BOOK NOTICES AND NEWS

Some recent publications of interest to readers;

J.Stevens Cox, editor. Ilchester and District: Somerset: Materials for a History, being Nos.1-10 of The Ilchester and District Occasional Papers bound together with additional illustrations. Vol.1 59 illustrations.

Collection of photographic views of Ilchester to supplement the author’s earlier published papers on the town. Limited edition of 100 copies.
 
*Four more numbers, commencing Vol.2 of Ilchester and District Occasional Papers are also issued as follow:
 
No.11 – A Peep into a Prison or the inside of Ilchester Bastile (Toucan Press, 1979, 24pp, 84p) A facsimile reproduction of Henry Hunt’s 1821 rare original pamphlet with a folded illustration of prisoners in shackles.
 
No.12 – Transcripts of the Tombstones and Mural Monuments in the Church of St.Mary Major, Ilchester (Toucan Press, 1979, 28pp, 84p) Includes five illustrations of St Mary’s Church from 1832 to 1864, and is the editor’s copies of inscriptions made in April 1943.
 
No.13 – Ilchester Ephemera (Toucan Press, 1979, 32pp, 96p) Comprises an Ilchester sale catalogue of household furniture 1861; two photographs of High Street, Ilchester, about 1865; Ilchester Horticultural and Poultry Show catalogue, 1883; an advertisement of Bourne & Harris’s patent road-scraper, 1839; an 1883 account of ‘Ivelchester’ by Henry Hayman, DD; and an 1867 leaflet of supplemental notes to William Buckler’s Ilchester Almshouse Deeds.
 
No.14 – Ilchester Notes and Drawinga.1797-1829 by Rev.John Skinner Edited by J.Stevens, Cox Toucan Press, 1979, 20pp, 60p)

R.W.Dunning. A History of Somerset (Somerset County Library, 1978, £2.00)
 
Concise and authoritative history of the county from Saxon times to the present day by the Editor of the Victoria County History of Somerset.
 
**A History of Montacute (Somerset County Council, 1978, 60p)
Extract from the Victoria County History of Somerset, Vol.III, on the parish of Montacute.
 
**editor.Victoria Count History of Somerset Vol.IV (Oxford University Press, 1978, £40.00)
 
The latest volume of the definitive history of the county giving a detailed history of each parish within the Hundreds of Crewkerne, Martock, and South Petherton. (Note: Vols.I & II still in print, £21 and £17 respectively, W.Dawson, 1969 reprint, as is Vol.III at £24, Oxford University Press, 1974, at £24).

A.Moon. The First Ground of God: A History of the Glastonbury Abbey Estates (Glastonbury, Gothic Image, 1978, £l.50)
 
Account of the Abbey as a landowner and the effect of its building and engineering works on the Somerset landscape.

J.P.Traskey. Milton Abbeys A Dorset Monastery in the Middle Ages (Compton Presa, 1979, £6.50)
 
‘The first comprehensive history of Milton Abbey’, this book spans the years from its foundation in 934 to the Dissolution, and summarizes the remaining period to the present day, including the destruction of the old town of Milton Abbas, and the creation of the present attractive village.

R.Whitloak. A Calendar of Country Customs (Batsford, 1978, £5.50)
 
Well-Illustrated account of the traditions and ceremonials of the British Isles.

Herbert Whone. Church . Monastery – Cathedral (Compton Russell Element, 1977, £3.50)

Subtitled ‘A Guide to the Symbolism of the Christian Tradition’, this book presents in alphabetical order a description of architectural features in religious buildings, investigates the etymology of the names, and gives the idea and intent behind their design.

E.F.Williams. Parish Surveys in Somerset – 2. Luxborough (Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1978, 60p)
 
Survey of this West Somerset hill-country parish describing the settlement pattern, its evolution along with its individual farms, houses, cottages, roads and bridges. (Note – Parish Survey No.1 – Wambrook, also published by Som.Arch.& Nat.Hist.Soc., is still available at 60p)

 
STOP PRESS – To be published:

R.Bush. The Book of Wellington (Barracuda Books – to be published in 1979, 29.95, lower price of £7-95 to subscribers)

Rev.E.B.Short. The Book of Bridport (Baracuda Books – to be published in 1979, as above)
 
Both these projected books will be of the same format as Robin Bush’s Book of Taunton and Leslie Brooke’s Book of Yeovil. Details, of ordering subscribers’ copies from Barracuda Books Ltd, Radclive Hall, Radclive, Buckingham, Bucks., or, in the case of the Book of Wellington lists are open at both Taunton and Wellington Libraries.

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QUERIES
Hospital cot inscriptions

In the reception of the Yeovil General Hospital are the following brass inscriptions:

(a) Cot endowed by Mrs Somerville’s ‘Merry Little Entertainers 1917 – 1925’
(b) Cot endowed by Mrs, Somerville’s ‘Merry Little Entertainers 1926 – 1930’

Some details as to who Mrs Somerville was, and information regarding. the ‘Merry Little Entertainers’ would be appreciated.

Hon.Sec.

A Yeovil Token

A token has recently been handed to me which reads as follows:
Obverse: GARDINERS, / GENUINE / T / WAREHOUSE / MARKET / PLACE / YEOVIL.
Reverse: EIGHT OF THESE WILL BUY AN OZ / OF TEA / AT / GARDINER’S MARKET PLACE / YEOVIL.

If anyone has a similar token, or knows about ‘Gardiner’,’ please contact the writer.

Hon.Sec.

Drats for the Hegge
Yeovil churchwardens’ accounts for 1516 contain the entry: ‘paid Robert Wicker for a payre of Drats for the Hegge, ij^d’. What were these ‘Drats for the Hegge’?

L.E.J.B.

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