Combwich

The old Somerset dialect word ‘chollywobbles' (pronounced chaul-iwaub'lz) is the term for a very upset stomach!

This timber buoy is upside down and was once anchored to the seabed in the Bristol Channel to illustrate where the entrance to the River Parrett lay. It was one of a pair constructed over 160 years ago and was originally mounted with a bell on top. Later an oil lamp was added which was checked every day as it was imperative for the mariners to know their position in the estuary day and night.

As the tide rises, sea water funnels up the river against the natural flow of the Parrett. Pilots of arriving ships would time their approach to catch this energy and use it to propel them right up to Bridgwater if required. Ships would wait in the river mouth together ready to catch this tidal bore, often getting jostled together as the channel narrowed whilst they were carried up.

It was essential that the channel entrance was properly marked to enable captains to gauge this hidden sea road and save their vessel from grounding upon mudflats. If they did find themselves caught on the mud then the order to sally ships was given.

To find out what the order sally ships actually means, then please read on.

The majority of settlements have not been planned but have evolved over time and Combwich is no exception, for hidden under the mud is a seam of blue lias rock. People have been crossing here for at least a thousand years by foot and ferry. The next possible crossing point is upstream at Bridgwater.

Interestingly the natural seam of rock runs at an oblique angle from the opposite bank and emerges down river at the end of the cricket field, not in the village as you might expect. The ferry ran directly across though and it is thought that pilgrims travelling from north Devon to Glastonbury would choose the Combwich passage rather than face the treacherous Avalon marshes.

After making the crossing, the White House Inn was the only building on the far bank ready to receive travellers or assist them in their journey. But around the turn of the 20th century the ferry began to fall out of use and the buildings were demolished not long after.

An interesting building in Combwich with a unique railing circled parapet on the roof is the Tower House which can be seen from here behind the village hall. Built in 1879 the house was constructed by Henry Leigh to replace an earlier property of his on the site. The Leigh family were coastal trading merchants and made their fortune primarily from the sale and transportation of bricks and tiles. The tower enabled Henry to see his ships working in the estuary and keep track of day-to-day operations.

In more recent years Mr and Mrs Baker lived in the Tower House and made rocking horses for Harrods in London.

The old Somerset dialect word ‘bob-snarl'' (pronounced ba'rb-zn'aal) is a tangle in a rope or skein of twine that is almost impossible to undo. Interestingly, in nautical language a length of rope is referred to as a sheet and the ‘sheet anchor' was the largest anchor on a vessel, only to be used in emergencies.

The Welsh and West Country word for the section of river which slows just before reaching larger waters is called a ‘pill'. Boats will have navigated and moored here over the centuries.

Initially these vessels would have been made of animal skins with hazel or willow rods, materials always close at hand no matter where you put ashore and tough enough to cross the Bristol Channel with a goat or two as cargo! But later these developed into timber-sectioned shallow-keeled boats locally known as a flatner. These rowing boats were easily handled by a single oarsman and were very versatile, a little like the transit van of the river.

The first occupants of Combwich who left their archaeological mark on the landscape would appear to be the Romans some two thousand years ago. They used the natural harbour here to set up a trading post which continued long after the Roman Empire dissolved.

Fragments of pottery from the area have been found dating back across the centuries which we will find out more about on this Storywalk.

The old Somerset dialect word ‘fitch' or ‘fitchet' (pronounced fee'tch ut) is a polecat, which is very similar to the domesticated ferret and was hunted almost to the point of extinction due to its canny ability to break into hen houses and steal the eggs. Today the numbers of polecats are thankfully recovering, helped a little by the legal protection which came into force in 1988. There is an old Somerset phrase ‘as cross as a fitchet'.

The plot to your left, where modern housing stands today, was originally the location of Hemlock Cottages. Demolished in the 1920s, they had been occupied by senior employees of the brickyard although number 4, Hemlock Cottage was also known as ‘dog's hole' as it was not fit for even a dog to live in!

Ketches and schooners were sailed up the creek here on a high tide and then finally guided into the creek to a simple pier by men known as hobblers. Judgement and experience were key to piloting a boat into any harbour without engines. When a boat ran short, then the hobbler's job would be to haul the boat up before the tide turned.

