When We Were English, Part XVL

by Glenn N. Holliman

Hollymans in the Parish Church Cemetery in Clevedon, Somerset

As those of you,who have been reading the past few articles know, that on a rainy day in the late autumn of 2011, distant cousin Fred Cooper of Bristol, England, kindly gave a day to show my wife and me places where persons by the surname of Hollyman had once lived. After a visit to Abbots Leigh, he guided us into the Gordano Valley along the M-5 to the town of Clevedon, a community of over 21,000 today.

Below an arial view of Clevedon from Wikipedia (the photo is in the public domain) and its 19th Century bathing pier visible jutting into the Bristol Channel.

Various Internet history sites tell of Clevedon being listed in the 11th Century Doomsday Book, and the 12th Century Church of St. Andrew's as being possibly constructed on Saxon era foundations.  Remains of an Iron Age fort can be found on a local hill.

Below, the entrance to the Anglican Parish at Clevedon where for generations Hollymans worshipped and now lie buried.

There are few things more melancholy than an English parish cemetery.  Below arranged on a hillside overlooking the Bristol Channel is the cemetery of St. Andrew's where persons with the last name of Hollyman are resting.  The parish name is from Andrew, one of the disciples who fished, and remains the patron saint of fishermen.