Rodney Stoke is a small village in Somerset, 5 miles north west of Wells- nestling in the Mendip Hills. The village was the home of, and is probably named after Sir John Rodney (b c1561, d1612). The church, dedicated to St. Leonard, was built around 1175. The interior of the church contains a screen, bearing the date 1624. It is one of the seven Thankful Villages in Somerset where all the men returned from World War I. The name Wells is due to the three famous wells dedicated to St. Andrew situated in the centre, one in the market place and two within the grounds of the Bishop's Palace and cathedral.
During the Middle Ages these Wells were thought to have curative powers. Wells is officially classed as a city because it has a cathedral. The City was originally a Roman settlement but only became an important centre under the Saxons when King Ine of Wessex founded a minster church in 704, at the urging of Saint Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne. Two hundred years later, this became the seate of the local Bishop (Althelm c.909) who crowned King Athelstan. Athelm and his nephew St. Dunstan both became Archbishops of Canterbury. By 1091, this had been removed to Bath. Causing severe arguments between the canons of Wells and the monks of Bath until finally the joint title of 'Bishop of Bath & Wells' to be elected by both houses was decided upon. Wells became a borough some time before 1160 when Bishop Robert granted its first charter. Fairs were granted to the City before 1160. During the English Civil War, Parliamentarian troops used the Cathedral to stable their horses and damaged much of the ornate sculpture by using it for firing practice. William Penn is said to have passed through Wells shortly before leaving for America, spending a night at The Crown Inn.
 | The present structure was begun under the direction of Bishop Reginald de Bohun, who died in 1191. Wells Cathedral dates primarily from the late 12th and early 13th centuries; the nave and transept are masterpieces of the Early English style of architecture. It was largely complete at the time of its dedication in 1239. The Bishop responsible for the construction was Jocelyn of Wells (Jocelinus Thoteman), a brother of Bishop Hugh II of Lincoln, and one of the Bishops at the signing of Magna Carta. Jocelin was probably a native of Wells in Somerset, though no details of his parentage have survived. In 1203, he was serving as one of the king's justiciars at Westminster, and in the same yeare he was one of the custodes of the vacant See of Lincoln. By then, he was already a canon of Wells and in 1203/04 received two benefices: Lugwardine and Urchenfeld in Herefordshire. When Savaric tried to gain possession of Glastonbury Abbey, the monks there appealed to the pope, and Savaric sent Jocelin with the precentor of Wells to force them to withdraw the appeal. |
Savaric died in 1205, and on February 3, 1205/06, Jocelin was elected bishop in his stead by the canons of Bath and the agreement of the chapter of Wells. He was consecrated at Reading on May 28, 1206. Two years later, Jocelin left England in consequence of the interdict. The king outlawed him and seized his estates, but these were restored in 1213, when John submitted to the pope. In 1215, Jocelin aided Stephen Langton to obtain the Magna Charta and his name occurs in the charter as one of the King's Counsellors.
After John's death, Jocelin and the Bishop of Winchester anointed and crowned the boy-king, Henry III. Jocelin also actively supported the efforts of Hubert de Burgh in expelling the remaining French forces from England and in regaining for the king the royal castles which had been seized by Falkes de Breaute and other unruly barons. In 1218, Jocelin acted as one of the itinerant justiciars for the Southwest England and at the same time he brought to a close the long dispute between his diocese and the Abbey of Glastonbury. In return for the surrender of his claims, he received some manors and was thenceforth known as the Bishop of Bath and Wells. He used the procedes from his new lands to fund the rebuilding of Wells Cathedral, an Early English building with a Norman choir. Jocelin built the existing nave and quire. The west front and the flower part of the three towers were also his work. His cathedral was consecrated on October 23, 1239. Jocelyn's building campaigns also included the Bishop's Palace, a choristers' school, a grammar school, hospital for travellers and a chapel. He found time and funds also to erect a manor at Wookey, near Wells. The master mason designer associated with Jocelyn was Elias of Dereham (died 1246). Jocelyn lived to see the church dedicated, but despite much lobbying of Rome, died before cathedral status was finally granted in 1245. Masons continued with the enrichment of the West front until about 1260.
By the time Henry VIII came to the throne the cathedral and all its surrounding buildings were complete and substantially as they are today. It was during the reign of his son Edward VI, that a distinctly protestant style came to the fore, not only in theological matters but in outward appearance as well. Following the dissolution of the chantries in 1547 and the consequent lack of income, medieval brasses were sold off, and a pulpit was placed in the nave for the first time. The painted stonework was covered with white limewash. The West Country Carnivals are a tradition that goes back 400 years to the Gun Powder Plot of 1605, the yeare French Huguenot refugees settle in Dublin and Waterford. They now form a major regional festival, and the largest light festival in Europe, if not the world. Some carts or floats cost in excess of £20,000 to build and are the result of thousands of man hours work throughout the yeare - creating a unique and spectacular extravaganza. The original Bridgwater celebrations originally consisted of a very large bonfire at the Cornhill built out of a large wooden boat to which around one hundred tar barrels where added together with just about anything else available which could be burned! The tradition was stopped due to lack of old wooden boats to burn and because a number of good boats thrown onto the fire and burned by over-enthusiastic revellers.