STOKE SUNDAY HISTORY SPOT
Investigating the Past, to Understand the Present, to Plan for the Future
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Collickshire (Or Currilode, Curlwood Green, or Curload)
Backalong (1790s or so) if you walked down Curload Hill to the turning to Hook Bridge, or if you wandered down Collickshire Lane to what is now Stanmoor Drove, you would have arrived at one of the few remaining commons in Stoke, known as Curlwood Green. Along with Woodhill Green, Meare Green and Warre Moor down at Stathe. Here, the registered commoners had rights to pasture unlimited animals - cows, pigs, geese etc, although the damp conditions meant that there was only a limited amount of summer grazing. Even then there had been encroachments on the common as people had built cottages and fenced off areas for growing vegetables, as shown in the 1787 'Lords Map' below. The oldest recognisable encroachment was the site of the present day 'Willow House', although the original building was probably built further up on the river bank.
And, if you wanted to cross the river to Turkey Farm (demolished when they widened the Tone), or the building now known as Turkey Cottage, you would have to cross the river by the footbridge pictured below, or come via Athelney Bridge, again a wooden structure at the time.
In his 1791 book, The History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset, John Collinson lists Currylode, along with Mare-Green, Woodhill-Green, Moorland, Warmoor, and Staeth, as one of the hamlets making up the parish of Stoke-Gregory. It seems that none of these names appeared in the Domesday Book, but the Abbott of Athelney had possessions in Athelney soon after the Norman Conquest. As part of the much larger manor of North Curry (which also included West Hatch) Currylode became the property of the Bishop of Wells in 1189, probably a move to raise funds to pay Richard I’s ransom). Moving forward to 1553, the demesnes and manor of Currylode were held by Thomas Reve and George Cotton, and then leased to Valentine Brown.
Three years earlier, in 1787, Wells Cathedral commissioned a map and accompanying book detailing all landowners, copyholders and leaseholders. Known as the Lords’ Map, it shows much of present day Curload as common land, known locally as Curlwood Green. The road down Curload Hill had been dug out with pick and shovel sometime in the 18th century in order to provide a gentler incline that would allow horse drawn carts to carry loads up from the moor. The road stopped where we now turn left to Hook Bridge. There was another, earlier, route from Stoke to the river. It was, and still is, called Collickshire Lane, and also stopped at the edge of the common. The cottages that had been built by encroaching on the common were collectively known as Collickshire.
In 1800, the common was 'Enclosed' and the road we now see along lower Curload to Athelney was laid. But Collickshire was still a recognised area of the parish in the 1841 Census and beyond, although in the 1861 census it was spelt Collect Shire. The origin is obscure. There was a family living in the area called Collick, but there is no definite connection (and of course we also have Collick Barn away up Woodhill). And by the 1880s the area looked much as today, as seen here on the 1st OS Map:
