There are several Comba (Latin for Combe) seats in the chapter house at Wells (they are distinguished by numbers) because there were several prebends associated with Combe St Nicholas as shown above. The prebendaries (or canons) collectively formed the chapter of the cathedral and sat in the chapter house in their allocated seats to discuss cathedral business. These prebendaries may have had little or no direct contact with Combe, because the cathedral precentor, and from 1217 the provost, was responsible for paying them out of the revenues of the manor. The provost is sometimes referred to as the provost of Combe and sometimes as provost of Wells. We cannot be sure whether he had a special role within the cathedral, but he was evidently responsible for the administration of the manor of Combe and he was also rector of the parish (which would have entitled him to the tithes).

(Prebends were dissolved by Henry V111 in 1547, although the title of prebendary was retained by certain dioceses as an honorary title for senior parish priests and they still had a role in the affairs of the cathedral. The Vicar of Combe from 1946 to 1983, William Taylor, had the title of Prebendary, and was referred to as Preb. Taylor)

Bishop Jocelyne, who must have been an excellent man of business, further decreed in what manner and with what stock the Provost of Combe should transmit the manor to his successors: “And he shall leave to his successor in the said Provostship 107 acres sowed with wheat at Combe, and 149 acres sowed with oats, and 78t acres of fallow. And in the same place, of stock 40 oxen, or 5 shillings in lieu of each ox, if so be that so many oxen should not be found there, also 200 sheep, the price of each sheep 12 pence".

During the Middle Ages Combe prospered under the rule of its Provost, who had his courthouse in the field opposite the church. This would have been used for meetings of the manorial court, and presumably was also the provost's accommodation when he visited Combe. The provost would not have been in permanent residence because of his duties in Wells, which would be the reason for the creation of a vicarage (i.e., the post of vicar) from 1234. At the same time the vicarage of Combe was formed, with the chapelry of Waterleston (Weston). It was endowed with the lesser tithes to the value of 5 marcs, and a vicarage house assigned on the north side of the road to Stanton (Whitestaunton), the right of presentation being vested in the Provost.

Tudor & Stuart  

In the middle of the 15th century the church was enlarged and partly rebuilt. The north and south aisles were added; the nave arcade, the rood screen and the two external turrets were built; and the tower was probably raised to its present height.

Between 1502 and 1519 the Provostship seems to have been merged in the deanery, and on the latter date the dean for the first time presents the vicar of Combe. As late as 1810 Combe was a ' peculiar of the Dean'.

The rood and rood-loft above the screen of the church may have been partly dismantled in the mid-16C and the piscinas and squints, associated with the mass, would have become disused. The chapels may well have been built as chantry chapels, but this function had evidently ceased before the 1548 Survey of Chantries.

By a survey taken the 8th day of October in the sixteenth year of Queen Elizabeth the manor of Combe St. Nicholas, with the rectory, parcel of the revenues of the Dean of Wells, was rated at £61 48s. 2 3/4d.

In the early 1630’s Charles 1, trying to rule without parliament, needed money. Consequently he planned to surrender his rights in Neroche Forest and to agree to enclosure. He proposed that he should be allotted one third of the Forest which he presumably intended to sell, while the adjacent landowners would be granted one third and those with common rights would receive the other third. There was however a backlash by the commoners to this arrangement during the Civil War in which the enclosures were removed and it was not until 1658 following legal proceedings that enclosure of the king’s portion was confirmed while the other 2/3rds remained open.

During the early part of the 17th century, as a result of religious persecution, a number of parishioners are known to have emigrated to America. We have a record of two families leaving Combe. Firstly, the Rossiter family, of Wadeford Manor. They ran a nearby grist mill. The family party of 14, lead by Edward Rossiter, his wife children and other relatives or servants, sailed from Plymouth for Massachusetts, New England, on 20 March 1630 on the ship, Mary and John. It is understood that the eldest son, Nicholas, later returned to Wadeford and continued to run the mill. More details regarding the Rossiter family can be seen at ( Details of the Rossiter family) and the website www.maryandjohn1630.com and other websites linked to the Rossiter family. The other family leaving was the Torrey family, headed by Captain William Torrey, who sailed for America in 1632. William Torrey was born in Combe in 1608, was married three times and died in Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 1690. ( Torrey family reference) There are several website references to the Torrey family, including www.torreygenealogy.com. The Marder family had roots in Combe from the 16th to the 18thC.

