Turn Hill (NT) Turnhill Road, High Ham TA10 9DF (GR ST412 316)
Turn Hill - 1.25 acres of grass and woodland, at a height of 100m, with far-reaching views across Sedgemoor to the Quantocks. The land was given to the National Trust by Dr. Hugh Hale Leigh and Beatrice Bellot in memory of their younger son, Bryson (Second Lieutenant North Somerset Yeomanry), who died of disease in the Somme region 27.03.1918.
Lt Bryson Bellot, Stembridge Mill c1917
Extract from a letter written by Dr. Hugh Hale Leigh Bellot to Rev. R. Beviss Thompson, dated 8th December 1918, and published in the Langport Herald by the request of Rev. Beviss Thompson
Dear Thompson...we chose this means of perpetuating his (Bryson's) memory because he spent so much of his childhood in Ham, and loved the spot (Turn Hill) we have secured. This spot we had always intended to buy and give to the village, in order to save a beautiful scene and secure some place for the people which they could call their own and freely enjoy. In due course an entrance will be made with pillars upon which an inscription will be placed...Hugh Hale Leigh Bellot
Imperial War Museum Turn Hill War Memorial to Lt Bryson Bellot 1893-1918
Lt Bryson Bellot - account of Bryson Bellot’s family, education at Bedales School, and his service record from the outbreak of war till his death in the Somme region, 27.03.18
Memorial inscription at the entrance to Turn Hill
Sketch of the entrance to Turn Hill by architect Philip Tilden, friend of the Bellot family c1918/19
Photos - High Ham Parish History Project
Stembridge Mill (NT) once owned by the Bellot family