Sharp-eyed residents will have noticed a bench at lower Writhlington, which has lately been renovated and restored – but look closer, and you will find that this is not just any seat.

The original bench was donated to the village in 1985 by the previous Norton Radstock Urban District Council, to be placed next to the 200th Anniversary Celebration stone (pictured behind), which stands at what would have been the entrance to the Manor House, Writhlington. A commemorative lime tree was also planted there, and still stands today. The lime was chosen as the drive to the Manor House would have been lined with these trees.

One of the many occupants of the now demolished Manor House was the Hon. George Fairfax and his wife, Sally Cary, in 1785. The couple were lifelong friends of American President, George Washington.

George and Sally are buried at Writhlington, and when the church closed, their marble memorial plaque was removed from inside the church and given to the American Museum in Claverton, Bath, to be installed in a special enclave in the new George Washington Mount Vernon Garden. With the 200th commemoration in 1985, lasting local links were made with America and saw local historian, Dennis Chedgy, invited to visit Virginia.

Whilst it passed through different families, eventually the Manor House fell in to disrepair, and once demolished, the stone was thought to have been used in the 1940s in the Combe Down area.

Back to the present, and the celebration bench has been carefully restored by locals, Ron Howell and Paddy Padfield for the Writhlington Village Hall Committee, with £500 donated by Radstock Town Council.

Radstock Town Councillor for the Writhlington ward, Nick Toogood, said: “Celebrating our village’s heritage is really important and is something I am keen that we do more of.”