The English Civil Wars between 1642 and 1650 probably had an effect on Combe. During the early days of the war the area was disputed territory between the Royalist and Parliamentary forces and there is a record of both being in Chard.

The manor, taken from the Dean and Chapter, was sold by the government commissioners in 1650 to Nathaniel Smyth, of Littlecroft, in the county of Wilts, gentleman, and Arthur Mallack of London, gentleman.

Thomas Greenfield, who had been vicar since 1643 and who was an ardent Royalist, was deprived and was confined for some years in a hulk on the Thames. Formerly it was believed that he died in captivity. It is now known that he returned to Combe in 1660 and died in 1671. (see chancel in Church History), In his place the Parliament sent as minister the Rev. Henry Blackaller, who is said to have resigned the living in 1662 in consequence of the Act of Uniformity, although he had sixteen children and nothing to keep them on. In a list of the Parish Vicars that has been published the Rev. Blackaller’s name is not shown.

Henry Bonner, of Waterleston, was appointed Registrar and Justice for the parish in 1652.

Mrs Dorothy Jones has undertaken research into an important pre-Reformation bench or settle formerly located in the Green Dragon, Combe St. Nicholas. This is now located at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire. Click on settle for further details

After the Restoration and the return to the throne by Charles II, the Royal Forest of Neroche, a considerable part of which was within this parish, was disafforested. The parishioners had certain rights of pasturage, etc., in the forest, and at the disafforestation the land was divided into three parts, one part going to the Crown, one to the lords of the manors, and one part to the commoners, Combe receiving in lieu of its common rights a grant of 162 acres.

A previous enclosure had been made in 1634, when Thomas Lumbard and others contracted with the Commissioners of the Crown for this 162 acres at the rate of £3 15s. 0d. per acre, amounting to £600. But shortly afterwards Henry Bonner the elder and some others of the parish, on behalf of the poor of the parish who were likely to be the greatest losers by the disafforestation and enclosure, petitioned that this contract might be set aside, which was done. Thereupon Henry Bonner the elder and some others of the parish were authorised by the parish, as trustees for the poor, to contract for the 162 acres at the rate of £3 15s. 0d. per acre, and to lease out the same to such of the parishioners as would give £3 15s. 0d. per acre for a fine, and a yearly rent of Is. per acre if they bought for twenty-one years, or if they bought for three lives a yearly rent of 2s.per acre, the rents to be received by the church­wardens and overseers for the relief of the poor.

This arrangement was effected and Henry Bonner sold the land for sums making up the £600 payable to the king. It appears that Henry Bonner received from the purchasers £346 in part payment of the £600, and the remainder was to be paid so soon as he had received a conveyance under the Great Seal and was in a position to complete the leases. But before this could be done the Civil War broke out and the hedges were pulled down and the land relapsed into forest.

Upon the Restoration the lessees applied to the Bonners to perfect their leases to them, and to receive the residues of their fines, but it appears that, though the letters patent were after­wards obtained the Bonners refused to carry out their contract, and Henry Bonner the younger upon the death of his father took possession of the land.

The churchwardens and overseers of Combe thereupon filed an information in the courts praying that the poor of the parish might have the benefit of the said letters patent, and that Henry Bonner the son, and John Brown, the defendants in the suit, might be compelled to execute the agreement. The defendants put in their answer and the matter was referred to commissioners. Finally the court ordered that Henry Bonner the younger, upon payment of certain monies to him, should convey the land to trustees in trust for the poor of the parish, and that the trustees should with all convenient speed complete the original leases, such leases to commence from 3rd August 1668, at a yearly rent of 2s per acre for the poor of the parish.

This land, with the addition of 16 acres added to it when the common was enclosed in 1818, continued in possession of the parish until 1917, when the land was sold for £2,730, which was invested for the benefit of the poor of the parish. The charity was administered by feoffees and in 1929 the income was about £135 per annum. The charity is still in existence today and is now know as The Combe St. Nicholas Relief in Need Charity and is administered by trustees from the parish. Details of other charities, believed to be absorbed into the Relief in Need Charity can be seen at other charities.

