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Secret Somerset Episodes

  1.

    The WW2 hero who didn鈥檛 carry a weapon

    Arturo Fanconi from Ilminster was posthumously awarded the Albert Medal for saving lives.

  2. The witchcraft trial of Julian Cox

    Julian Cox was the last person to be executed in Taunton for witchcraft in 1663.

  3. The Witch of Wookey Hole

    Exploring the caves and the legend of the witch of Wookey Hole.

  4. The Taunton flat unchanged since the 1960s

    The flat holds more than 50 years of family history.

  5. The Somerset bank with its own banknotes

    It鈥檚 said Stuckey鈥檚 banknotes had a circulation second only to the Bank of England.

  6. The Pauper Lunatic Asylum Cemetery

    The cemetery is the final resting place for inmates and staff from the asylum.

  7. The lost village of Clicket

    The Exmoor village was abandoned more than a hundred years ago.

  8. The lepers鈥� hamlet

    Culbone now consists of two houses and the tiny church of St Beuno.

  9. The hidden past of Exmoor鈥檚 WW2 training site

    A radar station and archaeological remains can be found on the North Hill site.

  10. The hauntings and history of Syndenham House

    The grade II listed building is over 500 years old and is full of haunted tales.

  11. The Gurt Worm

    The legend of the Gurt Worm on the Quantocks.

  12. The gothic mansion that became a TB Sanatorium

    Quantock Lodge was built in the 1800s for the-then MP of Taunton, Henry Labouchere.

  13. The Exmoor White Horse Inn

    The story and history of a 16th Century Inn owned by a couple for the past 35 years.

  14. The Exmoor pub with famous connections

    A president, a spy and a tragic ghost 鈥� the history of The Royal Oak in Withypool.

  15. The darker side of the Mendip hills

    A new digital trail tells the dark stories of Cheddar and the Mendips.

  16. The D-Day air support

    Discover the role the South West鈥檚 airfields played in D-Day.

  17. The coal miner who ended up in a lunatic asylum

    Mark Whitcomb and the Furman sisters are remembered at the Mendip Hospital Cemetery.

  18. The chained library with books older than America

    The Wells Cathedral library securely holds books, published before the 1800s, in chains.

  19. The burning city on the Mendips

    Lights and fires were used to trick German bombers into thinking they鈥檇 reached Bristol.

  20. The bootmaker whose inventions changed lives

    Chard's James Gillingham found his calling after a local man was injured in an accident.

  21. The Bakery that disappeared from the A303

    The Bakery in West Camel no longer sits on the A303 due to the new road layout.

  22. Taunton鈥檚 Tudor Tavern

    The town's oldest listed domestic building is now a caf茅.

  23. Old Mother Leakey: the ghost of Minehead

    A ghost, a bishop and mysterious shipwrecks around Minehead harbour.

  24. In the cockpit of Concorde

    The story of Yeovilton鈥檚 Concorde at the Fleet Air Arm Museum.

  25. How Cheddar inspired Tolkien鈥檚 Lord of the Rings

    The author first visited the picturesque area of Somerset on his honeymoon in 1916.

  26. Glastonbury鈥檚 550 year old pub

    The George and Pilgrims Inn claims to be the oldest purpose-built pub in the South West

  27. From Exmoor to Australia: The oldest ringing church bell

    How a 16th century bell that chimed in Upton ended up in an rainforest wedding chapel.

  28. Dead Woman鈥檚 Ditch

    The chilling story of where a woman's body was discovered in 1789.