A CEREMONY dating back to Saxon times was re-enacted in Watchet last Thursday (October 28) when the town’s court leet held its annual meeting and traditional goose dinner at the Bell Inn.

First recorded in 1273, the court was for centuries responsible for Watchet’s administration and law and order.

It is now a purely ceremonial body which meets annually on the last Thursday in October to appoint the town crier and officers including pig drivers and scavengers, and carry out ale tastings in the town’s pubs.

The Covid-19 pandemic prevented the court leet meeting last year but this year it was business as usual and each juror (member) received a summons prepared by the court bailiff, Michael Champion.

Bearing the Wyndham Family coat of arms, it read: “I hereby summon and warn you to appear at the Court Leet by twelve o’clock in the forenoon precisely, to serve our sovereign lady the Queen and the lord of the said leet and herein fail not at your peril.”

At the appointed hour the bellman, town crier David Milton, declared that the court was in session and a welcome was extended to the president, Richard Wedgwood, who was representing the Wyndham Estate.

Apologies for absence were received from jurors David Ketchen and Roger Wedlake but no fines or penalties were levied for their failure to answer their summonses.

The bailiff welcomed a new juror, Naill Watson, and a silence was observed in memory of the late Malcolm Bale, a long-serving juror.

The president called on the bailiff to make the return of the precept and was presented with this document. The register of jurors was called and the foreman of the jury, Nick Tapp, was called upon to take the oath and sign the presentment, followed by fellow Jurors.

By tradition, the president read entries from a 100-year old minute book - this year from the meeting of October 27, 1921, when appointments included John Short as bellman. John Short, otherwise known as the celebrated shanty-singer Yankee Jack, now has a commemorative statue in the town.

Court leet officers appointed for the year were: bailiff and deputy portreeve, Mike Champion, deputy bailiff and recorder, Dudley Binding, ale tasters, David Ketchen and Bob Hornby, inspectors of weights and measures, Naill Watson and Paul Stevens.

Stock drivers were Jim Nicholas and Mark Bale, pig drivers, John Stone and Tony Knight, scavengers, Roger Wedlake and Ian White, foreman of the jury, Nick Tapp, bellman, David Milton, court constables, Robert Dibble and Hugh Amery.

After a report by the bellman on events in the town, jurors enjoyed a traditional court leet dinner and toasts drunk in Wyndham punch.

Guest speaker Peter Harrison spoke of his Royal Navy career as an officer and a diver in underwater bomb disposal teams around the world.

Following retirement from the Navy, he sailed a yacht several times single-handed across the Atlantic. With his wife he ran a West Somerset caravan park and was also a member of Watchet coastguard.

Jurors were told that arrangements were in hand regarding the 2022 court leet’s ale tasting in Watchet pubs – resuming an annual event which was prevented from taking place this year.