‘Lily’s History Lessons’ is a mini series named after our little one aimed at highlighting forgotten bits of history around Midsomer Norton, Radstock and Paulton.
You are looking for a small magnetic container.
The area in which you are standing played a part in the development of Midsomer Norton. If you stand with your back to the bench, North Road is the road to your left and Church Lane is the road to your right. North Road however, was originally called Back Lane.
The town or hamlet of Midsomer Norton grew up around the Church of St John the Baptist at the bottom of Church Lane. The exact date of the church building is unknown; it is thought to date to around 1150 although it has been rebuilt and added to over the years with the majority of what you see today being from 15th, 17th and 19th centuries.
Around 1830-31 the church underwent a major rebuild under the direction of Bath architect John Pinch with the vicarage housed in a building opposite the church (where High Street meets Church Square). At this time the Norman archway which was originally part of the church was demolished. However, by 1844 with the town growing in size, a new, larger vicarage was needed and one was built at the top of Church Lane on a lane that was at the back of the town centre – simply called ‘Back Lane’. This lane had no residences and was surrounded by fields so was an ideal spot for the vicar of the town.
The vicarage is now a private residence but looking across the road through the trees, you can still see the size of the vicarage building and the large plot of land on which it occupied. The Norman archway which had been demolished was reconstructed within the gardens of the new vicarage and it still stands today, as a Grade II* listed structure.
If you walk slightly down Church Lane, you can see more signs of the link between the vicarage and the church. On the side heading towards the town, there is a high pavement above the road and if you look at the high wall surrounding the vicarage garden, you can see a blocked-up rectangular entrance a few steps before the high pavement starts. The high pavement was created so the vicar could exit his vicarage through the doorway at the back of his garden and walk along the pavement into the church without going near the roadway and mixing with the dirt, horses or steam vehicles. Although the wall was rebuilt over the years, a pavement going further up Church Lane to meet North Road wasn’t added until the late 1960’s.
The lane was called Back Lane up to around 1900 and an OS 25 Inch map published in 1886 has the lane marked as Back Lane with no houses apart from the vicarage. Several newspaper articles from 1889, 1893 and 1899 mention tales of the time such as Heal’s Fairground Shows on display in a field on Back Lane, a steam roller having difficulties on Back Lane, a football match being played in a field at Back Lane Ground (which was renamed in 1903 and is still home to a local football team) and a man being fined for letting a pig trespass over Back Lane.
At the start of the 20th century, some houses were beginning to be built along Back Lane and by 1904, an OS Six Inch map shows the lane renamed to North Road with a few other residences as well as the vicarage. In 1911 one newspaper article reports that a man was fined for a “furious rate” of bicycle riding along North Road. By 1937, an OS 1:25,000 map shows houses all the way along both sides of North Road and the majority of these houses are still standing today.
Nowadays the junction of North Road and Church Lane is just another busy area of the town centre, but the development of the area helped shape Midsomer Norton into the town you see today.
On street parking is available in nearby streets. Please take care with geokids and geohounds as the cache is near a busy road. The cache contains a logbook only. Bring your own pen. Tweezers may be required.