Subsequent to the Restoration there was a degree of stringency in matters of religion and a Presentment of 1676  by the parson and churchwardens of Combe shows the persons admonished by the church for their conduct. It is not know if those named were subject to any penalty.

The Monmouth Rebellion of 1685 effected Combe. Following his landing at Lyme Regis, the Duke of Monmouth, travelled via Chard, to the Battle of Sedgemoor at Weston Zoyland, where he was defeated by the King’s Army. Large numbers of men joined Monmouth on the way to Sedgemoor and the Roll Call of the Monmouth Rebels, also known as the Monmouth Roll, contains the names of twenty two Combe men. (see Roll Call of the Monmouth Rebels)

Eighteenth Century

The vestry met regularly each month, appointed its officers -churchwardens, overseers, way-wardens, constable, clerk and sexton - cared for the church, the highways and the poorhouse, relieved the destitute and provided that all persons so relieved wore a badge on the right sleeve bearing a large P together with the initial letter of the parish cut in red or blue cloth, according to law, apprenticed the poor children at the age of eight or nine until they were twenty-one, and prosecuted, often at considerable expense, those who deserted their families.

In 1748 the vestry even turned its attention to the education of the poor, for at a parish meeting held 19th October that year it was agreed 'that the Church House Chamber. . . shall be fitted up in a proper order at the pish expense. Also shall allow James Thorne a sallary of Twenty Shillings a year to commence at Michaelmas last past and be paid Quarterly by the Overseers, the sd. sallary to be paid in Consideration of his Teaching four poor children to read or two to write, the Children to be nominated by the Minister, Churchwardens and Overseers, for the time being in Conjunction.'

It would appear, however, that the schoolmaster did not appreciate his good fortune for at a parish meeting on 30th September 1756, ‘it is ordered that James Thorne, the present School Master, have a Quarter of a year from this time to settle his affairs within this Parish, and at the end of said Quarter of a year he is to quit the School unless his behaviour shall be such as to be approved of by the Majority of the Parishioners present at the end of the time, and to undertake no Deputy office for the future'.

Apparently James Thorne mended his ways, for his quarterly salary of 5s. continued to be paid regularly until 1763, when that volume of overseers' accounts closes. How long the school was maintained is somewhat uncertain, as in 1812 the following item appears in the overseers' accounts: 'Jno Pope as agreed to last Easter for instructing the Poor Chd. to read on Sundays £1 118s. 6d.'.

So late as 1760 the parishioners were still liable for personal service on the highways when called upon by the way-wardens. In that year, however, the way-wardens were authorised to excuse from the Statute Service or Labour at the following rates by the year, to wit-­

The vestry had made an order in 1750 'that the Constable, Churchwardens and Overseers forthwith take an Inventory of all such persons' goods as are Relieved by the pish " and the following is the inventory of the contents of a house in 1752 :

'May ye 3, 1752. A count of Eliz. pons goods a bed and hedsted bolster on blancked and cwilt a bras croock bras skilot a cobard a tabell bord 2 barrelles a Sidbord a Braik (?) 2 back croocks a setell to Puter Dishes a small kitell a shit.'

About this time a change comes over the administration of the relief of the poor of the parish. Up to 1752 destitute persons were admitted into the 'Church House', and ended their days in reasonable comfort under the shadow of the church and on the charity of her sons. But after this time the claims of Christian charity seem to have been lost sight of, the relief of the poor has become a burden, the' Church House' is now called' The Poor House', or the' Parish House', the poor are set to work as ordered by the law, and finally in 1769 we have the establishment of a 'Workhouse' in Combe.

‘Feby 7th, 1769. At a public plsh Meeting this day held, pursuant to a Notice given in the parish Church Sunday last, ordered that the poor house be converted into a Workhouse, and an Advertisement entered on the Sherborn Mercury pur­porting that a fit person with a wife is wanting to superintend the same.'

Six months later further alterations were necessary. 'Sept. 1st, 1769, at a vestry this day held Ordd. That the windows be glaz'd and leaded. viz. Worhouse, the kitchen ffloor immediately levelled, and Curry Mallett Stone prepared for the kitchen workshop and passage and drains to be made for keep do. dry, that the oven be made and 2 Furnaces put up immediately. As also a Grate for burning Coals, and all other necessarys fit for the Reception of the poor, to be procured by ye overseers as soon as possible.'

