St Michael the Archangel, Alcombe

The church of St Michael the Archangel, Alcombe was consecrated a hundred years ago. Glance left as you travel west down the slope to the Akombe shops. A little way up Church Street you'll see the garden-fronted red stone of St Michael's church perched elegantly on its hillock. There on 8 June 1902, graced on three sides by open fields, Squire George Fownes Luttrell laid the foundation stone of a new church. Under it was placed a bottle containing a copy of the Golden Daily Mail. As early as 1900 there had been the strong feeling that the former chapel in Manor Road, built by Edwin Palmer in the 1860s, was too small. The Rev. James Utten Todd, priest-in-charge of Alcombe and curate of the Dunster parish, saw the need, and on 3 May 1903 a small sandstone church was opened for worship on what had been Farmer Gatchell's Tanyard Meadow. Fifty years later, on 27 July 1953, the church of St Michael the Archangel became an independent parish under its first vicar, John Webster. Today its sixth vicar, Stephen Stuckes, leads a worshipping community of well over a hundred, which draws encouragement from the past to reach out in care and compassion to many parts of the West Somerset community. Ninety-three-year-old Jack Parsons, a lifelong St Michael's man, was baptised in 1909 when the church was only six years old, and he still cherishes his certificate of Confirmation dated 17 December 1923. Apart from the period of his Italian war service, Jack has rarely missed a Sunday morning service. As a boy chorister he did his best to destroy the starched collar that chafed his neck on Sundays; he pumped the organ bellows, and narrowly escaped a beating for failing to raise his hat to the Sunday School teacher. Those were the days when Alcombe lads would have stick-fights with the Minehead 'Quay Boys' and when even 'two cane' Mr Cantle of Dunster School could not deter truants bent on following the otter hounds.

Then a haircut cost tuppence and you could get a Hercules 3-speed bicycle for £4. Jack remembers with pleasure the Sunday School outings to Horner Green in the horse-drawn cart and the Harvest Thanksgivings with home-baked loaf and corn sheaf on the altar. When he was a little older he laid out the very first church gardens, receiving a special commendation from the Bishop for his work, and he is proud of his certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society recognising forty years' service in Blenheim Gardens where he went on to complete his half century. Jack recalls that in his early days 'everyone went to church' and people were 'more sociable'. He remembers the support his 'poor' family had from neighbours — five of his eight siblings died in infancy — and he recalls the strong sense of community. Indeed the money to build the new church itself was given by local folk who also made or decorated many of the church furnishings. However, it was not only the church-based groups (like the Women's Guild) however which offered local focus: the Rev. C.J. Lockyer (the priest-in-charge from 1913) also started the first Scout Troop in Alcombe.

In those days, when the A39 was still a country lane and fields separated Alcombe from Minehead and the sea, Manor Farm and Cross Farm provided most of the village jobs. Shire horses were used and the introduction of motor-driven machines was resisted by men whose average weekly wage was only 12 shillings (60 pence!). Cattle, sheep and poultry were raised and cereal crops were grown on the slopes above the village. At hay-making, villagers turned out to help stook the corn and the young folk would gather excitedly with sticks and stones to catch the rabbits as they broke cover in flight from the reaper. When all was gathered in it is remembered that 'a great supper would be given at the farm accompanied by cider made at the cider-press barn opposite Staunton Lane.' People shopped at the grocery, drapery and post office in the middle of the old village and, in addition to the Britannia Inn, there was the Red Lion opposite the church. Its landlord, the 'pious' John Langdon, was also a wheelwright with a forge in Marsh Road. For this Alcombe community of 700 people in 1903 the church-based organisations and the church building provided an important backbone. Then from 1917, as houses were built on the seaward side of the village, the pressure for church extension and independent parish status increased.

By 1953 the population had grown to 2600 and a fine new chancel and Lady Chapel had been added to St Michael's church. Against the background of economic gloom and impending war, the consecration by Bishop Wynne Wilson on 2 February 1937 of these additions must have seemed an encouraging act of faith. Villagers had again worked hard to raise money for the chancel, and gifts by Lt. Col. W. Hartley Maud and Mr Luttrell had paid for the Lady Chapel. By the 1970s the inadequacy of the decaying church hut was apparent to everyone and an extension to the main church building was opened in February 1975 which provided 'social space' for such regular functions as Brownie meetings,

Contributed by: Helen