History

Whilst there is considerable speculation that there was a settlement in Misterton in Roman times, the first substantive evidence dates from the latter part of the Norman Conquest. The Old Court was constructed in the 13th century and acted for many years thereafter as the ‘administrative headquarters’ of the village. The other large houses in Church Lane were built as residences of Misterton’s landed gentry. Other big houses were also constructed like Dry Close in Newbury Lane and the Vicarage (now Bartrims Haye).

The Victorian age saw the re-building of the Church, the School, mains sewerage and the Cemetery Chapel. The water-powered mill at Mill Farm (then known as Paddockslake Mill) served the village for many centuries. The old name for the village stream was the Paddockslake.

The parish of Misterton- comprising 1450 acres- was for many centuries farming based, and the present day lanes (like Unity, Newbury, Mill and Swan) all once served as access tracks to the farmlands. The fields between Mill Farm and the present day Bradford’s site was once “common land” divided into strips for each village family. A small number of fields for the “village poor” still exist in Misterton: they were established in the 1600s by the Reverend Owsley, the local vicar who loved the area.

Before the advent of maps, beating of the village bounds used to take place once a year. This served to inform Misterton villagers as to the limits of “their” territory. The parish boundary was based on natural features such as the river Parrett to the north, the hills surrounding Badgers Glory and Henley to the south, also the Lichen stream (on the Mosterton road) and the Viney stream in Cathole Bridge Road to the east and west. The western boundary is now irregular at Viney Bridge- though the rationale for the transfer of this piece of Misterton parish to Crewkerne has never been satisfactorily explained.

The coming of the railway in the 1850s sparked a real turning point in village fortunes- and large numbers of Misterton people were employed in running the station, the adjoining sidings and maintaining the track itself. But the railway also changed the landscape. The huge embankment between Upon Hill and Silver Street came about following the construction of Crewkerne Tunnel. How much more attractive a viaduct would have been.

Misterton’s conservation area has it’s nucleus in Church Lane but extends south just beyond Knowle corner. Viewed from that point- looking towards The Globe- the street scene has basically changed little over the last century.