Before reading on, turn around and compare the photograph to the scene today.

Over the years Combwich has been referenced in many ways with many different spellings. The Somerset word combe, refers to a short valley or cut in a hillside and the word wic is used to denote commerce or a trading post. Wic or wich is a very common ending in settlement names across the country, places such as Woolwich, Chiswick, Greenwich etc. were all trading posts.

Records at the Somerset Heritage Centre report Combwich as a ‘favoured landing site' called ‘Comwich Head' by William Worcestre in 1399. Richard Boyton (or Baydon) was made King's deputy to the port of Brugge (Bridgwater) as well as ‘Comwich' and Dunster. There are also records from 1178 suggesting the name was written Comwys as well as Cunyz and in 1543 a document read:

‘at Comage pertaining to the port of Bridgwater are 13 mariners'.

No matter which way Combwich was written, be it Cunyz or even Cumwitch, as is printed on local bricks from the Combwich brick factory, they are all the same, illustrating nicely how dynamic the English language has been over the years.

The old Somerset dialect word ‘hacker' (pronounced hay' cuur) is the judder and shivers which happen when you are very cold but also can be used to refer to a stammer, although ‘kickammery' (kik'aam'uree) was more common in that respect.

Overlong was the local name for the west end of the village pictured above. Here the core of the village shops were once located including the post office (pictured below) as well as the Bakers Arms public house, blacksmiths, slaughterhouse, boat builders and bakers.

Estuary Park, to the south of Brookside Road, now a modern housing estate, was the site of Combwich brick and tile factory, and to the south of the site you will find a series of 40 ft deep ponds, these are the holes left behind from centuries of clay extraction.

Combwich Farmers' Trading Company was located here (see photo) and owned small vessels which worked in the Bristol Channel. After the Second World War the building became the Morgan Brush Factory Ltd making a wide range of domestic products as well as more specialist brushes for the baking, brewing, dairy and milling industries.

Prior to this, the building had been a corn mill and today you can see one of the original corn grinding stones from the mill is now integrated into the drive wall of the current property.

The old Somerset dialect word ‘cocksquailing' (pronounced cack-z'wi'caul un) refers to a game at the fair where short heavy ‘squails' were thrown at a chicken on a post. The game was traditional around Easter and if you killed or knocked the chicken off the perch then you would be able to take it home to eat. The ‘squail' was also used to hunt squirrels in a similar manner.

On your right is St Peter's Church which was consecrated in 1870 and constructed from local blue lias stone by the Bridgwater builder Mr Abraham Squibbs. It is a handsome building which was commissioned by the widow of Rev Dr John Jeffery who died some ten years prior. Today the church is testament to the continuation of 700 years of prayer and spirituality in the Otterhampton community.

On the opposite side of the road to St Peter's Church, in the private gardens of numbers 9 and 11 Church Hill, lie the remains of a chapel dedicated to St Leonard c. 1524. There are records of a chapel and house earlier in 1336, which was very likely the same building. By the mid 1500s chapel and house had been granted away, as only the dovecote and chapel house are mentioned in a will.

A 2016 excavation revealed medieval residential occupation over the earlier chapel footprint. They also discovered the remains of an infant buried beneath the chapel chancel, although it is thought that this burial occurred later when the chapel was no longer in service.

For many years bricks and tiles were the main industry of Combwich. Clay was dug in the winter ready for brickmaking when the frosts were past, although tiles could be made all year round. Workers were paid piece work but would also be expected to load and unload kilns and vessels on the quay. Sometimes a local lad would be employed as the hook-man or hooker, attaching the hook to the baskets as they would hoist the tiles and bricks onto the ships, and the Welsh coal off.

The factory was demolished in the 1960s, ending the long history of the manufacture and export of tiles and bricks from Combwich. The Morgan Brush Factory then became the main employer of the village, but the construction of Hinkley A nuclear power station just a few miles from here to the north began in earnest at the same time.

The old Somerset dialect word ‘cheese' (pronounced chee'z) refers to a layer of cider apples laid in the press, tied up with straw inside a hessian sack. Multiple layers are laid one upon the other, all with chopped cider apples inside which are then pressed. The apple juice then ferments with the natural yeasts from both the cider house and apples. When making Somerset cider it is important not to wash the apples too much since this would strip the yeast off.

