more than hall, kitchen and buttery. Beyond the dwelling-house in 1698 were the milk house, brewing, cider house, and wring house, and the details of the inventory suggest that cider was made on a considerable scale. The inventory records corn and hay of relatively little value, together with a mare, a heifer, a fat pig, and books worth five shillings. On 20 December 1698, the property passed to John Kevell, senior, of Stoke St. Mary, who held it until his death in 1717. John Kevell already held the property now called Woodfordes, which had come to him on his marriage to Agnes Waters in 1666, and also the property now called The Orchard which he had acquired in 1695. The Kevells were long-established in the parish, and John Kevell's extensive property holdings no doubt reflected his own prosperity and perhaps the need to accommodate his very large family of children and grandchildren. From Agnes Kevell (died 1722), John's widow, the property passed to John Ball of Henlade, gent, and in 1735 his son and heir, Philip Ball of Ruishton, yeoman, surrendered it to the use of the Revd John Roberts of Taunton. Passing first to his widow Mary Roberts, then to his son John West Roberts of Taunton and Worcester, the property was acquired in 1787 by the brothers John and Thomas Maine of Stoke St. Mary, gentlemen. Thomas Maine became sole owner in 1798, and in 1837 his estate based on The Cedars amounted to some 44 acres. His brother, who owned Aplins and the former poor house, had over 75 acres, and between them, the Maine brothers were the leading gentlemen farmers of the parish, apart from Henry Gordon of Stoke Court. On the death of Jemima Maine, Thomas's widow, the property passed to Charles Gaywood, who was evidently related and who was probably responsible for rebuilding The Cedars as it stands today. On Gaywood's death in 1894, Walter Maine, a surgeon of Little Clacton, Essex, became owner. Mrs. Nutt recalled (Parish Magazine, March 1975), 'Dr. Maine lived at what is now The Cedars or rather he lived in london and came down sometimes. My Auntie was the caretaker and lived in the cottage.' Dr. Maine died in 1909, and a family association with the house thus came to an end after more than a century. (Dr Maine gave considerable support, financial and otherwise to Stoke Chapel.) James Robert Morgan, a boot and shoe merchant of Taunton, bought the property in 1910, and sold it 9 years later to Joseph Webb, a farmer of Stoke St. Mary (died 1935). It then passed to his daughter Amy Beatrice loxton of Chilton Cantelo who conveyed it to Julia Charlotte Barrington in 1946. Following her death in 1951, the property was vested in Mrs. Hilda Olive Loxton, who sold it (exclusive of Meadow Cottage) to Mr. and Mrs. D. C. Baker in 1973. The whole house was called Meadow Cottage by the late 19th century, but by 1919 the main house was known as The Cedars. The older name is still used for the surviving part of the original building. Source: Tom Mayberry, April 1987 with permission of Jill and Desmond Baker.

Jill Baker being presented with her 40 year service medal by Mr Peter Gladstone-Smith, Somerset County Chairman of The Royal British Legion. On the right is Mr Phillip Steele, President.