Six months later again and the workhouse was once more causing anxiety to the vestry, for on ‘1770, March 25th, Tis agreed as the present Governor of our Workhouse (William Northover) does not turn out agreeable to our Expectation we hereby unanimously agree to discharge him from his Office as Governor of the same and accordingly he is hereby discharged when he has made a fair Settlement of his accompts '.

From the overseers' accounts, carefully rendered each month, it is possible to get some idea of life in the Combe Workhouse at this time. The inmates food consisted chiefly of Beef at 2½d a pound, or veal at 1½d. a pound, though occasionally pork was purchased at 4s. 6d. a score, and once only, a leg of mutton for 3s. They were further supplied with wheat at 4s. a bushel, from which presumably they baked their own bread, cheese at 15s. per 100 lbs., potatoes at Is. 6d. a bag, and pease at 4s. 6d. a bushel, while one curious entry is for' Salt, oatmeal and combs 3s.'. Once or twice in thirty years a hogshead of cyder was purchased for £1, but for the most part a veil is drawn over the drink with which the poor washed down this good fare. Tea and cocoa were of course unknown to them, and there is no mention of either butter or sugar. There was a garden in which they grew chiefly cabbage, bought at 4d. per hundred plants; carrots they were able to buy at 7d. for six bundles. They ate their meals from wooden dishes, which cost 2d. each, seated on 'stules' purchased at 6d. apiece. For firing they had faggot wood at £1 1s. per hundred, furze at 3s. 6d. a load, and turf from Longlie or the forest at 6s. a load. Clothing was priced - a pair of breeches 3s. 6d., shoes 4s. a pair, , stockens' 3 pairs for 2s. 5d., a shift 3s.6d., a pair of gloves Is. 2d., lincey Is. 2d. a yard, Brean Is. 2d. a yard, barras 9d. a yard. Two' bed bords ' cost 2s. Sd., and blankets Is. 4d. a yard.

There is some evidence that clothing was expensive. The weekly wage was less than 9s. for an agricultural labourer in West Country parishes as late as the 1850s and that was the reason for the Overseers assisting with the purchase and /or repair of shoes and essential clothing to enable them to work. The rate of pay had not changed since about 1775 and the only time agricultural labourers could earn a little more than their basic wage was during longer day-light hours bringing in the summer harvest. But even that was not enough for them to be able to afford to clothe as well as feed themselves. There is no reason to suppose that Combe was any different to Ilminster, recorded in their Vestry Minutes: Agreed this day 25 January 1833. Persons receiving pay, to pay half for their garments, smocks, frocks, shoes etc. To industrious labourers and others having a family and not receiving pay during the year, as an encouragement for good conduct - and being industrious - not to pay anything for Garments.

Day labourers in the Western parishes of Somerset were amongst the poorest paid and a pair of breeches at 3s 6d probably accounted for over half their weekly wage. The CSN a/cs have not been researched but prior the to implementation of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 Ilminster were paying half towards the cost of shoes and garments to those in receipt of parish relief to supplement their meagre wages, and the full costs, as an incentive, for those not claiming relief during the year. As late a 1853 Somerset clergymen were vying in the The Times to establish who had encountered the lowest rate of pay for good able bodied day-labourers with families "only 6s a week and three pints of wretched drink (beer or cider) a day, or 7s without any drink".

The workhouse inmates, in common with the poor of the parish, were attended by a doctor who received for his good offices and medicines £6 6s. a year (' midwifery and broken bones ex­cepted') and when they passed beyond his skill they were 'layed out' for 6d., and finally buried in a coffin which cost 6s., in a grave for the digging of which 1s. was paid.

By the 1780s, when Edmund Rack described the church, twenty pews, presumably private box pews, of ‘panneld wainscot and deal but none painted’, had been introduced, but there were 26 other pews, perhaps early bench seats, which were ‘small and many of them very ordinary’. A singers’ gallery, with a ‘very neat front of panneld wainscot’ and a central painting of David playing his harp, had been erected at the west end of the nave. The pulpit and reading desk were of ‘very good panneld wainscot and neat, with a pulpit cushion and cloth of crimson velvet, gold fringd’; there was an oak communion table covered with a green cloth with a yellow silk fringe, dated 1703; and to right and left of the communion table were two black frames containing the Commandments in gold letters. The nave and chancel roofs were ‘covd, ceild and whitewashd, with the ribs of the arches projecting’ (these were probably wagon roofs) and the roofs of the aisles were ‘boarded above the cross timbers’. The ‘very ancient gothic screen’, with its ‘very richly carved but heavy cornice, supported by 14 small clusterd pillars’, was painted blue. The church was ‘dry and well whitewashd’ and the ‘pavement in the middle passage, the chancel and up the ayles is good, but in some of the pews and seats wretchedly bad and broken’. 

