Roadwater

The village has a long main street with buildings from many different periods. The Valiant Soldier Inn is just one of the many local pubs with a skittle alley. The route of the old mineral line can be walked as far as the bottom of the incline up to the Brendon Hills.

The Second World War Pill Box on theway out of Roadwater on the way to Luxborough

Long straggling village in deep wooded valley. Famous for its links with Old West Somerset Mineral railway Line, which transported iron ore in the 19th century from the Brendon Hills to Watchet on the coast. Pub; shop; car park. Roadwater is a linear village, the Northern section of which follows the course of the Washford river, but at the confluence of the streams which form this river, the valley bottom widens and the village has a more nucleated form. In the arm of this confluence is Oatway House, the only thatched building in the centre of Roadwater, which largely comprises 19th centuary development, in many instances associated with the construction of the West Somerset Mineral railway, which arrived at Roadwater in 1857. Much of the layout of the Luxborough End of Roadwater derives from the location of railway sidings apart from the erection of the Chapel in 1907 and Larcombe Villa in 1920, the footprint of the village roads and houses has remained largely unaltered in over 100 years.

Until well into the last century, Roadwater people wishing to attend Church had perforce to travel the three miles to Old Cleeve, or climb to Leighland Chapel.

Roadwater station with trackbed in foreground in 1962

With the new industries bringing an increased population, the Church of England communities also felt the need for action. In 1874 they started a Sunday evening service in the club-room of the Valiant Soldier Inn. Then they planned to build a mission and school-room for infants, which was opened two years later, near the centre of the village. The site was given by the Reverend W. Sweet Escott; Mr G F Luttrell gave the stone, which came from the Lodge Rocks Quarry, and the building was put up in four months. The carpentry work was done by Messrs John and James Nethercott, and the total cost was about £350, largely raised by subscription.

The Bishop of Bath and Wells preached at the opening ceremony which took place on St Luke's Day. Decorations were up throughout the village, and as the Bishop remarked, "the streets of Roadwater were blocked with carriages". The men most diligent in carrying through the project had been Mr John Cording of Roadwater Mill and Mr Thomas Stone of Clitsome Farm. In the course of speeches, Mr Cording remarked that the building was intended for the education of children as well as a place of worship, and that he hoped parents would send their children to school. He hoped "employers of labour would endeavour to see that the children were sent to school, for every child ought to be kept at school until it was ten years old". The altar and communion rail were screened ofi by a curtain from the rest of the building during the week. Early in this century the building, having ceased to function as a school, was dedicated as St Luke's Church. In 1909 a stained glass window was given by Cyril and Lucy Tubbs, of Croydon Hall, as a thank offering for the recovery of their two young daughters from a serious illness.

In those days most people went to Church or Chapel as a matter of course on Sundays and special days, and both Leighland and Roadwater had full mixed choirs, Mr Arthur Gooding acted as organist for Roadwater for fifty years, from the opening of the church, having previously accompanied the services in the Valiant Soldier Club Room, and his son has continued the task since 1926. For a time the boys and girls in the choir were paid, but when this ceased they were rewarded with an annua! outing, when there was a general exodus to Washford Station in brakes and wagonettes, then on to Weston-super-Mare in specially reserved carriages.

Some years after the building of St Luke's Church (or the Mission Room as it was known for many years) a church room was added to the building, the foundation stone being laid by Miss Dorothea Shaw, then a small girl. This greatly added to the activities of the village, and became famous locally for its musical entertainments, particularly the sentimental operettas of the day. In 1923 a determined effort was made by the Rector of Old Cleeve, Prebendary Harman, to divide the parish and unite Roadwater with the benefice of Leighland. With the difficulties caused by today's shortage of clergy, we now see that it would have been an advantageous move, but at the time it aroused all the opposition of the conservative countryman. Roadwater had been a part of Old Cleeve parish since time immemorial and it's dead had been buried there, and every adult in the place signed a petition objecting to the transfer. After a spirited meeting at an inquiry by a Commission appointed by the then Bishop, the matter was allowed to drop though since then the Vicar of Leighland has continued to take Roadwater Services.

• Roadwater is a village found above Washford, a larger size than its location would suggest. At one time it was a station on the West Somerset Mineral Railway which ran through to Watchet, and was used for bringing in iron ore from the Brendon Hills above Roadwater....Two Rivers Paper Mill is at Roadwater.
• Roadwater Pill Box
• At one time Roadwater had a station on the West Somerset Mineral Railway which ran through to Watchet, and was used for bringing in iron ore from the Brendon Hills above Roadwater
• Two Rivers Paper Mill is at Roadwater.
• The Mineral Line - Events in Roadwater provides a varied programme of lively dance nights and entertaining supper evenings for the local community of Roadwater and the surrounding area.
• Roadwater village hall, which was constructed in 1927, was built and financed by the Reckitt family of the Reckitt and Coleman food company, who lived locally. The adjoining recreation ground, which provides its unique setting, was donated to the village by a naval captain, John Bridges of nearby Croydon Hall.

Court Shoe Shop Roadwater

West Someerrset Mineral Line Level Crossing Gate Roadwater

Level Crossing Gates and Penny Farthing Roadwater

See also: www.roadwater.org

Contributed by: Lucy Pinknall, Helen Moon