Old gaol in Mells

Man-made cataract from quarry

Victorian sluice control

For January, the trees were very green, due to thick coverings of lichen and moss.

Mells is a very pretty village in Somerset with a history dating back to Henry VIII and earlier and is where the Little Jack Horner nursery rhyme started. The place revolved around the Horner family for centuries and the church has the graves of many famous people, including Siegfried Sassoon. Edwin Lutyens designed many gardens, memorials and buildings in the area. There was also, until the early 20th century thriving coal and iron mines and a quarry. From the village, we walked along the river, the Mells Stream, which was quite full and the banks muddy in places, past some interesting Victorian industrial archeology.