During the latter part of the eighteenth century small-pox ravaged Combe, claiming many victims, but it was not until 1812 that definite steps were taken to combat the evil. 7th May 1812: 'At a public parish meeting held at the Poor House (agreeable to notice given) for the purpose of considering of the expediency of an inoculation of the poor of the parish of Combe St. Nicholas. It was the unanimous opinion of the Gentleman payers and inhabitants of the said parish, "That a general vaccination of the poor is far preferable to inoculation".'

'Resolved therefore that such general vaccination be ad­ministered to all the children of the poor who shall claim and be admitted to receive it by the parish officers. Resolved that Mr. W. Spicer be chosen to administer the same which he agrees to perform at four shillings and sixpence each person.'

The long-drawn agony of the war with France seems to have left Combe in comparative peace; occasionally the overseers had to pay for a substitute for a man in the militia whose family would otherwise have been chargeable to the parish, or to relieve a soldier's wife or widow, but otherwise we find little reference in the parish records to the struggle which was convulsing all Europe. But Combe proved its loyalty in forming a strong company of volunteers ready to assist in repelling the anticipated invasion of the dreaded Napoleon. Click to see the recollections of a volunteer and Muster Roll of Combe Volunteers, 1798-99.

In the second half of the 18thC Chard became the centre of a network of turnpike roads. The first turnpike road to run through Combe St. Nicholas was built in 1778 linking Taunton and Chard. This ran along the ancient ridgeway from Neroche to Combe Beacon and then down the probably existing road through Combe and Wadeford to Chard. In around 1810 a threat to the economic viability of the roads through Chard appeared in the form of the ‘New Road’ from London to the west which was built across the north of the parish and eventually became today’s A303. To fight back the Chard Turnpike Trust improved its road network, turnpiking the road which is today the A30 and reducing the gradient on the road from Combe Beacon to Chard by continuing it along the ridgeway to meet the future A30 west of Chard thus by-passing Combe and Wadeford . These changes brought the road network of Combe St. Nicholas to virtually its modern configuration.
 

Nineteenth Century

The 19th century naturally brought change too. Large areas of Common Land were enclosed; and the coming of railways, the canal, mills and foundries to nearby Chard brought new occupations and opportunities to the local people. The wool trade had flourished in the west of England, and Combe not only produced much good wool but also occupied itself in carding, spinning and weaving it. Tanning, malting and brewing were also carried on in the village, and, at one time, there was a tobacco factory in the hamlet of Willhayne which, tradition says, came to an untimely end owing to the owner being detected one night in the act of unloading a wagon-load of sea-weed he had brought from Lyme Regis.

The start of the century saw the building of Wadeford House and its association with the Roman villa site and nearby temple.

The early part of the 19thC saw the 'golden' era for the stagecoach, prior to its demise with the arrival of the railway in Exeter in 1844. One of the main routes for coaches between London and Exeter was via what is now the A303 and passed through Combe St. Nicholas parish. Many people living on the route were involved in the coach trade and in April 1824 The Times reported a “coach fracas” on the route. Research by Mrs Dorothy Jones has revealed that a serious accident took place in November 1838 on what was then referred to as Buckland Hill but is now known as Ham Hill (it is ironic that serious accidents are still taking place at the same spot). A report of the inquest shows that the coachman, Charles Bevis, failed to apply the shoe, or brake, in time to slow the coach as it was about to descend the hill in thick fog. It went out of control resulting in the accident that killed Mr Bevis. There were other casualties. There was a report of the accident and letters in the Chard Union Gazette

On Saturday, 27th October 1827 The Times reported, "Partnerships Dissolved (inter alia) R. Walter and J. Winter Combe St. Nicholas Somerset glove manufacturers". This must have had some sort of effect on the employment opportunities for Combe parishioners.

