Kingsbury Time Travellers

12/06/2026

Saturday 20th June Drayton Wedding Festival - 30 wedding dresses from the village from the 1870's to present....... fashion over time. Free Event

16/05/2026

Somerset Day at Burrow Hill ...... feeling dancey.....

30/04/2026

Somerset Day @ Burrow Hill Saturday 9th May..... working with the Kingsbury Episcopi Wildlife Group a family day with things shining the light on A Heritage of Wildlife........along with traditional Somerset Folk Music, Dancing, The South West Heritage Trust, and conservation groups ...... Hares, Butterflies, Dragonflies, fossils and handling trays and more....... pizza.........

17/04/2026

The River Parrett - This year's May Festival theme. The landing photo - Thorney Mill- was taken by George Wright in 1996 when he worked with James Crowden on the publication ... In Time of Flood. This was part of the promotion for the then newly launched Parrett Trail as a result of The Parrett Trail Partnership. The poem is by James Crowden. The short film extract is from the Clive Gunnell HTV series of 1987 and includes an interview with the Mill Owner of the time, Gordon Merryweather. It also includes Brian Howard of Thorney talking about his work with withies - the growing, preparation and harvesting of one of the key industries in the area. Please be in contact with films, photos which you feel would add to the archive. Thanks ...... onwards. A River Runs Through Us.......

09/04/2026

Liz Evans visiting the Parish, from South Island New Zealand walking in the footsteps of ancestors from West Lambrook and Kingsbury Episcopi. Liz has traced her family roots back 6 generations to Weylands and Bladon Farm. Her great great great grandmother was Kesia Male of Weylands. She has direct family connections still living in the Parish.

04/04/2026

Coombe Bridge - over the River Parrett - off the road from Kingsbury village to Thorney at New Town......on the surface looks like it might have originated in the 1960's or 70's. Very deceptive. The earliest record we have found is from 1653. The landing image is part of the Court Roll for that year. It show the names of those responsible for its upkeep and maintenance and how much they had to a pay. The names from that time include Thomas Budd, other surnames which still flow through the Parish and area include Stonnard, Pittard, Stuckey, Bradford. Such records are held in the South West Heritage Trust. Coombe Bridge will be older than 1653 and might well have been a link taking travellers across The Parrett and, for example, over to to Roman Ilchester. We don't actually know. The latest history of the bridge is its repair by the Highways Authority, just this week. Its origins have to to be at least 500 years old........ its a significant part of the local heritage........The map here of Somerset, the very first, by Christopher Saxton, was instigated by Queen Elizabeth 1st. She wanted a record of the nation for strategic reasons. A river runs through us and bridges help us to cross them.

09/01/2026

David Hall, Chair of the Parish Council here in Kingsbury Episcopi, is one in a very long line of people who have been involved in governance at the local level. It's quite difficult to be definitive about much, there are links over time connecting today with the past and how we govern ourselves. The extract here from a longer recording suggests that, in a previous life, David might have been an ealdorman, a local ruler responsible for law and order, justice.... With King Alfred just up the road, he might well have.... listen on....

01/01/2026

Up and Running - A photograph digital archive for our work is now up and running. www.kttarchive.org.uk the QR code will also take you there.
The Digital Archive has been put together through the work of volunteers and with the support and participation of families and individuals living in, and connected to the Parish. The Archive is part of our 5-year Heritage Matters Project, made possible with the National Lottery Heritage Fund – so a big thanks to all National Lottery players.

Over the past 10 years, we have been given access to thousands of images. These are the collections of families and individuals, many of whom are living in the Parish. Others are from those who have moved away and whose relatives have been in contact with us. The internet has given us a global reach for collecting images - over 200 families, near and far, have contributed to the Archive to date.

The Archive is comprised, in the main, of black and white images. We hope that it can act as an historic record, surrounded as we are by a sea of change. We also hope that our work has been “just in time”, to capture this world of black and white, which has been stored in boxes, suitcases, cupboards…. Thanks to all those who have contributed photographs and documents so far. It is a work in progress and we will be adding images for some time to come. Please be in touch if you haven’t already. Thanks to George Litchfield of Small Blue for engineering the Digital Archive website.

06/12/2025