Supper at the Podymore Inn gave the opportunity to read a reproduction of a 1791 history of the parish.
PUDDIMORE-MILTON
is a parish situated in a flat marshy country (whence the name) on the east side of the Fosse-road, two miles north from Ivelchester, and three east from Somerton.
In A.D. 963 King Edgar gave the manor of Mideltone, in which were contained two hides, to the church of Glastonbury, whereof Egelward was then abbot.
” The church itself holds MIDELTONE. In the time of King Edward it gelded for six hides. The arable is six carucates. Thereof are in demesne four hides and seven acres, and there are two carucates, and eight villanes, and six cottagers, with four ploughs. There are fifty acres of meadow, and one hundred acres of pasture. It was and is worth six pounds.
In 1293 the abbot’s estate in Middleton was rated at 14l 12s. The manor continued in the monastery till its suppression, when King Henry VIII; by his letters patent bearing date the 36th year of his reign, granted to John Make, as a gratuity for his faithful services, all the manor of Myddelton, otherwise called Milton-Pidymore, other-wise Podymore-Milton with all its rights and members, together with the advowson and the right of patronage of the church of Myddelton, parcel of the late monastery of Glaston.
10 Eliz. the said manor was in the possession of John Horner, of Cloford, esq; and still remains in that family; Thomas Horner, of Meils-Park, esq; being the present owner. According to the certificate returned soon after the dissolution, the rents of assise and copyholders belonging to this manor, with the works and customs due to the same, were of the yearly value of 171. 1s.d 10d. the demesnes 61. 6s. 10d and perquisites of courts and fines 4l. 0s. 9d
The benefice was appropriated to Glastonbury abbey, and in the year 1292 valued at twelve marks three shillings and fourpence; the abbot of Glastonbury having a pension out of it of ten shillings. It is a rectory in the deanery of Ivelchester; the lord of the manor is the patron, and the Rev. Thomas Pearson the present incumbent.
The church is dedicated to St. Peter, and is a small building of one pace, having an octangular tower at the west end containing three bells. William Kemp, rector of this parish, was a great sufferer in the rebellion of the last century, being with eleven children driven from his house into the streets, and all his property plundered by the soldiers. He lived till the Restoration, was made a prebcndary of Bristol and died in 1664,
