09 01 2021 Down memory lane with Pete
When I was growing up with my brothers in Bruton we spent lots of our free time down Darkey Lane playing in the fields and fishing in the Brue. We were always very wary of Death Path where one false step would plunge you down the cliff face into the racing torrent below. Now, some 50 years later, I discovered on my walk with Pete that Death Path is the rerouted footpath providing a charming leafy stroll. Whatever happened to the terrors of our youth?
We made our way from the station car park to Batts Hole. We then followed the redirected footpath to the edges of St David’s Bay where many years ago the waters tumbled down an artificial cascade created as part of a major feat of water engineering which took part of the Brue to the site of the old bacon factory. Most evidence of this scheme has disappeared now. Just a few hulking lumps of concrete like lost hippos show where once man had tamed the Brue.
Of course, a far more substantial act of taming has taken place with the creation of the dam…or more accurately I suppose the Bruton flood alleviation scheme. This massive earthwork and drainage mechanism may seem out of proportion to the trickle of water in the summer time. I recall a day in 1982 when I accompanied Howard Bamping on a Sexey’s school trip to Lydford Gorge in Devon to benefit his pupil’s understanding of the power of water courses…it is indeed a striking geological site. Amazingly, Mr Bamping thereby ensured his pupils missed a fantastic opportunity to witness the power of rain and flood waters on their own doorstep in Bruton itself without travelling 100 miles each way.
It had rained ceaselessly all day. Bruton was a pinch point for water pouring down from the local catchment area from Brewham and beyond. There was eventually a huge pent up torrent surging through the town, demolishing the walls of Church Bridge, sweeping the arch of Bow Bridge away leaving a single span with no sides and tumbling many cars over one another in Lower Backway into a heap of wreckage. After that, the argument for a permanent scheme to preserve Bruton in future was made.
We passed across the modern dam on our walk and up to the fields opposite Sheephouse farm. On a finer day we would have enjoyed splendid views of Alfred’s Tower and Creech Hill but we were happy it was dry enough to walk. The path turns down into a wooded area alongside the A361 where Dropping Lane heads from Bruton to Wincanton. We crossed the final field to Durslade Farm (now home to Hauser and Wirth) , passed the allotments and the old monastery carp ponds before reaching the cars once again. An enjoyable stroll for me down memory lane. I hope Pete enjoyed the nostalgic waffle.
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