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Bradford-on-Tone

The Weir at Bradford-on-Tone

The Weir at Bradford-on-Tone

In June 2017 Jonathan Gooderham set out for Somerset to locate Geoffrey Gorer’s cottage and the weir on the River Tone, depicted in Hodgkins painting River Tone, Somerset c. 1939, pictured above.

Armed with an old listing for the sale of The Croft and a post code Jonathan drove into the small village of Bradford-on-Tone and parked outside St Giles Church. He set off on foot for the small stone bridge that crossed the River Tone. Having walked the riverbank for half a mile to the west, he realised that he was walking in the wrong direction. He retraced his steps, walking next to a beautiful field of golden wheat, listening to the ambling tone of the river which gradually increased in volume. The volume intensified and around the next bend in the river Jonathan spotted the water cascading down a weir (a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level).