Aisholt

Aisholt is a tiny village, tucked away deep in the Quantock Hills. Its name means ‘ash wood’, and it is still very wooded and secluded.

  • A view over the fields and woods around Aisholt.

    Aisholt nestles alongside Holcombe brook. It is just a few houses around the parish church. Deeper along the combe are some more very old settlements and farms like Durborough.

  • The old school house, Aisholt.

    It was a favourite place of poets, like Coleridge. and Henry Newbolt. He found it so peaceful and beautiful that he hoped it would stay secret and unspolt for ever.

In the past, most people in Aisholt lived from the land, keeping animals and growing some crops on their own fields, and sharing the woods and the common. Some people worked in stone quarries and lime kilns. Life was hard and the cottages poor. In the 1830s, over 200 people lived in Aisholt, but by 1921 the population had fallen to 60.