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November Meeting

The AGM of the Lopen History Group will take place on Tuesday, the 17th of November in the School Room adjacent to All Saints Church at 7:30 pm. The topic of local place names with their meaning and origins will be introduced by Mrs. Joan Farris after the business of the AGM. Place-names fulfill such an essential function in our daily lives that we may take them for granted, but virtually all place-names have an older original meaning behind its modern form. These ‘linguistic fossils’ tell us a great deal about the language and culture of the past as many of these names are more than a thousand years old. Lopen(e) mentioned in 1086 in the Domesday Book may come from the Celtic word penn or ‘hill’ or Old English penn meaning ‘fold or enclosure’ with an uncertain first element possibly indicating ‘lower’.

December Meeting

The December meeting of the Lopen History Group will be on Tuesday, 15th of December at 7:30 in the Sunday School Room.

The topic for this meeting is “Old Games and Pastimes” and members and guests are encouraged to dig out any of these that may be packed away so other members can enjoy looking at how we entertained ourselves before the technological age.

Nibbles and other Christmas cheer will be provided on this festive occasion.

All members and their guests are very welcome for our final get together of 2009.

Visitors are most welcome at all meetings which are in the School Room and entry is £2.50 for members and £3.00 for visitors with coffee and cake afterwards.

(01460 240287)

PROGRAMME FOR 2009

Meetings will be held at 7:30pm in the Church Schoolroom and on occasion in the Church. The meetings are planned for the third Tuesday of the month unless otherwise advertised.

Confirmation of the proposed talk will be sent to members by email each month.

DATE	TITLE	SPEAKER
20 January	History of Public House Signs (1,2 or 3)	R. Musgrave
17 February	Oak trees and Wood B, B, B	John England
17 March	HISTORY OF SOMERSET IN FILM	Trevor Bailey
21 April	Knights Templar in Somerset	Juliet Faith Bob Williams
9 May	History of Barrington Court and Gardens	Christine Brain
16 June	Reminiscences of an Ilminster Magistrate	Mrs. Veronica Harman
21 July	Guided Walk in Somerton. TBA	? TBA John England obtaining contact.
18 August	BBQ
15 September	The Turnpike Era TBA	Alan Rosveare
20 October	Traditional Somerset Crafts in Stone	Nigel Palfrey
17 November	AGM + Local Places	Joan Farris
15 December	Christmas Dinner + Quiz or Skittles	TBA

Entrance is only £2.50 for paid up members or £3 for others which includes a raffle and coffee and cake.

Mostly the activity of the group is listening to guest speakers on a wide variety of subjects.

Those members who are interested also carry out research into local history and some of their results are:

1841 Census 1851 Census 1861 Census 1871 Census 1881 Census 1891 Census 1901 Census

An Inventory of historical Lopen documents

Lopen's War Dead

Ernest William Edmonds was born in 1893 the son of Charles & Mary of Holloway. He had a brother Albert born in 1899. Charles was a farm worker and Mary worked in a shirt factory.

Frederick Hall is thought to be the son of Frederick & Margaret born 1900. Frederick snr was a domestic gardener.

Frederick Pidgeon was the son of Robert and Ellen born 1893. Robert was a master baker and it is thought lived in The Old Bakehouse now owned by Dr. Lemon.

Archivist

Our Archivist, Nigel Potts, has many documents. Contact him on 01460 240369 or email at nigelpotts@talktalk.net

History of Lopen

The Domesday Book 1086

XIX The Lands of the Count of Mortain

Gerard holds of the Count LOPENE. Alward held it TRE and paid geld for 1 hide. There is 1 bordar with 1 serf and 10 acres of meadow.

There are 3 beasts and 3 swine and 61 sheep. It is worth 20 shillings and when the Count received it, 10 shillings.

Note: TRE = tempore Regis Edward (in the time of King Edward). 1 hide = 120 acres

The following is found in the Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs to 1516 Somerset:

(Prescriptive) nundinae, recorded 30 Oct 1201 (RLP, i, p. 2). Nicholas de Yvet was holding the fair in 1243-4 (Abb Plac, pp. 121-2). Fair was worth 40s. in 1285, 50s. in the early fourteenth century (VCH Somerset, iv, p. 168). On 18 Oct 1303, at the request of John de Meriet, son and heir of John de Meriet, K Edw I sent an order for the records of the justices in eyre at Somerton, Somerset, in 1280, at which time the fair held at Lopen by John de Meriet, the father, had been taken into the king’s hands (CCW, i, p. 193). On 24 Nov 1311, the fair was committed to the custody of Robert son of Robert son of Payn. Robert surrendered the fair to the King on 27 Oct 1320 (CCR, 1318-22, p. 270). Fair was granted during pleasure to William de Pynlande, clerk, on 25 Nov 1320 (CCR, 1330-33, p. 265). On 29 Mar 1328, it was stated that George de Meriet, lord of Meriet and Great Lopen, lately dead, had claimed that his ancestors had held a fair at Lopen from time out of mind. After the death of his grandfather John de Meriet, his father, John, was a minor and was taken into the king’s ward for eighteen years. During this time the fair was taken into the king’s hands. It was not restored to John when he reached his majority. John died soon after, leaving his son, George, a minor. George was taken into the king’s ward for sixteen years. George had now died, leaving his son John as a minor in the king’s ward. The fair was held on the Wed before Whitsunday until the morrow of Holy Trinity (Easter dep) and was worth 26s. 8d. annually. It was still in the king’s hands (CIPM, vii, no. 179). Fair was granted to Gilbert Talebot for a term of twenty years from 21 Feb 1330 (CCR, 1330–33, p. 265). In 1370, the fair was allegedly being damaged by that at White Down, Somerset (q.v.) (VCH Somerset, iv, p. 138). Fair was held by appointed keepers until at least 1629. In the fourteenth century, it was held for 7 days at Whitsun. Fair survived, in greatly reduced form, until the nineteenth century (VCH Somerset, iv, p. 168).
In 1328, it was stated that George de Meriet had also claimed that his ancestors had held a market at Lopen. However, this was found to be untrue (CIPM, vii, no. 179).

Further history pages for high speed broadband users only can be found: here and here Warning - these are very large files which will take a long time to load even on broadband.

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