Correspondents’ Replies to Queries: 677: Burton Pynsent Monument is situated on a hill three miles west of Langport, and 11 east of Taunton, on the turnpike road between these places and in the in the parish of Curry Rivel. In Morris’s Directory and Gazetteer of Somerset, 1872, appears the “Burton Pynsent is a hamlet and tything of Curry Rivel, which was given to the first Earl of Chatham when Prime Minister, by Sir William Pynsent to whose memory the Earl erected a column here.” Only a portion of the original house remains, but its situation commands extensive and magnificent views of the surrounding country.
The column is well worth a visit; it is about 120 feet high, and from the top it is said three different counties may be seen. — AGRICOLA. 677. — Burton Pynsent Monument is between two and three miles from Langport, on the Taunton Road, in the parish of Curry Rivel. It is a stone column 140 feet high, and was erected by William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, to the memory of Sir William Pynsent. For many years the property belonged to the Jennings family, and passed to Sir W. Pynsent on his marriage with Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Jennings, Esq. She died without children, and on the death of her husband in 1754, he left the estate to Pitt, to whom he was an entire stranger, “in veneration of a great character of exemplary virtue and unrivalled ability,” and also, it is said, on account of Pitt’s opposition to the cider tax.
When Earl of Chatham, Pitt occasionally resided at the large mansion on the property, of which but little now remains. Countess of Chatham made it her permanent home after the death of her husband, and died there in 1803. Subsequently, the estate passed into the Pinney family, who are still the owners. Permission to visit the monument can be obtained on application. It occupies a grand position overlooking Sedgmoor, and the views are exceedingly fine.
A visit to the spot on a fine day is not likely soon to be forgotten, especially by one who knows something of the history of the district over which the eye can roam from the vicinity of the monument: — Sedgmoor, the scene of the last battle fought on English soil; Athelney, and its famous neighbourhood, so closely associated with the name and fame of glorious King Alfred; Glastonbury, the site of the first English church, and one of the most renowned of British Abbeys etc. … LANGPORTIAN
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive
Referenced
DRO0076 Combe
DRO0077 Combe