Here, on the corner of Ship Lane and School Lane the village maypole was located and it is still known as maypole corner. A little further up School Lane a dentist used to rent a room in Maple Dairy after the Second World War. The facilities were very basic by today's standards as he used a treadle drill similar to the one pictured which was foot operated. To drill a tooth he would need to balance on one leg and pump the treadle with the other!

Standing here on the highest part of our Storywalk it is interesting to consider the importance of higher ground in respect to security and strategic strongholds. Hill forts around this area date from around 1800 BC and were built by the first settlers to the area. Occupation of each hilltop fort varies from location to location but it is thought that the forts at Cannington, about a mile from here and Pawlett across the water, were sieged in AD 871 by the new King Alfred. Over a thousand Danes were said to have been slaughtered on the slopes of these forts as Alfred attempted to oust the Viking invaders from his kingdom.

Exhausted and depleted, King Alfred eventually retreated to Athelney in AD 878, his Kingdom of Wessex surrounded on all sides by the occupying Danes. This was the low point for the King, reduced to living in the marshes and wetlands, but he obviously used this time wisely as the following year his army fought and defeated the Danes at Edington. The Vikings then retreated to Chippenham where they were overwhelmed by King Alfred. With no other options, the Danes surrendered and the tide began to turn against them.

The old Somerset dialect word ‘up-sotment' (pronounced aupzaut'munt) refers simply to someone who is upset.

The building on your left marked as The Old Ship Inn (now a private residence) was first mentioned as a public house in 1702 as the Passage Boat. It became the Old Ship Inn around 1730 until it closed in the 1990s. It opened again for a brief spell but closed again in the early 2000s.

The photograph pictured is of Mr Hill sitting on the Old Ship steps, his parents Sue and William ran the inn from 1939 for over thirty years.

In 2003 an archaeological dig revealed Romano-British pottery from the 3rd and 4th centuries as well as an unusual copper alloy and enamel cruciform brooch from the 2nd century. There was further evidence of a large cut in the ground, which may have once formed part of the village defences. During the 8th and 9th centuries, when pirateering was common along the coast, it is thought that the main body of residents may well have retreated each evening to the hill fort at Cannington a mile to the south. This time obviously predates the public house.

On 28 August 1890 Combwich and other ports were bracing themselves for the coming of a new wave of cholera. So far, the disease was still rife across Europe, the first cases were reported in England in the 1830s and the nation was ill prepared for the pandemic which followed. At the time the medical profession was generally not trusted by the population, and they themselves could not agree on what cholera actually was. It wasn't until the 1850s that doctor John Snow was able to trace a single outbreak to a water pump in London, thereby defining the pathogen as being waterborne.

Just down river, a little shy of the power lines which cross the River Parrett, an isolation hospital was installed around this time. Capable of receiving just six patients the new iron building was at the forefront of preparatory measures if the new pandemic were to breach this coast.

'On the arrival of any ship (with) reason to suspect that the ship is infected with cholera, he shall detain such a ship and shall forthright moor and anchor accordingly.'

Instructions were for ships to moor three miles off Burnham sea roads and await to be boarded by the Port Sanitary Officer who was overseen by Mr Frances Parr, the Inspector of Port Nuisances.

Article 19 stipulated that the master of every ship infected with cholera shall hoist the commercial code signal Q (for quarantine), a yellow flag under a national ensign. There was even talk in Combwich and Bridgwater of plans to emulate the ‘Grimsby Provision' where a ship hulk had been moored offshore as an isolation hospital.

Today there is no sign of the hospital nor the ammunition store which was in the same location.

The old Somerset dialect word ‘seven-sleeper' (pronounced sev'uurn slea'pur) refers to the simple dormouse. A glirarium was a Roman-designed terracotta container looking similar to a large strawberry cultivating jar and was used for keeping live edible dormice. They were considered a delicacy and the darkness of a glirarium would put them into partial hibernation. Although the first organized settlement here at Combwich was most likely built by the Romans, the gliraria were reserved for sophisticated city-dwelling higher classes rather than the far outposts of the Roman Empire.

