Holywell Lake Church Room, Holywell Lake,
is on the east side of The Holloway, about forty-five metres south
of the junction with Farthing Down. The building is shown on late
Victorian OS maps but isn't labelled. The OS 1:10,560 combined map
of 1949-1969 does indeed label it as a church room. Kelly's
Directory of Somerset 1902 confirms its status. Today it is a
private residence named Home Farm, which looks far more like a rural
cottage than any form of religious building.
Holywell Lake Baptist Chapel is on the
eastern side of The Holloway, about fifty metres south of the
junction with The Farthing Down. There was a holy well at the
northern end of the hamlet which was still being marked on OS maps
of the early 1900s and which gives the hamlet its name. The chapel
was built in 1841 to seat 100 persons (possibly extended by 1902 for
an extra twenty). It later closed and was converted into a pink
private residence called 'Chapel House'.
Holy Cross Church, Sampford Arundel, is at
the very west edge of this hamlet. Although there was almost
certainly a church on the site in the 1100s, Holy Cross was
substantially rebuilt in 1867 when the aisle walls and chancel were
taken down. Previously the nave and chancel had been under the same
roof but, with the restoration, they were given separate roofs. The
west tower, thought to be thirteenth century, was raised and a new
bell chamber added on the first floor.
Wrangway Congregational Chapel was located
where the middle of three houses now stands (as photographed), on
the south-east side of the road just thirty metres west of the
entrance to the Higher Woodford estate. The chapel may have been
erected around the same time as its sister, Rockwell Green Union
Chapel (see links), around 1830. It was restored and enlarged in
1882, and afforded 200 sittings. It closed post-war and was later
demolished.
Sampford Moor Baptist Chapel stands on the
southern side of the lane that connects a scattering of houses, at
the southern end of the hamlet, sixty metres west of The Blue Ball
public house (seen in the far distance here). Kelly's Directory of
Somerset 1889 states that it was erected in 1871 with sittings
for eighty. Mrs Hall and Mrs Nicholson were the chief landowners.
It was still operational post-war but later closed and was converted
into the private residence, 'The Copse'.
Greenham Barton Chapel was once part of
the Tudor manor house that lies on the northern side of the Greenham
Barton lane, about a hundred metres east of the Bishop's Hill
junction. There existed a round-headed gateway on the north-eastern
side of the courtyard which originally also contained a detached
chapel and lodgings. Its fate is unknown, while the house was built
in the early fifteenth century with later additions in the sixteenth
and twentieth centuries.
All photos on this page kindly contributed by
Huw Thomas via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles'
Flickr group. Former Taunton Deane area church names and locations
kindly confirmed by South West Heritage Trust. Additional information
by Huw Thomas, Chris Webster at SWHT, and from Kelly's Directory
of Somerset, 1889 and 1902.
