The House
As the Gateway to the West Country, Somerset is a land steeped in myths and legends. Lively with agriculture, this vibrant county offers residents and explorers a thriving slice of English culture and countryside; you’ll find everything here from historic cities, towering cathedrals, and ancient castles to contemporary art, stargazing, and fine cider.
The Family ‘Buick’ – a very unusual sight in these parts. Information about this vehicle would be appreciated.
1911
Lynch House was Built
The house, called simply “Lynch” (and latterly renamed Bossington Hall in 2016), was built in 1911 by Allan Hughes, one of the last great independently minded nineteenth-century ship owners. Starting in a shipping office after he left school, the Federal Steam Navigation Company was later established by him, and he took over the New Zealand Shipping Company. Both companies engaged in the meat trade with Australia and New Zealand – their vessels dominated the trade with the Antipodes – and they were the first to introduce refrigeration into the holds of ships. The ships’ insulation can even be found lining the floors of the house! The company was taken over by P&O, of which he became a director, looking after his own ships, and he was still chairman of the New Zealand Shipping Company at the age of seventy-six!
Mr. Hughes used to rent a house at Chapel Knap, Porlock Weir, for stag hunting and would look across to an orchard lying under the woods opposite, saying, “That is the place to build a house; there is always a patch of sunlight there.” Eventually, he bought the land (about forty acres) from the Clarke family, converted an old cart shed into a cottage (later to become Gate Cottage), and the house was built by John Cooksley, a local builder, from plans drawn up by the architect C.H.B. Quennell in the Lutyens style. Quennell is perhaps best known for his many-volumed History of Everyday Things, which he wrote with his wife, Mary, and which has been a standard reference book in every school library for decades.
An old ledger titled Daily Account of Labour and Materials at Lynch Mills, running from Monday 19th September 1911 until Friday 1st August 1913, is held in the house. The materials used in building the property are listed within: endless loads of stones from Hawkcombe, slates from Treborough, millstones from Porlock, gothic latches, bricks from Alcombe (archangel red), bullnose blue bricks, Norfolk latches, stones from Lynch Combe and quarry, three hundredweight of hair for plaster, Ham Hill freestone, thumb latches, alabaster rock from Blue Anchor, Bristol tiles, Dutch tiles, millstones from Moles Farm Estate, Devon grates, old beams from Luccombe, locking latches (LCC pattern), copper runners, and ball bearings. One day’s labor account shows nineteen men at work: eight masons, five carpenters, a painter, a plumber, a thatcher, a man with a horse, two boys, and four more horses.
Entrance driveway, presumed during contruction
1923
Nursery Wing Added
A bowling green and squash court were built in the grounds, and later a tennis court was added. The old Lynch Mill, which at some point lost its top storey, was converted into stables for a dozen horses and garages, with a flat for the stud groom, while kennels were constructed halfway down the drive. In 1923, a nursery wing was added, bringing the total to twenty-eight bedrooms (including those for the servants), six bathrooms, and a dairy. During this time, hardly a family in Allerford did not have someone employed at Lynch Country House, which was now becoming close to a stately home.
The eight acres of gardens had been planned and laid out by Mr. Hughes’ wife, Googie, and six gardeners maintained them, one of whom was responsible for supplying flowers to the house daily; there were also three grooms and a chauffeur (who drove Googie out every day in a pre-war Buick) and seven indoor maids. One old lady recounts how she left school at fourteen to work at Lynch Country House, where she was treated like a daughter. Men were not employed in the house because Mr. Hughes said they were dirty, stole your silk handkerchiefs, and drank your port! Another local lady remembers visiting the house from Selworthy as a child and sitting in the big room making hassocks for the church.
The gardens were not formal, although a fine rose garden and glasshouses existed, together with a water garden and shrubbery. Benefiting from a micro-climate, the garden features palms, Canna, Crinodendron, Clerodendrum, Ginkgo biloba, and many other sub-tropical plants. In spring, the sloping orchard near the entrance and the bank on the right of the drive create a carpet of daffodils. One local person remembers picking these as a young woman and bunching them, ready to send to Covent Garden.
1934
Two more Cottages were Built
Two more cottages were built on Bossington Green. After the Great War, Mr. Hughes purchased one thousand acres of moorland on Dunkery to preserve hunting. In 1934, this land was given to the National Trust by his wife with a covenant preventing the Trust from banning hunting. At this time, Mr. Hughes and some others bought the Deer Park near Oare from Sir Edward Mountain (of Eagle Star Insurance) and formed the Badgworthy Land Company to preserve the land for hunting.
In the years following the Second World War, when rationing was in place, five acres of Allerford Meadow were ploughed to become a market garden, but the venture failed, with crops either not ready for market or ready when there was a glut, so the area was reseeded. To maintain the labor force, another field with a range of farm buildings was purchased – again from the Clarke family – where pigs, poultry, and sheep were kept. Sir Gonne Pilcher, Mr. Hughes’ son-in-law, was the first to introduce the Danish Landrace pig to the area. Lettuces, tomatoes, and chrysanthemums were also grown under glass. This continued until 1966, when Sir Gonne died.
At the center of the house is the Big Room, the family sitting room with space to entertain up to two hundred people, which at one time had two fireplaces, one with a surround of Italian marble. Wonderful oak features throughout the house, much of it old ships’ timbers. The attic is vast and wood-lined, with cedar wardrobes to house fur coats. The cellars contain water filters, sluices, and slate shelving with wine racking fit for a king. Sadly, the servants’ hall has been divided, but the fine old settle (from a ship) is now housed at Taunton School. The last family member of the four generations to live at Lynch Country House said of the house, “It is grand but not at all pretentious.” Although the house was only built as recently as 1913, its manners are perfect, and its grey stone fits in so well with the surroundings; it almost looks as if it has always been there. Superb views across Exmoor to Dunkery Beacon and in the other direction to Porlock Bay and down the Bristol Channel along the North Devon coast can be enjoyed.
1982
The House was Sold at Auction
In 1982, the house was sold at auction, and by Easter 1983, the new owners had carefully converted it into seven self-catering holiday apartments, keeping the rest of the house for themselves. The house had its own reservoir in Lynch Combe (which can still be seen), but now mains water and sewerage were installed, although water from the reservoir is still used in the rose garden. The fine leaded windows in their oak frames, the oak doors, and original cupboards were all retained.
The land surrounding Bossington Hall is part of the Holnicote Estate (pronounced ‘honey-cut’), which once belonged to the Acland Family, who gave it to the National Trust in 1940. This had the great advantage that no unsightly development has occurred locally, and the villages remain peaceful and quiet, as they have done for hundreds of years. Lynch Country House, although a relatively recent addition, thankfully enhances this special landscape.
1998
The house was Sold Again
In 1998, the house was sold again to a German family who were existing guests. They maintained the house as apartments for the next 18 years. Finally, in 2016, it was sold again to the current owner. In order to have a fresh start, and because another ‘Lynch Country House’ existed in nearby Somerton, the house was re-named “Bossington Hall.” The current owner converted the house back to a single magnificent country house, re-opening the corridors that had been lost due to the apartment conversion, installed a modern heating system, and brought the house both forwards to the new millennium and back to the grace and elegance of the Edwardian period. The Covid pandemic of 2020 has had an effect on the whole world, and Bossington Hall is no exception – so the owner decided that in 2021 a Luxury Bed and Breakfast would be the correct business model to follow.
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