Et in Arcadia ego
THE fertile Vale of Taunton Deane, bounded by west Somerset’s three hill ranges—the Brendons in the west, Quantocks in the east and Blackdowns in the south—is an area of rich soil and plentiful water, described in 1609 by cartographer and antiquary John Norden as ‘the great paradise of England’. According to the Victoria County History, the manor of Taunton Deane provided ‘a princely income’ for its powerful manorial landowners, among them the bishops of Winchester, who owned it from the 10th century and built the great castle at Taunton.
The parish of Fivehead, nine miles east of Taunton, lies on a ridge of reclaimed land that stretches from the small town of Langport to the Blackdown Hills, and overlooks Sedgemoor, part of
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