This is the old Martock church,constructed of Hamstone.
The following is a photo of a house made of Hamstone. The house is the home of the grandfather of the girls who were friends of Lauren and Katelyn when they were here. We turn into the driveway of our apartments at the left side of the house. The house is about 200 years old, and the grandfather has lived there about 50 years. I have not been inside the house, but Matt got to go in one day. He said that the living room has a fireplace that is enormous and covers one whole wall. It must have been designed for cooking as well as heating. Matt said that the house felt kind of damp and musty inside, but it was really a neat house. The backyard is really pretty, and there is a new 2-car garage. The man used to own quite a bit of property, including the land that our apartment is on. The house with a small backyard is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000 today.
The Hamstone continues to be quarried. Here is a photo of how the Hamstone is delivered today and then the wall where it will be used.
The word "Ham" is old English for "small settlement".
But Ham Hill was an important site long before the old English word was used. It was the site of a very large Bronze Age and Iron Age hill fort. In 45 AD it was captured by the Romans, who were led by Vespasian, the future Roman emperor. The Romans were the first to quarry stone from what would later be known as Ham Hill. The Romans controlled the whole area, and they established towns, farms, and major villas, and they used Hamstone in their construction.
Archaeologists have found bronze work, chariot parts, iron currency bars, gold and silver coins, and burial grounds on Ham Hill. There are extensive old quarry works.
The old quarry works have created ridges and hollows, which are popular today for picnics, walking, and mountain biking.
The views from Ham Hill are beautiful.
8 comments:
Beautiful pictures. Salaries must be high there to afford such high priced houses. I know you have enjoyed seeing all those old houses with such a rich history. Lauren and Katelyn will enjoy these pictures since they saw them.
Did you ever go Badger watching out there? The countryside is so pretty from up there. I miss all the green.
There are organized badger watching excursions at Ham Hill, but we have not gone on one. The excursions are at night using flashlights.
I can see why people bring picnics up to Ham Hill. I would be able to spend 4 or 5 hours just sitting up there and looking off at the surrounding scenery. Beautiful! Thank you for sharing it with us!!!
Steve
What are the yellow fields?
The yellow fields are probably rapeseed (Canola) fields. The picture was taken a couple of months ago when the rapeseed fields were blooming.
I just looked at the pictures again. Many of them were taken when Ron first got to England, back in April, before the trees were pretty and green. (Some were taken later.) That was the first yield of rapeseed. There was another harvest of it about Aug.
There's a lot of limestone in our area too! There was a house that used to sit on our ground. Limestone surrounded the exterior of the foundation. We saved as much as we could and have been using it for landscaping!
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