Enlargement took place in 1830-31 and are shown in drawings by the architect or ‘surveyor’ Simeon Symes of Chard. These include a plan and section of the gallery, with increased seating, in the west end of the nave, with a window in the north and south walls and an external doorway near the west end of the north wall . The churchwardens’ accounts in 1812 mention payments to, and to the provision of a Common Prayer Book for, the singers, and in 1830 it was resolved ‘that the singing gallery be enlarged’. Symes’ drawings also include a plan of a 'Font room' in the south porch, including a window in place of the outer entrance. This corresponds with a decision, recorded by the churchwardens in 1830, to undertake such a scheme; and in 1837 they recorded a payment for ‘repairing the Font Room’. The drawing also include a ‘Plan of the New Vestry adjoining Combe Church’ which must have occupied the angle between the sanctuary and the south chapel. The new structure was battlemented, with an external doorway in the east wall, a 3-light window in the south wall, and an internal recess in the east wall which may have been a fireplace.

This structure does not appear in John Buckler’s illustration of the church from the south-east in 1831, perhaps because the work had not yet been carried out, but it is also absent from White’s plan of the church before restoration in 1862-3, suggesting that it had been demolished or never built, although a payment by the churchwardens in 1832 ‘for the chairs in the Vestry Room’ suggests that it was built. During the mid-19C meetings were held in ‘the Vestry Room of the Parish Church’, but a vestry room was also mentioned in the churchwardens’ accounts in 1812.
 

White also ignored the external stairway to the west gallery in this plan, although it is shown on an elevation, and the south porch is not shown as a baptistry. Possibly he ignored features which he intended to remove. He did, however, illustrate the gallery and box pews which were removed in 1862-3, but this may have been done to indicate the rearrangement of the seating which was necessary to obtain a grant.

There was a report in The Times of Saturday, 27th October 1838 of the opposition to the new Poor Law. The report states that "The first open manifestation of hostilities in this part of the country against the working of this measure exhibited itself on Thursday, the 11th inst, at Combe St. Nicholas....." (originated in the Dorset chronicle). It appears that the CSN womenfolk, plied with gin and beer from an inn, attacked the bread cart of one of the Relieving Officers, stole most of the bread and threatened him with a ducking.

In 1840 a new vicarage was built on the site on the site of an existing building. Now listed, it has been described as an Italian style villa. A 1888 map shows buildings either side of the road running alongside the vicarage from Stant Way to Combe Wood. The area close to the church underwent considerable change in the 19th century and it is likely that older houses were lost in this period, with the house at 6, Vicarage Hill being the only remaining house with medieval origins.

In 1844 the church suffered a heavy loss through the theft of its ancient communion plate.

Also in 1844, a resident of Stant Way, Jane Pavey Cuff was sentenced to Transportation for Life for setting fire to a hayrick near her home. Her story and that of her family has been researched by Brad Hepburn.

In 1845 the present church clock was purchased from Mr. John Baker, of South Petherton, for £36.

In 1853 the Vicar, the Rev. Moysey, was sued at the Court of Queens Bench, Guildhall, on December 21st. The plaintiff was Mademoiselle Abrassart, a Belgian lady, who successfully sued to recover damages for dismissal as governess without the agreed three months notice.

The stonework of the windows in the aisles of the church were restored in 1854, and the present coloured glass was inserted in them in 1855 by Mr. Toms, of Wellington, at a cost of £43.

The south side of the churchyard was enlarged in 1856, when the labour of levelling it amounted to £22 10s.

In 1860 a loan was raised for the restoration of the church and in 1862-63 the roof and pews were renewed and the south and north aisles were extended westward. The  singers or west gallery was removed and all that remains is a painting of King David in the south-west corner of the church. It is possible that the original proposal for this renovation proved too costly. A coloured sketch can be seen on the southwest wall. The box pews were replaced by bench seats, creating uniform seating for the congregation. It is understood that men and women were to be segregated on the north and south sides of the nave respectively, and children were to be seated in the south chapel. Seating was to be provided for the choir in the chancel, and an organ and a small partitioned-off vestry were to be accommodated in the north chapel. White's plan shows seating for children and an organ in the north chapel but a vestry is not shown.

A sketch of the north side of the church and also a photograph prior to the 1862-63 alterations shows the stairs and entrance to the singers gallery.

