 1829-1965 |
 1997 |
 1998 |
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MOUNT PLEASANT, STOKE ST. MARY |
1829-1965 |
1997 |
1998 |
| Mount Pleasant is a house of blue lias construction which stands on the track formerly known as Frog Lane. The property was built as three cottages in 1829, it’s site having until then formed part of a small farming estate whose origins lay in the Middle Ages. The building stands at the end of a long narrow field, measuring exactly one acre, and was in origin one of the unfenced strips making up the medieval open field of Stoke Down. The fossilised field pattern preserved later by hedges is still very evident. Mount Pleasant is probably the only dwelling in Stoke St. Mary from which can be seen the parish churches of Stoke St. Mary, together with those of the conjoining parishes of Orchard Portman and Thurlbear. The churches of Corfe and West Monkton together with the distant assembly of the Taunton spires are also clearly seen. |
| Mount Pleasant Cottages were built by Samuel STODGELL in 1829, when he acquired the land from
John WEAVER the younger. Records in 1837 show the garden in two plots. Plot 101a at the ‘front’
associated with the cottagers and plot 100 at the ‘rear’ being part of Pear Orchard owned
by Samuel Stodgell. The orchard is maintained and bountiful to this day. During ownership by the STODGELL family, tenants included Sarah BURRIDGE (1833-1859), Philip WEAVER (1851 Census), John DARCH, Henry DARCH and Wm WATERMAN (1884). The property passed from the STODGELL family in 1910 at auction when it was acquired by Tom GAWLER, becoming two cottages, one occupied by the new owner and the other by A. COX. Subsequent tenants included, Harry SILKE with his sister Rose SILKE and also Willey HARDWELL. In 1921 Tom GAWLER sold the property to Harry and Rose SILKE whose tenants were Dorcas and Eli HECTOR. Dorothy Hardwell (SILKE) was born at Mount Pleasant in 1926 the daughter of Harry and Gladys SILKE. (Dorothy in 2001 is the longest living resident of Stoke St. Mary who was born in the village.) During 1966 the cottages were sold by Gladys SILKE, (the widow of Harry SILKE), to Edwin and Sylvia GOODLIFFE who arranged with local builders BOWERMAN to convert the property to a single family home. Alan and June PRIME with their children Sarah and Matthew, acquired the house in 1988. |
| Source: Tom Mayberry 1997 and Alan Prime 2001. |
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The Conversion above of Mount Pleasant to a single dwelling in 1966 building work carried out by Arther Bowerman of Stoke St. Mary. Photographs from Mrs Beryl Bowerman, January 2002. |
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Springtime |
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