Rock of Ages in Burrington Combe, Somerset

Augustus Montague Toplady (1740-78) was an Anglican clergyman of Calvinist persuasion who is best known for two things – being a vehement opponent of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and writing the hymn “Rock of Ages” which is sung regularly in churches and other Christian gatherings down to the present day.

The photo is of the rock that – it is widely believed - inspired him to write the hymn. It is in Burrington Combe, a steep-sided valley that offers a route from the top of the Mendip Hills down to the coastal plain on the northern side. It has been described as the “poor man’s Cheddar Gorge”, and would surely be much better known were it not that the latter is far more spectacular. 

Between 1762 and 1764 Toplady was a curate based at Blagdon in Somerset, which is not far from Burrington Combe. The story goes that he was on a walk that took him along the Combe when he was caught in a violent thunderstorm. He sought shelter in a gap in the cliff at the side of the road, which offered a measure of protection. He saw the presence of the gap at the exact time he needed it as an example of Divine providence, and it therefore became the “Rock of Ages, cleft for me” that formed the first line of his subsequent hymn.

At least, that is the legend, but not everyone accepts its historical accuracy. There is a plaque on the face of the rock that declares the story to be true, and the nearby Burrington Inn does excellent business from the many visitors who turn up with the intention of seeing the rock and inserting themselves into the cleft, but there is no real evidence that Augustus Toplady actually did what is alleged. 

© John Welford

Day trips from Yeovil, Somerset

The important thing about making day trips (assuming that one has access to four wheels, or two with an engine) is that the time on the road is kept as short as possible and a reasonably high proportion of the day is spent at the places one wants to go to. From that perspective, a visitor to England’s West Country could do a lot worse than make Yeovil their base.

Yeovil is in south Somerset and very close to that county’s border with Dorset. It is a “crossroads” town, where the east-west A30 crosses the north-south A37, although visitors travelling down from London are more likely to use the much faster A303, which passes within a few miles of the town. Yeovil also happens to be where two rail routes cross, those from London to Exeter and from Weymouth to Bristol. Day tripping is therefore made easy even if one does not have a car.

Yeovil is not without interest in its own right, but the visitor is likely to want to explore beyond the town’s boundaries before long. One day trip could be to potter through the country lanes that surround the town and connect it with a host of attractive villages with fascinating names, such as Ryme Intrinseca, Hardington Mandeville and Chilton Cantelo. One village that should not be missed is East Coker, to the south of the town, which is not only exceptionally pretty with its thatched hamstone cottages, but was also the inspiration for the second of T S Eliot’s “Four Quartets”. The poet’s ancestors came from the village and his ashes are buried in the village church.

The area is notable for several large historical country houses, some of which are open to the public. A day trip could take in one or more of these, along with a drive through the villages.

Montacute House, four miles to the west of Yeovil, is one of the finest Elizabethan mansions in England. It was built between 1598 and 1601 for Sir Edward Phelips in the English Renaissance style and is noted for having the longest “long gallery” in the country. The house is full of period furniture and textiles and there are fine formal gardens and parkland walks to enjoy.

Another house from this period is Barrington Court, only eight miles from Montacute. The gardens and outbuildings are particularly impressive, including a stone-walled kitchen garden and the “white garden” in which all the plants have white flowers.

Another house to visit in the area is Lytes Cary Manor, former home of the medieval herbalist Henry Lyte. There are also the gardens of Tintinhull House to the northwest of Yeovil.

An attraction of a very different kind is the Fleet Air Arm Museum, seven miles north of Yeovil. This is the world’s second largest museum devoted to naval flying and includes more than ninety aircraft and 30,000 other artefacts, plus two million documentary items. Not every item has a direct naval link, with one of the aircraft being the first British-built Concorde airliner.

Five miles east of Yeovil, over the border in Dorset, is the historic town of Sherborne that can trace its history back to Anglo-Saxon times. Sherborne Abbey has traces of Saxon and Norman architecture but most of what can be seen today dates from the 13^th to 15^th centuries. This beautiful building, in golden-yellow hamstone, has many interesting features both inside and out, including the tombs of two Saxon kings.

Sherborne has two castles. The “old castle” is a hilltop ruin of a 12^th century building that was severely damaged during the English Civil War. The “new castle” is a fortified manor house built by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1594, although he did not have much chance to enjoy it as he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for most of his life after 1603. The house can be visited on Saturdays but the extensive grounds are open for most of the year.

There are several possible day trips that call for a bit more time on the road but are well worth the journey. One of these is to Stourhead, about 25 miles from Yeovil. Although Stourhead House is well worth a visit, it is the world-famous landscaped grounds that most people come to see. Henry Hoare (1705-85) inherited the estate from his father and proceeded to create a landscape based on the paintings of Claude Lorrain and Poussin.  A large lake was created, around which the land was carefully planted with exotic trees and shrubs and various temples and grottoes were built to afford “classical” views as one walked around the lake. With the trees at full maturity, today’s visitors can see the grounds as their designer never could.

Almost due north of Yeovil is Glastonbury, reached after a journey of about 20 miles. The best approach is via Somerton and across part of the “Somerset levels”, a mysterious yet beautiful area of countryside that was reclaimed by draining the marshes in medieval times. The sight of Glastonbury Tor with its solitary tower can be seen from many miles away, and the view from the top, if you have the time, is well worth the effort.