A new organ, the gift of Mrs. Hamilton, wife of the then vicar, was placed in the church in 1865, and rebuilt in 1910 at a cost of £125. In 1865 the road leading past the vicarage to Combe Wood was closed and made the property of the vicarage, a new road being provided in lieu from the school through the glebe lands to Combe Wood.

The front part of the churchyard, where formerly the workhouse and other buildings had stood, was consecrated in 1875

In 1874 the drainage of the village was considered and the making of a sewer was begun in 1877, the work being finally completed in 1882 at a cost of about £400. In 1884 the water supply was laid down, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners giving the spring and £150 towards the cost of the scheme, and the remainder - about £38 - being provided by subscriptions and a balance left over from the sewer loan. The sewer waste was channelled to a field, now Taylor's Meade, and this remained in use up until about 1950 when a new sewerage works was opened in Pudleigh.

On 26th April 1883 there was a major fire in Combe that destroyed eight cottages below the Green Dragon public house.

In 1885 the waterworks were handed over to the Chard Union Sanitary Authority. In 1897 was pump was erected on the Green to commemorate the sixtieth year of the reign of Queen Victoria. This fell into disuse but was restored by the Parish Council on the occasion of the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977 and is still in use today as a lamp post.

Combe School was founded in the 1880s from three cottages granted to the Vicar and Church Wardens by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners of Bath and Wells. The cottages were rebuilt and altered.

The Wesleyan Chapel was built in 1891 and further enlarged in 1897. In 1912 the parish hall was erected, chiefly through the efforts of the late Mr. R. Buston, at a cost of £400, another room being added to it in 1926.

It is understood that the Combe Friendly Society was formed during the latter part of the 19th century and ceased functioning in about 1899. It met at the George Inn. Go to the link for more information about Friendly Societies. 

Twentieth Century  

The start of the century saw the end of the second Boer War of 1899-1902. Combe men fought in the war and letters from two of them can be seen. It is likely that many served in the Somerset Light Infantry,

There was considerable commercial activity in the parish during the early part of the 20thC. Businesses included public houses, mills, a brush factory, a garage and bus company run by Miles and Lee located in Underway; wheelwrights; blacksmiths; harness makers: a sawpit located on the site of The Village Store; a slaughterhouse at the top of the footpath opposite Taylors’s Meade; bakers; butchers; lime kilns at Combe Wood and White Pits, near Chilworthy; quarries in Combe Wood at the present site of the CME factory and in the area now know as Quarry Lane. As time passed these activities ceased. A major employer, mentioned above, Colin Mear Engineering in Combe Wood continues to provide services to the tobacco industry.

There were a considerable number of shops in Combe, some mentioned above. There was a saddler’s, run by Sam Summers, that occupied the shop opposite the Lawns, now a hairdressers. In addition to the current post office there was a general store on the Green next to Knighshute, run by Nesta Jeffery. The Village Shop, built in 2007, occupies the site of a general store, Bunglow Stores. This was formerly a British Legion hut that at one time was a fish and chip shop. The former Combe Stores now Old Stores, just below the Green Dragon, was a general store that at one time was the village post office. Just below on the other side of the road was a butcher’s shop, now Draycott House. At Wadeford there was a Co-op store situated at the bottom of the Wadeford bends, a shop opposite the Haymaker pub, a shop in Foxton Hill and a post office run for several years by Queenie Bishops that was closed in 1970. Many of these premises are shown on the old parish photos page. Click for the memories of the Combe shops by a young man who lived in Combe during WWll.

The parish has two public house, the Green Dragon in Combe and the Haymaker in Wadeford, formerly the Rising Sun. The George, on the bend opposite the post office, was closed in the 1960s. There was a pub, The Golden Heart, located at the bottom of Underway in the field now know as Underway Meade. This was in use during the 19thC but burnt down about 1890 and was probably demolished for road widening. Records show the grant of a licence for the Green Dragon in 1618 to George Knight, yeoman. The present building probably dates from the late 19C. An important pre-Reformation bench or settle was formerly located there. Click on settle for further details. Photographs of the Green Dragon are shown on the old parish photos page.

