The Swanton's orchard in Bruton, 1651 is story not just of a place and people in times past but also that of an historian's search for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Dr Webb's expertise in analysing the evidence has revealed the obscure history of Mr Swanton, the document he left behind, and the precise location of the property it describes. Once found, the evidence on the ground is in obvious accord with its author's mid-seventeenth-century sketch map. This is the most thrilling and satisfying outcome for the archive historian: solving riddles in the examination of relics from long ago.
By modern standards Bruton is a very small town, with a resident population of less than 4000. In the seventeenth century it was a good deal smaller, its 200 or so households clustered on both sides of the river that gives it its name, especially, at the east end of its ancient High Street. This, however, is an account of developments at its west end. These were exciting times at this end of town, despite the gloom of economic slumps, threats of famine and pestilence, and the looming consequences of religious and political unrest, culminating in the outbreak of vicious civil war in the 1640s. The town's great benefactor, Hugh Sexey (c. 1540-1619), who spent his last years living there, probably at West End in a house over the road from Swanton's home, had bequeathed funds in his will that enabled the building, starting in the 1620s, of the magnificent almshouses that still stand and still bear his name: Sexey's Hospital.
Bruton in the mid-seventeenth century, like all other towns in England, had been transformed in recent decades by what has been described as a revolution in domestic architecture. This was the era of what W. G. Hoskins called 'The Great Rebuilding' in which the open hall building tradition of the past was replaced by structures with multiple storeys, enabled by the insertion of chimneys. The house in this study was a product of this revolution - either a new build or, more likely, a rebuild of an earlier structure. The mention of Mr Swanton's coalhouse indicates the fuel that burned in his hearths; I presume its source was the North Somerset coalfield beyond the Mendips. The mill at the southern end of his property on Mill Lane (then known as Wick/Wyke Lane) reflects another aspect of the industrial landscape in which it stood; Bruton, once first and foremost an ecclesiastical centre, was by the 1650s, and long had been, primarily a woollen-cloth manufacturing town. However, Swanton's apple orchard in the heart of Somerset cider country reminds us of the agricultural base on which the industrial economy relied.
The copious references cited throughout the telling of this story further reveal this work as an exemplar of historical research - it would make an ideal resource for anyone involved in teaching the principles of the discipline. In fact, it can be regarded as a primer for understanding multiple disciplines and approaches in its deft weaving together of genealogy and archaeology through the study of historical texts, maps, and standing remains. Most importantly it is anchored in a broad historical context both across and over time, and one it brightly illuminates by turning a spotlight on a hitherto unrecognised historical gem.
 
Foreword
 
Editorial
 
Acknowledgements
 
Introduction
 
Chapter One - A mystery solved through detective work
 
Chapter Two - A Somerset orchard
 
Chapter Three - The world of Francis Swanton
 
Chapter Four - The Swanton family of Somerset
 
Chapter Five - Ireland, the house and mill at West End
 
Appendix One
 
Glossary
 
Select bibliography
 
Index