The town of Glastonbury has a “new age” feel to it, as if the 1960s hippies never left (in point of fact, some of them never did!). It is associated with ancient myths and legends, including those of King Arthur and Joseph of Arimathea, who is said to have come to Britain and founded a chapel at Glastonbury. The “Glastonbury thorn” that grows on Wearyall Hill (but which was vandalised in 2010) was supposed to be a direct descendant of the thorn that grew when Joseph thrust his staff into the ground. Glastonbury Abbey was built in medieval times and its ruins, which purportedly contain the graves of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, are a peaceful place to visit.

Further on still (six miles beyond Glastonbury) is Wells, which is England’s smallest cathedral city. The cathedral, however, is magnificent and well worth the journey. The astronomical clock in the north transept dates from 1392 and is one of the oldest working clocks in the world. A walk round the moat of the old Bishop’s Palace might be rewarded by seeing the swans ring the bell by the bridge for food.

As mentioned earlier, what counts as a day trip depends on how much driving you are prepared to do as opposed to sightseeing. Yeovil might therefore be regarded as a base from which to visit attractions such as Roman and Regency Bath, Dorchester and Maiden Castle, Cheddar with its caves, Longleat Safari Park, Stonehenge and Salisbury. This is certainly a part of the world that has so much to offer the visitor that he or she will be forced to make some very difficult choices.

© John Welford

Cheddar Gorge, Somerset

Cheddar Gorge, together with its caves, is well worth a visit if you are ever in north Somerset. However, its popularity means that it is better to go there outside the main tourist season.

Cheddar Gorge

The Mendip Hills of Somerset are composed of carboniferous limestone rock that, over many tens of thousands of years, has been worn down by the action of water and partially dissolved by it. The formation of the rock means that it splits naturally along weak points, so that streams can suddenly disappear underground and excavate caverns as they find a new route to the sea. Eventually these caverns can collapse. One place where this has happened is Cheddar Gorge.

The result is a spectacular piece of scenery. The best way to see the gorge is to travel along the minor road from Priddy to Cheddar, which takes you the whole length of the gorge, about three miles. At first you are aware of the green hills getting higher on either side of the road, but the further down you go, the steeper the hills become until they are sheer, rocky cliffs. Watch the road though, because it twists and turns, and at one point it is only wide enough for one car as it dives down between two massive rocks. At the base of the gorge the cliffs are more than 300 feet high on either side.

The gorge is popular rock-climbing territory, but this is only advisable if you know what you are doing and have all the right equipment. There are about 350 official climbing routes within the gorge, and you can have climbing lessons if you are a newbie.

At the end of the gorge is the large village of Cheddar, which is a nightmare to travel through at the height of the tourist season, because of the narrow roads and the number of people who want to come here. However, as with most tourist traps, if you are prepared to walk a mile or so, you will soon leave the crowds behind.

Although the gorge is the result of the collapse of an ancient cave, there are other caves that are far from collapsed, and some of these are open to the public and are easily accessible from Cheddar village.

Cox’s Cave

Cox’s Cave was discovered in 1837 during quarrying by George Cox, who found a series of seven caverns, containing a wide variety of unusual and beautiful rock formations. As water percolates through limestone, it dissolves small amounts of calcium carbonate and other minerals. As it drips from the cave roof, deposits are left behind, both on the roof and on the floor where the drops land. Over many thousands of years, these deposits can form columns of rock, those hanging down known as stalactites and those rising up known as stalagmites. In places, the two columns can meet to form a natural roof buttress.

In Cox’s Cave you can see some very beautiful stalactites and stalagmites of all shapes and sizes, some of them coloured by the minerals that were dissolved in the water that made them. The colours range from black to white, via green, blue, yellow and orange.

Gough’s Cave

Gough’s Cave was discovered in 1903 by Richard Cox Gough, a relative of George Cox and a local guide, who discovered the cave when he fell through the roof. The cave is nearly 300 feet deep (luckily for Richard Gough, not at the place where he fell into it!) and more than a mile long, consisting of a series of caverns of varying sizes. Some of the formations are truly spectacular, with tiers of stalactites retreating into the distance and reflected in the still pools below.

Evidence has been found in Gough’s Cave of habitation by stone-age man. A cave painting of a mammoth has been discovered that is estimated to be 13,000 years old, and the nearly complete skeleton of a cave dweller from 9,000 years ago can be seen in the local museum, along with flint axes and other implements.

You may also see, in the cave, signs of what has made Cheddar world-famous, apart from the gorge. This is Cheddar cheese, which has been produced locally at least as far back as the 12^th century. After the caves were discovered it became common practice for cheese to be matured in the caves, and the practice has recently been revived.

Other things to see and do

There are plenty of other caves in the area, but most are suitable only for properly equipped cavers and potholers. However, Wookey Hole is only a few miles down the road towards Wells, and this is another “public” cave that is well worth a visit.

While visiting the gorge, a walk up Jacob’s Ladder is worth the effort. This is a flight of 274 steps leading to a lookout tower giving magnificent views over the surrounding countryside. Other walks around the gorge will take you through a nature reserve and to features including the Pinnacles, the highest point of the gorge at 450 feet. The wildlife of the area includes rare butterflies and insects, and plants that are unique to the gorge including the Cheddar pink. Inside the caves are colonies of horseshoe bats.

Cheddar Gorge is justifiably one of Britain’s most visited tourist destinations, which is why it is probably best to make your visit out of season. The gorge itself is never closed, and the caves are open throughout the year. They look much the same whether you come in February or August!

© John Welford