Tilebury

Taxi

"I can almost hear Ophiuchus laughing from the stars. A nasty sibilant kind of snigger."

Tilebury Harbinger - Horoscope

"The Mark was on my arm behind the elbow. At first it seemed like just another patch of dry skin, rough to the touch and hard to see."

Markham's Disease, Horror

"Harriet Morton was a fake, through and through. She had so perfected her frauds over ninety-three years that they were now an integral part of everything she did."

In a High-End Guesthouse by the Sea, Crime

"The purple dragon had stolen a small herd of sheep yesterday and was consequently still full and occasionally burping up wool-balls."

Gwenda and the Purple Dragon, Fables

"Unhesitatingly I would hand it over. Restitutio in Integrum the lawyers might say."

I found a Book, Crime

"As long as you have set your ambition as being "I don't want to be laughed at" you will be okay."

Tilebury Harbinger - Wellbeing

"'Earn yer money first, kid. Only after - be a hippie.'"

Sage Counsel of a Solar Panel Serviceman, Crime

"The black-eyed old man leant forward and, with deliberation, offered his right hand, palm down, to the centre of the candle's flame."

The Elemental, Horror

"Those guys weren't, in any way, sensible and, with them, what 'must have happened,' never actually did. Basically, it wasn't ever like you think it should have been, if you hear about it after."

The Flowering, Horror
A busy Road

Tilebury Village

Some Village Background

Welcome to the Rural English westcountry.

Tilebury Village lies in Wessex some thirty miles from Taunton and twenty five from Casterbridge. Although once an important regional town which returned an MP to Westminster until the 1832 Reform Act, Tilebury has diminished in importance in the last hundred years.

The old Turnpike to Gloucester used to run through the village, however, since the construction of the main A-Road, it is now on no major route. The Railway Station (shared with the hamlet of Lorscombe) is a little over two miles away down Chennan Lane.

The village itself is historic and pretty with surviving architecture from every age since the Tudor. There are plenty of tea shops, antique shops and a small museum of local history.

Tilebury Church

In addition to the Tudor church, energetically restored in the early 1800s, there is an imposing tithe barn, the site of an old wooden church dating from late saxon times and a village green in which the original ducking stool or 'scolds chair' can still be seen. Visitors should not miss the opportuntity to visit the studio of award winning local artist Heather Reedman whose scultures can be seen on public display throughout the village.

A few miles to the north east is Tilebury House, built in 1804 for the eighth Earl of Chennan and containing an impressive array of contemporary and modern furniture and artwork of the highest standards. Tilebury House can be reached by road or a bracing two mile ramble through beautiful countryside.

Accommodation, food and drinks are available at the New Inn at the Lorscombe end of the village (built in 1656 during Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth by local innkeeper Henry Cutbeard to replace the old Staging Inn). For those who prefer live music and a more lively atmosphere, the Ship Inn adjacent to the cobbled Marketsquare has regular bands and quiz nights.

Original stone carvings from Tilebury's most famous son, William Jenns, can be seen at the Church and the New Inn. The original mason's yard is, unfortunately, no longer in existence.

Events in the village are described and recorded in the free newsletter the Tilebury Harbinger, which can be read online.

It is only possible to reach Tilebury in writing: Email us here