Medievalvillagemay losedangercobbles

A medieval village could lose its cobbled paths because they are feared to be too dangerous for pedestrians.

The cobbles in the historic settlement of Dunster, Somerset, could be taken up due to their uneven nature and poor state of repair.

The village dates back to the Bronze and Iron Age and is regarded as one of the most perfectly preserved medieval villages in England.

It attracts thousands of visitors a year because of its 1,000-year-old castle and quaint features including the medieval cobbled streets.

People have been tripping over the cobbles on the High Street, with injuries varying from a broken arm, a cut forehead and sprained ankles, which ironically is also the reason no one will make repairs.

Local business owners are worried about facing litigation if they repair the cobbles themselves and now a local group is thinking of removing them and laying down a smooth pavement instead.

The Dunster Working Group, which includes representatives from Somerset County Council, the local parish council, National Trust and the Exmoor National Park Authority, say they are looking at different ways of making the cobbles safe.

Chairman Paul Toogood said: “The trouble is nobody is responsible for the pavements, they don’t belong to anyone. In an ideal world we would like to lift the cobbles and lay them again, but we have to think about litigation, if someone falls over we could be sued.

“The cobbles on the one side of the street are dangerous, extremely dangerous. They have six to seven inch holes in and we’ve had to call the ambulance five times for people that have fallen over this year alone.”

The village of Dunster had been part of the Luttrell family estate until 1951 when it was sold. After the sale, Somerset County Council highways department took responsibility for the roads but not the pavements.

Mr Toogood said he remembered from when he was young people looking after the pavements directly in front of their homes, but said they were now too worried they could be sued, leaving the area as a “no-man’s land”.

“Once the smooth pavement is laid we’d like to hand it over to the highways department as we need to get someone to own the pavement, someone to maintain it, but the department will only consider taking responsibility if the smooth pavement is laid,” he said.

Mr Toogood, who owns the Luttrell Arms, a historic coaching inn, said he did not think the pavement would affect the character of the village, saying he doubted people would even notice.

“We’d lay a smooth pavement, in natural stone, down the middle of the pavement and keep the cobbles for about a foot either side,” he said.

“This is the most important medieval village in the country, it’s maintained all its character and is absolutely unique.”

The Dunster Working Group has held three public meetings to get feedback from residents and Mr Toogood said most were in favour of laying the pavement, but this was all subject to finding 60,000 to 70,000 of funding.