The Mudford Insight

South Somerset District Council’s Community Heritage Access Centre (CHAC) near Yeovil recently provided a tour for ten members of the Friends of St. Mary’s Church, Mudford.

This was a new group to visit with an interest in local history and artefacts. Staff provided an insight into the type of objects and documents in the collection and how we look after them. The collecting policy and accurate documentation were also explained, which were two of the key aspects of fulfilling and maintaining the Accreditation Standard.

One of the fun elements staff created came in the introduction to the collections and specifically on Mudford. Three Kelly’s Somerset A-Z Directories dating from 1910; 1923 and 1939 just happened to be open at the pages for Mudford! This was a very simple idea, but reflected how Mudford had changed over a 29 year period; particularly the type of traders in the village; the population and specific details of St. Mary’s Church itself.

Staff also showed a ‘book end’ type of two photographs related to Mudford’s history. The first was an image of St. Mary’s Church taken by Henry Stiby around 1890, which the group had not seen before and which led to some debate as to exactly where Henry Stiby was standing when he took the photograph. The second image was a colour photograph of “GT Motorcycles Yeovil” in 2001 not far from the Half Moon Inn courtesy of the Peall & Co Estate Agent Collection. This was another simple idea but was a great start to the tour and served as a useful ‘icebreaker.’

The tour of the stores once again highlighted parts of the collections we are less familiar with and where we need to increase our knowledge; blue and white tea cups and saucers being one example!

The image of St.Mary’s Church, Mudford, taken by Henry Stiby around 1890 © South Somerset District Council, Community Heritage Access Centre. Not to be reproduced without permission.

A Timely Reminder

Another varied and intriguing week since our last ‘posting’ at South Somerset District Council’s Community Heritage Access Centre, Yeovil, Somerset.

Given our ‘off-site’ location, one of the exciting elements of our work is how many fascinating and significant ‘Yeovil and South Somerset connection’ objects are donated to us, from the generosity of the public at large.

We have recently engaged in an active collecting programme, where we directly ask for objects, documents, or photographs. One example was the early years of Westland helicopters, as we had very few items related to this subject. This has proven to be very successful, with many different areas and later years of Westland and ARP photographs ‘coming to light.’

One of our recent donations that made us go “Wow” was a clock, still in working order and inline with our collecting policy of “Yeovil and South Somerset.” What was really satisfying and superb was that the donors had not only thought to donate the clock, but had also provided the background context on the maker and the actual mechanism inside; which is so important to make an object appreciated by as wide an audience as possible.

The actual clock in question was made by clockmaker and jeweller, William James Sherriff of Market Street, Yeovil. This is interesting in itself as the Clock is marked only with the maker’s initials and surname “W. J. Sherriff” and a name helps to ‘define’ a person.

Being a long standing preacher in the Methodist Church, William James donated the clock to Preston Road Methodist Church, Yeovil when the church opened in 1938. From then, it kept time hanging inside the church until 2014, when it was replaced by a modern battery powered quartz version as William’s clock was considered, by some, too onerous a task to wind it on a weekly basis. The timepiece has a spring driven 8 day mechanism with a pendulum operated escapement.

We also wish to add that we still enjoy ‘passive’ collecting where someone calls us and the conversation starts: “Would you be interested in my…….”

The clock made by clockmaker and jeweller, William James Sherriff of Market Street, Yeovil.