This public house, now the Anchor, was recorded as licensed to welcome and refresh sailors in 1698. The high brick wall to your right is a listed monument and was once part of an 18th-century fives court, a game similar to squash played with a basket-shaped racket.

Less than a mile from Combwich, at Dame Withycombe cottages, the infamous Combwich witch resided. Little is known about her, beyond the legend that she killed all three of her husbands by pouring molten lead into their ears!

No records exist of the Combwich witch but there are records of Thomas Charnock who was an alchemist during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the mid 1500s. Born on the Isle of Thanet, Kent, he spent most of his life in Combwich searching for the elixir of eternal life. So confident was he in his task that he even suggested the queen behead him if he were not successful!

His uncle, also Thomas Charnock, was confessor to Henry VII, and the younger Thomas became interested in alchemy as a teenager when he inherited his uncle's library. Thomas, whilst on the brink of discovery, was summoned to serve in the war with France in 1557. He was so enraged and exasperated by this, along with the concern that his research would fall into the wrong hands, that he destroyed his laboratory and notes with an axe. After the war he settled in Combwich as he desired a quiet place to build a new laboratory and continue his experiments.

At one point it was said he kept a single fire constantly burning for three years for his experiments and had to barricade himself inside his home to stop the local Combwich villagers lynching him. They were convinced that Thomas was in collusion with the devil, a rumour which Thomas did nothing to dispel.

He died in 1581 just two years after he proclaimed that he had indeed discovered the philosopher's stone, which is the key to immortality!

Thomas is buried in Otterhampton Church a couple of miles from here.

The old Somerset dialect word ‘hulley' (pronounced h'ull-ay) is a handmade basket specially designed for catching eels and elvers. Once plentiful in the Parrett and neighbouring rivers, the elvers, having spawned in the Sargasso Sea as tiny glass fish, would be carried across the Atlantic by the ocean currents.

Once here they search out navigable rivers such as the Parrett, to swim upstream where they will spend much of their adolescent life. Finally as they mature into adults, which can take several years, they transform from yellow eels into silver eels and swim back to the ocean.

The currents take them south to warmer waters and then west over the Atlantic Ocean back to their mating grounds in the Sargasso Sea, a round trip of about 10,000 miles, where the cycle then repeats.

Looking across the River Parrett towards Pawlett Hams, we can just make out the Church of St John and the hamlet of Pawlett itself, said to have been referenced in the Domesday Book as being the richest 2,000 acres in England! The crossing here at Combwich is made possible due to the blue lias rock strata which runs diagonally beneath the river and emerges at the end of the common.

White House Inn can be seen in the photograph on the far bank and used to welcome travellers who crossed on foot, horse and coach. It was located directly opposite Combwich Quay and demolished around the time of the First World War. But local folklore tells of a night a coach and horses drew up in the gathering darkness, the tide had already turned and it was too late to cross the river but a bolt of lightning spooked the team of horses. They ran headlong into the water dragging the coach and all passengers into the murky depths. It is said that to this day, upon the first sickle moon of the winter equinox, the screams of the horses and passengers can still be heard drowning.

The order to ‘sally ship' would have been common in the River Parrett as it was required when a ship was grounded in the mud. The crew would run from one side of the deck to the other (athwartship) to cause her to rock. This action could break the mud's suction on the boat and free her with no damage to the hull.

But if the ‘sally ship' order did not raise the vessel then they would attempt to ‘camel' the ship. Two boats heavily laden with ballast would be lashed to either side of the stricken vessel, as the tide came in the ballast would be thrown out and the extra buoyancy would hopefully lift all three vessels off the silt.

The old Somerset dialect word ‘re-balling' (pronounced ree' auwll'in) refers to the process of attaching earthworms (known also as ‘yeases' and ‘angle-twitches') to a lead weight and catching eels in a similar manner as children go crabbing.

The old Somerset dialect word ‘weazel snout' (pronounced wee'zl'snaew't) refers to the yellow, non-stinging nettle which often comes up in spring not long after the bluebells.

Pictured below is the weazel snout dead nettle which has no sting and a sweet tasting nectar and should not be confused with the regular stinging nettle.

The Romans also believed in the therapeutic properties of nettles and would wade into stinging nettles in the spring to help with their aching joints and rheumatism caused by living in this damp land.

