Locking, Somerset - History

History

The village of Locking is small but has a long history. There is evidence of Roman settlements nearby. The name "Locking" has a Saxon derivation probably meaning "Locc's people" and it was in the Saxon period that the church and village grew. The parish was part of the Winterstoke Hundred.

John Plumley, who at the time was Lord of the Manor, had been a supporter of the Duke of Monmouth and participated in the Battle of Sedgmoor. Following the rout of Monmouth's forces, Plumley returned to Locking, and when the King's men came looking for him, he was given away by his dog whose barking alerted them to Plumley hiding in a nearby tree. The manor was subsequently acquired by Edward Colston of Bristol. In 1708 he endowed the manor to free school he established in his home city in 1708.

East of the village, close to RAF Locking is the site of Locking Castle a motte and bailey castle on Carberry Hill. It has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Read more about this topic:  Locking, Somerset

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    Don’t you realize that this is a new empire? Why, folks, there’s never been anything like this since creation. Creation, huh, that took six days, this was done in one. History made in an hour. Why it’s a miracle out of the Old Testament!
    Howard Estabrook (1884–1978)

    Throughout the history of commercial life nobody has ever quite liked the commission man. His function is too vague, his presence always seems one too many, his profit looks too easy, and even when you admit that he has a necessary function, you feel that this function is, as it were, a personification of something that in an ethical society would not need to exist. If people could deal with one another honestly, they would not need agents.
    Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)

    When the history of guilt is written, parents who refuse their children money will be right up there in the Top Ten.
    Erma Brombeck (20th century)