Wyches

There are  references to an holding called Wyches, or Wiches, in the 18th  churchwarden accounts and poor book  which is proving difficult to identify. The extract from the 1794 map shows the best estimate based on current knowledge. Rouse Corner is the distinctive right-angled bend in the road and Bathway is in the top right hand corner and Nedge cross roads in in the bottom left hand corner. All of the buildings marked with yellow are no longer standing. Nobels and Coombs are proving to be equally elusive. The map may show the site of the Clark Farm or a number of other properties.

Willelmo and Robert Wychesmere were listed in the 1327 lay subsidy lists for Emborough but the earliest record of a the Wych family connected to Chewton Mendip was in 1693 when Ben Wych was a witness of a mortgage on two-thirds of Chewton manor signed by Elizabeth Taswell of Baldwin Gardens, London.

The Taswells were linked to the Kingsmills by marriage and the patronage of the vicars of Chewton Mendip so Ben Wych may have been resident in London or Chewon Mendip.

Most of the 18th century records put Wyches in the West End and that it belonged to the Waldegrave family.  A John Wich or Wych was paying rates for a property in West End from 1699 when the records began up to 1730 when it is assumed he died. The Earl Waldegrave is then listed as the rate payer and then a number of other people were listed as paying rates for part of Whyches.

Bendles Grove, the  buildings near Sperrings Lane or  Kingswell  could all be possibilities for Wyches in West End but some records suggest it was in  in East End or Middlesex.

Sometimes it was grouped with White Pitts which appears to have been in the area covered by the map. The field marked House is another clue. This has been identified as the site of what is now called Bathway Farm and may explain why families like Hippisley , Palmer and Scutt were listed as rate payers for Whyches in the 18th century.

The 1840 tithe map describes one of the fileds next to Rouse Corner as The Gore. This term just means a unusualy shaped field so it may have no great significance but it may identify where that 18th century property was based. There is no mention of Wyches or Wiches in that map or the associated list of tithe payers.