Nicholas Culpeper, the 17th century physician and botanist, wrote plenty about the medicinal qualities of plants in his book The English Physician.

You know Mars is hot and dry, and you know as well that Winter is cold and moist; then you may know as well the reason why Nettle tops eaten in the Spring consumeth the phlegmatic superfluities in the body of man, that the coldness and moistness of Winter hath left behind.

Nettle leaves, locally known as gicksies (pronounced gruik-say'z) were once commonly used around cheese to help in the maturing process. This medieval method is still in use today with the famous Cornish Yarg cheese. Although Yarg is traditionally made, it is not actually that old as the name derives from the owner Allen Gray spelling his name backwards!

The West Country also has a ‘tallest nettle competition' held at the Bottle Inn, Marshood, on the Devon-Dorset border. Legend has it that two farmers were arguing who had the tallest nettles on their land, the exasperated landlady decided to settle the matter with an open competition. The current record for a single nettle from root to tip is over 16 ft.

The pub also holds a nettle-eating competition where swollen lips and black tongues are the norm. The record currently stands at an incredible 104 ft of nettle leaves eaten by the aptly named Mr Philip Thorne.

At spring tides, the River Parrett will flood across this common and cricket field to the flood defence barrier which you are standing on. Generally this happens two or three times a year due to the proximity and alignment of the sun and moon. A spring high tide is created when the sun and moon align to exert their gravitational pull on the earth in the same direction. A neap tide, from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning without power, happens when these gravitational forces cancel each other out.

The Stolford Storywalk explains a little more about the flooding of the Steart Peninsula and how the silt has built up the land mass across millennia through flooding but also how the land is actually sinking as well. Combwich is lower today by about 1m in real terms since the Romans set foot here 2000 years ago.

To finish our heritage trail it is interesting to read these words from The Somerset Coast, written by Harper in 1909 and designed for the pre-war armchair traveller.

The river bends abruptly and nears the road at a point a mile and a half out, where the little waterside hamlet of Combwich– “ Cummidge,” as it is styled locally – stands looking onto muddy creeks and the broad grey bosom of the Parret itself, with a colour like that of a London fog. Bridgwater spire is plainly visible, far off to the right, across the levels : sailing barges are loading the bricks made here from the kilns close at hand, and carts rattle and rumble along the few alleys that form the only streets of the place. Away across the river, a whitewashed house marks the position of a little-used ferry from the out-of-the-world district of Pawlett Hams to this even more outlandish peninsula of Steart.

This brings us to the end of this Storywalk although there are many others along the Somerset Coastline to enjoy. Why not post a picture on social media of your family or group enjoying the trail and tag us with @storywalks @ecpsomerset or #ecpStorywalks.

These trails have been researched and written and researched by C. Jelley and Dr H. Blackman and have been made possible by funding from the England Coast Path scheme, managed by Somerset County Council and the Rights of Way team.

Directions – To return to where this Storywalk began then walk back along the trail with the River Parrett on your left. Continue past the children's play area, the Combwich buoy will be on your left just past the houses.

For Storywalk app service issues and enquiries – Storywalks contact

For Somerset public rights of way issues – Somerset County Council

Images – in order of display

1 - The Combwich Buoy – photograph – C. Jelley

2 - The Towers – postcard – anon

3 - Combwich Pill – photograph – anon

4 - Combwich Quay – photograph – anon

5 - Combwich Quay – photograph – anon

6 - Combwich Brookside – photograph – anon

7 - Combwich Post Office – photograph – anon - Norman Finnemore

8 - Combwich Farmers' Trading Company – photograph – Barry Leathwood

9 - Combwich Brick Factory – photograph – anon - Norman Finnemore

10 - Saint Peter's Church - Photograph - C. Jelley

11 - Dental treadle drill, England, 1890-1940 – photograph – Wellcome Collection

12 - Mr Hill on steps of Old Ship – photograph – Michael Hill

13 - The Old Ship carpark – photograph – Michael Hill

14 - The Apothecary – Martin Engelbrecht – Wellcome Collection

15 - White House Inn - photograph - anon

16 - Dead nettle – watercolour – Wellcome Collection

17 - Combwich Quay – photograph – anon