Serving God in the heart of our community since 1881

St Andrew's Church, Taunton

Rowbarton 1904

The picture above is reproduced here by kind permission of Mike and Jenny Lattimer.  It was painted by Harry Frier, who did much of his work in Somerset between 1890 and 1918.  He made sketches of places in the county & then redrew them to order for clients.  The picture above is noted '1909, drawn 1904'

Mike Lattimer writes "my mother was a Spiller and our family home was called Rowbarton.  The family were from Trull and arrived in Soho about 1850's, where they set up as picture framers & did very well.  Somewhere in their travels they must have stopped off in Rowbarton - as we have two copies of the drawing in the family. It is said that our family lived in one of the cottages on the left and were shirt makers, although I have no evidence of this.  I visited the area in 1994; I don't think that you would stand in the road for long these days!"

The picture is fascinating because it shows the area now known to locals as "the high path".  Rowbarton has moved with the times - the yellow building on the corner is now a computer shop!

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