The best traffic-free bike rides around Langport

Originally a Saxon cathedral, Sherborne Abbey is a golden-stoned masterpiece of Perpendicular Gothic architecture. Its claim to fame is the fan vaulting—arguably the earliest and most spectacular in England—which spreads across the ceiling like delicate stone lace. ​The Abbey has survived fires (started by a bickering abbot and townspeople in 1437), the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the test of time. Inside, you’ll find the tombs of West Saxon kings and the stunning Great West Window. It remains a living "lantern" of Dorset, glowing with honey-colored Hamstone and a quiet, ancient majesty that defines the town.

Great breakfast and coffee.

I always make time to pop in on my walks in this area as it is wonderfully calming and peaceful. I like to just sit and marvel at the talent of the architecture.

Quirky little spot and lovely garden

Be patient at busy times.

can get busy but plenty of seats inside and out lovely walk or ride along the river

The vanquishing of a royalist army in the south-west by the New Model Army further reduced the King's military capabilities and hastened his ultimate defeat. The New Model Army approached the small town of Langport from the east. It was a key bridging point where the major road from Somerton passed between two large areas of wet moorland. This was a logical place for the royalists to make a stand, or at least to try to hold up the parliamentarians in order to enable retreat, via Sedgemoor, to the port of Brridgewater. Goring sent his baggage and artillery ahead towards the port, keeping only two pieces of ordnance with the army. He then turned and marched out to the east of Langport, to face the parliamentarian army. Though he held a strong position, on high ground controlling the roads that approached the town from the east, his forces were still outnumbered and outgunned and were soon defeated. Although the royalist army was not destroyed at Langport, the defeat was to have a significant effect upon troop morale. As Goring admitted: 'the consequences of this blow is very much for there is so great terror and dejection amongst our men that I am confident at this present they could not be brought to fight against half their number’. Bridgwater fell soon after, isolating the remaining royalist garrisons in the West Country. Three alternative locations have been suggested for the battle along the Wagg Rhyne. Archaeological research by the Battlefields Trust in 2021 and 2023 indicates that the location of the battle is that registered by Historic England on either side of the B3153. The reports of these metal detecting surveys are available for download in the File Download section on the left of this webpage. Most of the landscape here is still agricultural but there has been some development, especially on the southern site, while there is continuing small scale erosion of the battlefield by small scale development right across this landscape. There is no on site interpretation or monument at the registered battlefield site, though an information board is located at Huish Episcopi on the A372. The Wagg Drove is a quiet narrow lane with verges running a little to the side of the Rhyne, giving public access across part of the battlefield. Furpits Lane, where there is some limited parking and public footpaths south east of Hamdown House and the Wagg Rhyne also enable the battlefield to be explored. The B3153 is a very busy, fast road with no verges. Although it is possible approach the point where the road crosses the Rhyne by walking along the Wagg Drove, it is not recommended to attempt to walk along the main road itself. A leaflet describing a battlefield walk at Langport can be downloaded from the panel on the left. https://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/battleview.asp?BattleFieldId=20

Chris Osborne, a well known local figure who was active in community affairs and chaired the Town Council, was instrumental in rescuing a long-disused water pump and putting it on display in the Walter Bagehot Town Garden in 2011. This is his story explaining the significance of the pump to the town. The floods in the winter of 1960 were worse than usual. The river had burst its banks and the moors were flooded. It looked as though Bow Street would be flooded again, and badly. Houses and businesses were at risk. Chris, then a young man in his 20s, was busy in his workshop at the Great Bow Yard. He had come to Langport to construct the Langport Huish sewer system, replacing the old channel of waterways and canals. He remembers the following events well. He said: “I was wearing my Wellington boots because the water came up to your shins. I was working in my workshop when a chap called Hugh Binder walked in. He said: ‘Chris, this bloody flood is getting serious.’ Everybody was concerned at the level of rising water and could see what was going to happen. “The next thing there were four or five Green Goddess fire engines at the bank and pumping water and chucking it on the moor. I said: ‘What about the pump?'” A huge G & H Gwynne of London water pump installed in the early decades of the 20th century, sat redundant by the side of the Parrett. It was called the Invincible. He said: “It was rusty and solid as anything. We got a tractor to pull it out and we stripped it down. We replaced the glands, the bearings and totally cleaned it out. It’s a remarkable piece of engineering. “We managed to get it going about 3.15am and the noise woke everybody in the town. We removed two inches of water in the first hour and just needed to keep it going. We then got to removing eight inches per hour no problem. It worked like a dream.” The pump was kept running and drained enough water to reduce the level running through the town and keep it out of the properties. Many years later, that same pump was rescued from the river bank again and put on display www.langportheritage.co.uk