Barbed Wire in the German Trenches
In his book The Old Front Line, John Masefield describes the German trench defences in the Somme battlefield and their use of barbed wire. Dug-outs and barbed wire in La…
Queen Victoria's Carriage Horse
In the 1890’s Queen Victoria paid a visit to Bristol. Driving up Park Street, one of her carriage horses cast a shoe, which cab cause irreparable damage to the horse’s…
Salvation Army Riots
There were ‘Salvation Army riots’ in Worthing, East Sussex in the 1880’s and in Eastbourne in the early 1890s as the evangelical movement clashed with publicans and members of the…
Six Trains a Day
An entry in William Margery’s school book (circa 1930) shows that there were six trains a day from Taunton to Yeovil and eight in the opposite direction, the journey taking…
Getting home after a few jars of ale
Recalling conversations just after the First World War of how to get home after a few jars of ale:- In 1919 I remember my elders discussing how a farmer got…
ANZAC Day – Shrapnel Gully an Account
For ANZAC Day – An personal account of 26th April 1915 in Shrapnel Gully :- Corporal Robson D.C.M., 4th Battalion, AIF, saw ‘a young fellow get shot in Shrapnel Gully…
Sign to Pedwell
Mrs Lily Tapscott was born in 1893, in Stout, a hamlet of High Ham, Somerset. She remembers when there was a signpost on the village green which read “Beer” in…
The Doctor's Car
The Red Flag Act was repealed in 1896 and Mrs. Grimstone of Halse, Somerset remembers seeing the first car in Bishop’s Lydeard bring driven up the Minehead Road, preceded by…
Letters for Just One Penny
An elderly lady recalls life before the First World War. She remembered that while in service in London her mother regularly sent her the Somerset Herald. The postman took the…
Sunday School Outing
A woman from Enmore, Somerset, remembers a Sunday School Outing to the Quantocks. They set off in a horse drawn wagon prettily decorated by the children towards Will’s Neck Quarry,…