Dinder (which means "the house in the valley") is a small village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of

St Cuthbert Out St Cuthbert Out, sometimes Wells St Cuthbert Out, is a civil parish in the county of Somerset, England. It entirely surrounds (but does not include) the city and parish of Wells as an enclave. According to the 2021 census it had a population ...

, in the

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

district, in the ceremonial county of

. It is miles west of

Shepton Mallet Shepton Mallet is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England, some southwest of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south of Bristol and east of Wells, Somerset, Wells. It had an estimated population of 10,810 in 2019. ...

, and 2 miles east of Wells. In 1961 the parish had a population of 198. The

river Sheppey The River Sheppey has its source in a group of springs west of the village of Doulting, near Shepton Mallet in Somerset, England. It flows through the wetlands to the north of the Polden Hills and ultimately joins the River Brue. Route Fr ...

runs alongside the main street of the village.

History

The manor containing the village formed part of the endowment of the bishopric of Wells, which is located only 2 miles north-west of the village. By the 12th century it had been granted to

William Fitzjohn William Fitzjohn (died 15 September 1326) was a leading prelate in early fourteenth-century Ireland. He held the offices of Bishop of Ossory, Archbishop of Cashel, and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He is chiefly remembered now for building the to ...

, whose descendants were known as 'Harptree' or Flemining. By 1327, the manor was owned by a Richard de Rodney, whose family retained possession until it was sold in the mid 17th century to Richard Hickes, through whose descendants it passed to the Somerville family who built

Dinder House Dinder House, is a Somerset estate with a small country house Grade II English Regency, Regency listed building in the village of Dinder, in the civil parish of St Cuthbert Out in Somerset. Dinder House was formerly a manor house dating back to t ...

and whose most famous member, Admiral

James Somerville Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Fownes Somerville (17 July 1882 – 19 March 1949) was a Royal Navy admiral of the fleet. He served in the First World War as fleet wireless officer for the Mediterranean Fleet where he was involved in providing ...

, was in charge of the British naval force which sank the French fleet at

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

in 1940. The parish was part of the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

Wells Forum The Hundred of Wells Forum is one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from the Anglo-Saxon era before the Norman conquest. Each hundred had a ''fyrd'' which acted as the local defence force, and a ...

. In 1894 under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...

, A.F.Somerville was elected as first councillor for the parish for

Wells Rural District Wells was a rural district in Somerset, England, from 1894 to 1974. It was created in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894, taking over the responsibilities of the former Wells Rural Sanitary District. Each parish elected one or more cou ...

, but there was no election for parish council as parishes of under 300 inhabitants were not obliged to elect one. On 1 April 1986 the parish was abolished and merged with St. Cuthbert Out.

Buildings

The

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Church of St Michael is of

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

origins and has been designated by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

as a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. It includes nave, chancel, north aisle, porch, and square tower. Within the church are an ornamental font and stone pulpit, with some monuments to the Somerville family. A cross in the churchyard dates back to the 14th century.

is a small country house in landscaped grounds. It was built in 1799–1801, possibly by Nicholls of Bath. The outer bays were added around 1850 by Vulliany, and a further single-storey addition to the north dates from 1929. The gate piers, quadrant walls and flanking piers include panelled central piers with pagodal caps, and one with iron lamp at its apex. A bridge over the

River Sheppey The River Sheppey has its source in a group of springs west of the village of Doulting, near Shepton Mallet in Somerset, England. It flows through the wetlands to the north of the Polden Hills and ultimately joins the River Brue. Route Fr ...

predates the house. Several other buildings in the village are also of historic interest including ''Church View Cottage'', which dates from the 16th century, the 18th-century ''Road View'' and ''Downside House'' and ''Wistaria House''.

Notable residents and culture

The crest of the Somerville Family (Admiral of the Fleet

, author and poet Christopher Somerville and newsreader

Julia Somerville Julia Mary Fownes Somerville (born 14 July 1947) is an English consumer affairs journalist co-presenting the BBC One daytime television programme '' Rip Off Britain''. She began her journalistic career with magazine publisher IPC and edited a ...

) features a dragon and wheel. Dinder Worm - The legend of the Dragon of Dinder goes back for centuries, and is recorded in a fifteenth-century copy of Ranulf Higden's ''Polychronicon'', now

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

Library, MS 213. The legend goes that a terrible Dragon was terrorising both livestock and villagers. The then Bishop Jocelin was called upon to save the people of Dinder. He rode out with his men at arms, but at the last furlong commanded them to remain at a distance while he rode on and single-handedly beheaded the beast. The legend of the Dragon of Dinder lives on. Every 50 years since then a celebration of the slaying of the Dragon has been held. The legend says that should this tradition be forgotten and the slaying not re-enacted by a left-handed man of the cloth the Dragon may return. There is a Mosaic depicting the story made by the children of nearby Wells and Dinder set in stone on the perimeter walk of the

Bishop's Palace A bishop's palace is a form of ecclesiastical architecture constituting the official residence of a bishop.The term was not used in the British Isles until the Church of England was restructured following the Norman Conquest of 1066 AD. However, th ...

. Nearby hamlet, Worminster and the hill Worminster Sleight are likely named after this legend and the Old English word for a dragon, "worm". Reverend

Charles Woodmason Charles Woodmason ( – March 1789) was an author, poet, Anglican clergyman, American loyalist, and west gallery psalmodist. He is best remembered for his journal documenting life on the South Carolina frontier in the late 1760s, and for ...

(''ca''. 1720–March 1789), author, poet, Anglican clergyman,

American loyalist Loyalists were refugee colonists from thirteen of the 20 British American colonies who remained loyal to the British crown during the American Revolution, often referred to as Tories, Royalists, or King's Men at the time. They were opposed by ...

, and West Gallery psalmodist, who is best remembered for his journal documenting life on the

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

frontier in the late 1760s and for his role as a leader of the South Carolina Regulator movement, served as curate of St. Michael and All Angels Parish from at least February 1776 through December 1777. Extracts of some of the sermons he preached at Dinder are in Richard Hooker's volume on Woodmason.Hooker, Richard J., ed. ''The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the

merican ''Merican'' is an Extended play, EP by the American punk rock band Descendents, released February 10, 2004. It was the band's first release for Fat Wreck Chords and served as a pre-release to their sixth studio album ''Cool to Be You'', released ...

Revolution: The Journal and Other Writings of Charles Woodmason, Anglican Itinerant''. 1953.

References

External links

Map of Dinder circa 1900
{{Authority control Villages in Mendip District Former civil parishes in Somerset