PLANS to rebuild the Merry Harriers public house on the Blackdown Hills should include improvements to the road junction alongside the site, say parish councillors. West Buckland Parish Council also wants the ‘historical context’ of the Forches Corner site to be investigated.

Parish clerk Jill Larcombe said councillors accepted the current planning application was to replace a pub which had stood on the site for centuries until two mystery fires destroyed it in 2016.

However, they were concerned the isolated location meant most visitors would need to use a vehicle to reach it.

Ms Larcombe said the parish council therefore recommended the opportunity was taken to improve road safety at the Forches Corner junction.

She said councillors also had concerns that demolishing the former pub’s outbuildings as part of the proposals could mean the loss of the historical context of the use of the premises by Somerset militia in the late 19th century, and also the landscape context of the nearby Leigh Hill Military Camp site.

Vowles Parks Ltd, of Winscombe, which now owns the 2.5-acre Merry Harriers plot, has applied to Somerset West and Taunton Council for consent to rebuild it along similar lines to plans which were approved in 2017 but never carried through.

Road safety concerns were echoes by nearby campsite owner Jodie Purvis, who said she supported the rebuilding plans but was concerned about the road junction.

Ms Purvis said: “This is a rare opportunity to improve a dangerous junction, used for cars, agricultural vehicles, motorhomes, caravans, and horse lorries, some of which are not fast to pull out.

“We use the junction at least twice daily and it can be quite frightening at times.”

Ms Purvis said proposals to move the pub building to the centre of the site would improve visibility in one direction at the junction, but a restriction on the height of any wall or fence should be considered to maximise safety.

Clayhidon resident Graham Langford also called for road improvements and said a visibility splay was needed.

Mr Langford said: “It was never easy or even safe before with the old property close to the road, but it was just manageable.

“Since the security fencing at the site was erected it has become difficult in the extreme if not dangerous.”

Forches Corner and the former coaching inn are steeped in history with the site said to have had a public house standing on it since the 15th century.

The infamous Judge Jeffreys had many people hanged at the crossroads after the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, when the Duke of Monmouth tried and failed to overthrow James II.

The inn which stood on the site was said to be ‘haunted’, supposedly by some of the ‘rogues’ who had frequented it.

The militia camp referred to by the parish council can be identified today by the remains of a brick fireplace in a nearby field.

It marks the site of the Leigh Hill encampment, where nearly 2,000 militia men were housed in a mix of permanent buildings and about 250 tents for training and parades.

The part-time militia, appointed from local gentry or the regular Army, was kept active in the event they might be needed to protect the country from invasion.

The men were required to undergo annual training for 28 days and stayed in Leigh Hill camp for that reason.

More recently, the last landlord of the Merry Harriers, Wesley Sneijder, known as Wayne, apparently vanished following the mystery fires in 2016.

Mr Sneijder bought the pub lease in 2015 from Reg and Leslie Payne, who lived in Willand, and announced he wanted to restore the Merry Harriers to its ‘former glory’.

Mr and Mrs Payne in turn had bought the property in 2013 from Peter and Angela Gatling, of Wellington, who ran it for eight years, after becoming regular diners at the pub.

Mr Payne, who was born in Culmstock, and his wife had previously owned the Hartnoll Hotel, in Tiverton.

The landlord of the Merry Harriers during its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, Merv Procter, has recently died. You can read about his life here.