In the lovely village gardens near the wonderful Tithe Barn, Dovecote and the Parish and Priory Church of St George in the village of Dunster in Somerset are a number of memorial benches. This one caught my eye as I can’t resist a bench that refers to someone’s working life. Jim Neville was the station master for three consecutive stations now on the West Somerset Railway that opened as a heritage railway in 1976. The three stations are between Minehead and Watchet.
Jim Neville 1907 – 1982 Station Master At Dunster Blue Anchor & Washford
I couldn’t resist photographing the bench which has the the letters GWR in the legs. This represents Great Western Railway, formed in 1876. The West Somerset Railway line was part of the GWR network until nationalisation in 1948 and the line was closed in the 1960s. Unfortunately, Jim Neville died before obituaries were made available on the internet and I couldn’t find out more about the man that ensured the trains ran on time along the North Somerset coast.
The Village Gardens in Dunster
Memorial benches & the stories of the people they commemorate 