Broomfield

Broomfield is a tiny hill top settlement: a few houses around a church, in open land with ancient trees. To reach it you must go along winding, wooded lanes. Today it hardly seems big enough to be thought of as a village, but there are plenty of clues to show it was an important centre for the other settlements in the parish.

Broomfield was near the old main road.

  • Broomfield Milestone

Every year people came to a big fair here.

  • Broomfield Milestone
  • Broomfield signpost

    There was plenty of work. Most Broomfield people worked on the land.

    Broomfield is part of Quantock Forest. The woods have always been important to the local people

Many people worked as foresters or carpenters. Some were woodcarvers, like Simon Werman.

  • 16th century oak bench end in Broomfield church

There were also limestone quarries and limekilns where they could work. In the 1800s, people started mining for iron and copper mines in Broomfield. The ore even contained traces of silver and malachite!

Broomfield was big enough to have its own school.

  • Broomfield School

"Unbelievable Creatures"

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Broomfield people seem to have been independently-minded. Maybe the Broomfield green man was based on a real person!

  • Old stone carving of a face.
  • Board in Broomfield Church

    There were the rebels: In 1497, 23 people were fined for taking part in a rebellion. Years later, five people took part in the Monmouth rebellion. Two of them were fined and three were transported to Australia.

    There was Mrs Coombes, the plum pudding lady..

  • Monument for Andrew Crosse

    …and there was Broomfield’s most famous inhabitant Andrew Crosse.

  • Fyne Court

    Andrew Crosse used to live at Fyne Court.

Around Broomfield are many old farms, like Raswell. There used to be even more.

  • Raswell farmhouse

Now there are only about 200 people living in Broomfield.

  • Raswell farmhouse

Around Broomfield

Not far from Broomfield is the well-defended Iron Age settlement of Ruborough Camp. The space inside was called ‘Moneyfield’. An ancient legend tells of a buried castle, with a secret iron entrance, full of gold and silver, guarded by gnomes! Iron Age people must have valued this area. They had farms and settlements at Higher Castles and Rooks Castle too.

Broomfield had defences in World War Two as well. Remains of anti-aircraft search lights and Nissen huts were found at Newlands Farm.