DURLEIGH
The parish of Durleigh lies principally west and
south-west of Bridgwater astride the Durleigh
brook which since 1938 has been dammed to
form Durleigh reservoir (77.5 a.). (fn. 70) The parish
church and Durleigh Farm stand overlooking
the dam on the south side of the brook c. 2.5
km. ESE. from the centre of Bridgwater. The
sites of three houses, standing together on the
north side of the stream in 1839, are now
submerged below the reservoir. (fn. 71) The ancient
boundary of the principal area of the parish is
irregular, in part following the Durleigh brook
and other watercourses. Part of the boundary
with Goathurst, in the south-west, was marked
in the earlier 18th century with stones. (fn. 72) Smaller
parts of the ancient parish, linked by common
ownership in the 11th century, (fn. 73) lay in and
around Chilton Trinity village, north of Bridgwater, and included a substantial part of Chilton
common and land further north beside the Parrett. There were also isolated fields in
Wembdon and Bridgwater parishes, including
arable strips in Haygrove and in St. Matthew's
fields. (fn. 74) The total area of the parish in 1881 was
said to be 886 a., evidently less than the true area
because of an error over the boundaries of
Chilton parish. In 1886 most of the detached
parts of the parish were transferred: that part
within Bridgwater borough (including 7 houses
and 36 persons) became part of Bridgwater,
unspecified lands were absorbed by Wembdon,
and the remainder (including 8 houses and 36
persons) passed to Chilton Trinity. Durleigh
gained West Bower, a detached part of Bridgwater largely surrounded by Durleigh, and in
1891 the total area was 755 a. (fn. 75) Modifications to
the civil parish in 1933, by which land (162 a.
and 20 people) was added from Bridgwater
Without, and in 1952, when part of Durleigh
was absorbed in the extension of Bridgwater
borough, left the parish with 355 ha. (877 a.) in
1981, a figure which did not take account of
further unspecified changes made in the same
year. (fn. 76)
The principal part of Durleigh parish occupies
undulating ground drained by the Durleigh
brook and Cobb's Cross stream, their alluvial
valleys below the 15-m. contour cutting through
Keuper marl. Both north and south of the brook
the land rises above 30 m. on harder Upper
Sandstone, reaching over 46 m. on the northern boundary with Wembdon at a possibly
prehistoric earthwork known in the 20th century
as Danesborough and in the 16th as Castle Acre
or Sturton's Castle. (fn. 77) Most of the outlying areas
of the parish lay on alluvium and on the 'island'
of marl around Chilton Trinity village. (fn. 78)
Two routes westwards from Bridgwater
crossed the parish, the northern passing beside
a site known as Durleigh Elms towards Spaxton,
the southern crossing the Durleigh brook near
Haygrove Farm in Bridgwater and running
south of Durleigh church towards Enmore. In
1730 a turnpike trust was proposed for both
roads, (fn. 79) the northern regarded c. 1758 as part of
the London-Barnstaple route. A toll gate was
then proposed at Three Crosses, east of Durleigh Elms. (fn. 80) Both roads were included in a
second turnpike proposal in 1759, but in 1782
only the southern seems to have been adopted. (fn. 81)
The northern route was described as a turnpike
road in 1796 (fn. 82) although it was not maintained by
the trust in 1839. (fn. 83) By 1782 a new route towards
Enmore began at Three Crosses and ran south
down Goose Pit hill and between Durleigh mill
and the parish church. (fn. 84) Minor routes led from
Durleigh Elms west to West Bower and south
to the brook. Goose Pit hill also formed part of
a north-south route from Chilton common
through Greenway in Wembdon to Rhode in
North Petherton parish. (fn. 85)
The names of three medieval settlements in the
principal part of the parish, Durleigh, Rexworthy, and Everley, seem to indicate woodland
clearings: (fn. 86) Durleigh and Rexworthy existed in
the mid 11th century, (fn. 87) Everley as a settlement
only in 1256. (fn. 88) The settlement at Durleigh comprised on the south side of Durleigh brook the
church, Durleigh Farm, and the mill, and by the
late 18th century a contracting group of dwellings in Durleigh street on the north side. By
1930 the street contained a single farmstead. (fn. 89)
The house called Durleigh Elms was built and
extended by the Gooding family on a site acquired by them in 1796. (fn. 90) From the later 19th
century, and increasingly from the 1930s, houses
were built in the north-eastern corner of the
parish on the north side of Enmore Road as part
of the suburban expansion of Bridgwater. (fn. 91)
The name of a furlong survived on Durleigh
farm in the 18th century, (fn. 92) but in the 16th
century the land around Durleigh village and
stretching towards Goathurst had been divided
into closes. (fn. 93) There was open arable belonging
to Durleigh in 1540 in the east, west, and south
fields at Chilton Trinity, evidently lying between Chilton moor and Chilton common and
located in the parishes of Durleigh and Bridgwater. (fn. 94) Parts of Chilton common, which was
divided and allotted in 1801, (fn. 95) lay in Durleigh
parish because Durleigh tenants had grazing
rights there. There were 26 a. of woodland in
Durleigh and Rexworthy in 1086 (fn. 96) when none
was recorded on the two estates called Chilton.
In 1839 there were just over 11½ a. of wood. (fn. 97)
A tippling house was reported in the parish
in 1623. (fn. 98) In 1664-5 there were 11 houses in
the tithing of Durleigh and Duke Fee. (fn. 99) The
population of the parish rose gradually from
104 in 1801 to 208 in 1881, with a slight fall in
the 1830s, the rise from the 1840s the result of
the expansion of Bridgwater suburbs into the
parish. Boundary changes in 1886 seem to
account for a reduction to 158 in 1891, and
there was a significant fall from 396 in 1911 to
328 in 1921. (fn. 1) Meanwhile there had been
changes in the number of houses in Durleigh
village: in 1839 there were 2 cottages in Durleigh Street, 1 in West Bower Lane, 2 houses
at Durleigh Elms, 1 cottage on Goose Pit hill,
and 2 near the mill, together with farmhouses
at Rexworthy, Durleigh Farm, and Moggs. (fn. 2) In
1909 there were 6 cottages near Durleigh Farm
in Rhode Lane. (fn. 3) In 1931 the total population
was 348. Between 1961 and 1981 the population
of what remained outside Bridgwater rose from
300 to 517, the result of building along Enmore
Road. (fn. 4)
Eight people from the parish were accused of
complicity in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685. (fn. 5)