A present for mother

In 1889, Grace Marsh of Hardington was a domestic servant at Long Load vicarage, a position she probably acquired with the help of her sister, Emma, who worked for the Vassall family at Hurst Manor, Martock. On 22 March 1889, Grace made up a parcel for her mother, which contained a box of primroses, a […]

The indefatigable Salome Valentine Wallace

Salome Wallace, Hardington’s Head Teacher 1912-c1920. Introduction When the children returned to Hardington school in January 1912, they found themselves with a new head teacher, the formidable Miss Salome Wallace, an impressive figure and a strict disciplinarian. Early life Salome was born in Islington on 14 February 1872.[1] She was named “Salome” after her maternal […]

William George Sercombe

Early life at Hardington William was born at Hardington in 1876, the first child of George and Mary Jane Sercombe. His father was an engineer, and his mother was a schoolteacher. By the age of fourteen, he was a printer’s office boy, probably working at the Western Gazette with his father. William enjoyed sports, playing cricket […]

Extreme weather events

Hopefully, Hardington will never see anything as bad as Hurricane Milton, but here are accounts of three extreme weather events in the 1890s. On Saturday, 25 August 1894, a storm wreaked havoc in the village, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. At Manor Farm, water overflowed from the the pond because the hatches […]

An Easter wedding breakfast

On 13 April 1903, Robert Marsh and Mary Axe were married at Hardington Parish Church. After the ceremony, the Rector, Rev Cleife, hosted a wedding breakfast for the couple and their friends at the rectory where Mary had worked for five years.[1] The rector had reason to be grateful to Mary. The previous year, she […]

Joan Elizabeth Hann

Childhood Joan was born near Wincanton on 20 January 1936. Her father, Albert Edward Snaydon, worked on a local farm, and her mother, Dorothy, was the daughter of a farm worker. Joan had two older siblings, Dennis and Eileen, and a younger brother, Keith, who followed in 1940. When Joan was eighteen months old, she […]

Isaac Harding, farm labourer

From about 1900 to 1918, Isaac Harding lived at Hardington, where he worked for William Taylor at Marsh Farm.
Isaac was born at Seavington St Mary in 1851 and lived in or close to that parish for the first fifty years of his life.
On 24 December 1873, at Kingstone parish church, he married Hephzibah Seward, with whom he had seven children.

Death on a Cornish Beach

In the summer of 1959, Geoffrey Coleman Smith of Whitethorn, Hill End, Hardington Mandeville, went on holiday to Cornwall with his wife, Margaret. He was the Accounts Director at the Yeovil gloving firm of Clothier, Giles & Co, and their factory had probably shut down for a two-week break. Geoffrey liked visiting Cornwall for its landscape and beaches and because of family associations.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!