Village Hall (Seagry Trail)
Sutton Benger’s Old Village Hall used to be where the car park is today. The New Village Hall was opened in 2000 after a major fund-raising effort.
The image shows the original hand drawn plan used to build the old Village Hall in 1923. Note the reference to 'Doctor Sturridge'. The doctor's surgery used to be in the Bell House, from the 1840s for about 100 years. You can still see where the entrance to the surgery used to be, in the brickwork on Bellside.
Before setting off on the walk, you might want to read the attached notes about the Parish of Seagry, and how the boundaries between Sutton Benger and Seagry have changed frequently, especially during the last 150 years.
Seagry
From the time of the Norman Conquest until the early 1900s Seagry parish was roughly triangular in shape, with the 'apex' at the bottom and a flat top bordering Somerford parish. The triangle was divided almost equally in two halves by the road from Sutton Benger to Somerford; the western half of the triangle included the village of Upper Seagry (formerly Over Seagry) and the eastern half of the triangle included Lower Seagry (formerly Nether Seagry).
The western boundary was close to the western edge of Upper Seagry, and the road to Stanton St Quintin was in Sutton Benger and Draycot Cerne parishes.
The three parishes of Draycot Cerne, Sutton Benger and Seagry became one parish, called Sutton Benger, in 1934; the parish of Seagry temporarily disappeared. However, Sutton Benger parish was split in two by the building of the M4 motorway, and all the land to the north of the motorway became the new parish of Seagry in 1971.