The 20thC saw huge changes in farming. At the start of the century large areas of farmland were owned by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England. This changed as a result of an auction that took place on 25th and 26th July 1912 held by Waters and Rawlence at the George Hotel (now the Phoenix), Chard. Details showed the sale of six compact dairy and arable farms; dairy and grazing land; farm residences and buildings comprising approximately 822 acres situated in Combe Hill, Sticklepath, Eleighwater, Beetham and Clayhanger. Also sold were accommodation land and several small cottage holdings and building plots comprising an area of about 1121 acres let to tenants producing gross annual rentals amounting to about £1430. Farms mentioned in the sale particulars were Combe Hill, Sticklepath, Eleighwater and Clayhanger.

Farming during the 20thC was fairly productive. However, towards the end of the century times became difficult with many farms ceasing milk production. Some closed. An example was Dampiers Farm, situated opposite the Green Dragon, where farm buildings occupied the land behind the present building and the shop next door and fields extended down to Underway. The last county council farm in the parish, Newhouse Farm in Combe Wood Lane, was sold in 2006. Milk production has now ceased in the parish, albeit much of the land is used for grazing, beef and lamb production and arable use.
 
In 1912 a new parish hall was built in Underway at a cost of £400. Go to history of the hall for further details.
 
The First World War, then referred to as the Great War, effected Combe with many men leaving to serve. In the church will be found the names of 153 men who joined the colours from the parish and served in Belgium, France, Italy, Salonica, Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia and India. Of them, alas, twenty-five returned no more to Combe. There is a memorial to them in the church including an unusual photographic memorial. Also in the church is a memorial to the Bethell brothers who died in the First World War. Their father, Rear-Admiral Bethell, was the Director of Naval Intelligence in 1909, and was responsible for finding a suitable naval candidate to head the Foreign Section of the newly created Secret Service Bureau, later to be the Secret Intelligence Service. The family moved to Wadeford House after the First World War. Go to Bethell family for further details. Details of the Summer House at Wadeford on land opposite Wadeford House, often referred to as a folly, can be seen in an extract from a 1903 guide.

Women's Institute records show that in 1918 under a War Order, children collected 1293lbs of blackberries.

The Second World War not only saw men from the parish who served in the Forces but men and women on the home front, including service in the mines.

At the start of the war there was a British anti-tank battery anti-tank battery based in Combe.
 

There was a small Home Guard detachment who used a house opposite the Haymaker and a rifle range located between Foxton Hill and the A30.
 

The minutes of the Parish Council of 10th July 1940 showed that a communication regarding the prevention of enemy aircraft landing in open spaces or on stretches of water was read out. The parish clerk was instructed to inform Chard Rural District Council that steps had been taken to prevent landing by Mrs Geams/Yeats? of Weston Farm and Mr. E. Coleman of Combe St. Nicholas. Mr. Dampier (Chairman) and clerk promised to see Mr. Pavey, Mr. Gollop, Mr. Dymond and Mr. Venn and point out that something should be done to prevent landing on their fields. The Chairman received a letter from the Somerset Rural Community Co. asking the Council to co-operate with the W.I. in the production and marketing of vegetables. The Clerk was instructed to find out from the W.I. what the ladies were doing.

A report in the local newspaper dated July 24th 1942 showed that local farmers were using schoolboy labour for harvesting. Mr. J.B. Hocken of Alterhay had ten boys from Taunton School, encamped at Jordans, employed in flax pulling.

 
Prior to D-Day there were a number of American troops billeted in Combe. It is understood a number lived above the George public house opposite the church and others were in the parish hall. They washed in huts opposite the hall in a field that is now Broadwell Close. They had a rifle range next to the footpath below Newhouse Farm in Combe Wood Lane. It is understood that their headquarters was in Wadeford House.

A memorial to the men who died in the Second World War is displayed in the church above the First World War memorial.
 

During the WW2 a number of children were evacuated from Catford, SE London and later Bristol, to Combe. Click to read extracts from the account of a former evacuee, Mr D. Turner.

During the 1980s there were Guide and Brownie packs in the village. They used to meet at the Methodist Church. Their banners still remain in the parish church.

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Author's note:  One of the benefits of writing a web based history is the ability to amend or provide additional material after publication. As a consequence if any reader wishes to provide suggestions as to how the content can be improved or provide additional material then I would be pleased if they would contact me.

David Lamb

Combe St. Nicholas

5th March 2009

lamb65@btinternet.com