Bruton


Bruton is a town, electoral ward, and civil parish in Somerset, England, on the River Brue and on the A359 between Frome and Yeovil. It is 7 miles south-east of Shepton Mallet, just south of Snakelake Hill and Coombe Hill, 10 miles north-west of Gillingham and 12 miles south-west of Frome in South Somerset district. The town and ward have a population of 2,907. The parish includes the hamlets of Wyke Champflower and Redlynch. Bruton has a museum of items from its past from the Jurassic onwards. It includes a table used by the author John Steinbeck on a six-month stay. The River Brue has a history of flooding. In 1768 it destroyed a stone bridge. On 28 June 1917, 242.8 mm of rain fell in 24 hours, leaving a watermark on a pub 20 feet above mean level. In 1984 a protective dam was built 1 km upstream.

History

The Church of St Mary, Bruton was founded by Ine of Wessex in the 7th century,
Bruton was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Briuuetone, meaning 'Vigorously flowing river' from the Old English tor and Celtic briw meaning vigour. The river has been the site of several watermills and in 2003 the South Somerset Hydropower Group installed their first hydroelectric turbine at Gants Mill at nearby Pitcombe.
It was the site of Bruton Abbey, a medieval Augustinian priory from which a wall remains in the Plox close to Bow Bridge. The priory was sold after the dissolution of the monasteries to the courtier Sir Maurice Berkeley, whose Bruton branch of the Berkeley family converted it into a mansion then demolished in the late 18th century. The Dovecote which overlooks Bruton was built in the sixteenth century. It was at one time used as a house, possibly as a watchtower and as a dovecote. It is a Grade II* listed building and ancient monument. It is managed by the National Trust. The building was once within the deerpark of the Abbey. It was adapted by the monks from a gabled Tudor tower. The conversion to be a dovecote took place around 1780. It has over 200 pigeon holes.
Bruton was part of the hundred of Bruton.
Bruton is referenced in a well-known English folk song, The Bramble Briar. A rare copy of an Inspeximus of Magna Carta was found in Bruton in the 1950s and claimed by King's School, Bruton. The sale of the copy to the Australian National Museum paid for much building work at the school.
Much of the town's history is shown at the Bruton Museum in the Dovecote Building in the High Street, along with a tourist information office. Bruton Museum Society, formed in 1989, involves the community and local schools in developing the collection of local artefacts. It was initially housed beneath the Co-Op, then in a disused coach house owned by a bank. The museum moved in 1999 to its current location, which was jointly purchased by South Somerset District Council and Bruton Town Council. The time spent in the town by John Steinbeck is commemorated in the museum. It has also organised exhibitions at King's School, including one in 2008 of the work of Ernst Blensdorf. In 2010 an anonymous donor agreed to pay the rent on the building, removing earlier doubts about its future viability.
In December 2012 plans were announced by Hauser & Wirth to open a gallery and arts centre at a derelict farm on the outskirts on Bruton. This occurred on 14 September 2014.

Governance

The town council has responsibility for local issues. It sets an annual precept to cover its operating costs and produces annual accounts for public scrutiny. The town council evaluates local planning applications and works with local police, district council officers and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security and traffic. It initiates projects for maintaining and repairing parish facilities, and consults with the district council on maintenance, repair and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport and street cleaning. Conservation matters and environmental issues are also covered.
The town falls within the Non-metropolitan district of South Somerset formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 It had previously been part of Wincanton Rural District. The district council is responsible for local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection and recycling, cemeteries and crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism.
Somerset County Council is responsible for running the largest and costliest local services, such as education, social services, libraries, main roads, public transport, policing and fire services, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning.
Bruton falls in the Somerton and Frome county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system.

Transport

lies on the Great Western Main Line, in a section often referred to as the Berks and Hants route, between Westbury and Taunton. The route is the most direct between London and the West Country, but is slower for geographical reasons. The stretch between Westbury and Castle Cary is also part of the Heart of Wessex line, served by Great Western Railway services between Bristol Temple Meads and Weymouth.
Until 12 December 2015, Bruton was served only by rail services between Bristol and Weymouth. In December 2015, South West Trains introduced a rail service between London Waterloo, Salisbury and Yeovil Pen Mill, giving Bruton its first direct London service for some years. This runs to London Waterloo four times a day on Monday to Friday, with three return journeys.
Bus services are operated by South West Coaches: route 667 Monday–Saturday, route 1B Monday–Saturday, route 1C schooldays only, route 19 Friday only, route 33 Wednesday only and route 34 term-time only.

Geography

Work to build the railway line at Bruton Railway Cutting exposed geology of the epoch of the Middle Jurassic. It is one of the best places in England to demonstrate the stratigraphic distinction of ammonites in the subcontractus zone and the morrisi zone.
The nearby Godminster Lane Quarry and Railway Cutting is another geological Site of Special Scientific Interest, for study of the Inferior Oolite limestones, of the Middle Jurassic age, laid down in a warm shallow sea some 175 million years ago. The site is unique in that the limestones seen here are more closely comparable with rocks of similar age found in the Cotswolds than with rock sequences seen elsewhere in Somerset. However, the rocks contain the rich assemblage of fossil ammonites typical of the north Dorset/south Somerset area. This feature, along with the unusual limestone sequence, makes the site unique. It is also important as a reference for three sub-divisions of the Inferior Oolite – the laeviscula, discites and concavum Zones.

Churches

Both the 14th-century Church of St Mary, and the Church of the Holy Trinity, in Wyke Champflower, dated at 1623, are Grade I listed buildings.
John Wesley preached in Bruton in 1776. A Methodist chapel at West End was opened in 1848. The congregation was served by the Somerset Mission Circuit and more recently by the Somerset Mendip Circuit.

Schools

Bruton is known for three popular secondary schools – King's School, Bruton ; Sexey's School ; and Bruton School for Girls . Each has a sixth form, and a tradition of boarding.
One of Bruton's notable historic characters was Hugh Sexey, who was born in the local area and attended Bruton Grammar School. By the age of 43 he had been appointed as Royal auditor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth I and later King James I. After his death the trustees of his will established Sexey's Hospital in Bruton as an institution to care for the elderly. Sexey's trust was mainly involved with educational causes. The politician behind the Education Act 1902, Henry Hobhouse, MP, was involved in the founding of Sexey's School and Sunny Hill.