Barwick, Somerset

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Map sources for Barwick, Somerset at grid reference ST561139

Barwick is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated two miles south of Yeovil in the South Somerset district and on the border with Dorset.

Settlement may go back as far as Saxon times, with the earliest mention of Barwick is in 1185. The village has a population of 1,289^[1].

1 Barwick Park
- 1.1 Barwick Park Follies
2 References
3 External links

[edit] Barwick Park

The estate had originally formed part of the property of Syon Abbey, and passed through various hands after the Dissolution in the 1530's. The present house and park are thought to have been built in 1770 by John and Grace Newman, whose relations owned neighbouring Newton Surmaville.

The house was set in pleasure grounds containing a lake and grotto, while the surrounding parkland was ornamented with a gothic lodge and a group of four follies. In the early 1800's the estate passed to a Yeovil glove manufacturer, George Messiter, and in 1830 the mansion was remodelled in a Jacobean Revival style. An orangery was constructed adjoining the north side at the same period. During the early 1900's the estate again passed through several hands, and for a period in the mid 1950's the mansion was used as an approved school. During World War II, it was the location of a Prisioner of War camp, initially housing Italian prisoners from the Western Desert Campaign, and later German prisoners post the Battle of Normandy.

In the 1990's the estate was sold to a private owner, and substantial repairs were carried out to the House, orangery, and landscape structures. The site remains in private ownership [2]

[edit] Barwick Park Follies

Barwick Park boasts four follies. Bought by South Somerset District Council for a nominal £5 when the estate was sold in the early 1990's, these extraordinary follies are something of a mystery. Locals say they were built to give the estate labourers work during a time of depression during the 1820's. They were possibly commissioned by George Messiter of Barwick to mark the park boundaries at the four cardinal points. Jack the Treacle Eater to the east, the Fish Tower in the north, Messiter's Cone (also known as the Rose Tower) at the west end and the Needle to the south. However, paintings of Barwick house in the 1780s, forty years earlier, include two of the follies.