We locals of Periton and wider Minehead community request Somerset County Council to conduct a study and assist in supporting a National Lottery Funding Proposal and to other charities and help organise with permission a public subscription fund raising donation campaign via fund raising sites like Go Fund Me for the erecting of gabion baskets or similar solutions to reinforce the embankments in Periton Lane, Minehead and declare the embankments Local Nature Reserves to plant with indigenous trees like oaks, hazels, ellders and ash or blossom fruit trees and fragrant climbers.

It already functions as a wild life corridor and the amount of birds, squirrels and foxes have often been seen and pre cull there were badgers active in the lane which may return one day as its environment is suitable and replanted up with indigenous trees like oaks, hazels, elders and ash as due to the erosion the trees are dying because of inadequate soil around their roots. It has also even been suggested the embankment be planted up with wisteria or clematis or other fragrant plants and fruit and blossom trees as the surrounding land were orchards definitely for five hundred years, Peri of Periton is pear cider and may have been orchards possibly one or even two thousand years which considering the existing beauty I agree would be a spectacular tourist attraction equivalent to the famous Kawachi Fujien Wisteria Garden wisteria arch tunnel in Japan. It is also of concern that the top road of Periton Lane will eventually collapse completely as soil settles at forty-five degrees and large sections of the embankments are nine meters deep and nine meters from the edge is well past the footpath and into the gardens.

Unfortunately the Great Oak in Periton Lane that Somerset County Arboreal Officer David Galley kindly listed with a Tree Protection Order on the 2nd April 2024 came crashing down in Storm Darragh on 7th December 2024. Neighbours of the tree told me they heard it cracking and crashing down at about 3am. Unfortunately I was not able to speak to the tree surgeons to get a slice of the trunk for aging. However I measured it in April 2024 and it’s circumference was 13ft 10in (4.24m) and therefore based on growing 1.5cm a year was 282 years old so germinating approximately in 1741. It was a great loss and proves that the embankments need reinforcing and the trees and hedges require supervision and maintenance or more of the embankment trees will come down and a valuable wildlife habitat corridor lost. Three great chaps from SCC Paul Sherring, Tony and Kyle kindly repaired the eroded and quite dangerous footpath next to where the Great Oak stood and to much appreciation erected a sturdy banister rail however the embankment is still eroding in heavy rain and this banister rail will eventually also become unstable possibly within a few years. The oak near the exit of the holloway is, based on it growing approximately 1.5cm a year and the trunk being 9ft 7 1/2 in (2.93m) in diameter. I also measured it in April 2024, therefore based on growing 1.5cm a year is 198 years old so germinating in 1828. A Tree Protection Order was granted for it 2nd April 2024. The base of the trunk is about 18 inches above the tarmac, so the acorn would have fallen to the lowest part of the ground and therefore the level of the road has dropped I believe possibly when the tarmac was laid in the 1930s or 1960s to build the houses in Periton Lane. There is discussion about raising the level of the tarmac which may be good news for this tree depending on how high Somerset County Council intent to raise it. This would also be the time to erect gabion baskets and back filled with adequate soil so foliage can be planted to benefit from the construction. There was also some distress expressed by residents of the local area about fifteen years ago when rumours circulated that SCC had intentions of filing in the holloway. There is an extraordinary coppiced oak sitting on a rock near where the Great Oak stood. It was a strong healthy tree but was leaning toward the road when it was cut. However it is recovering and is symbiont with the rock holding it up as the rock supports the tree.

It is widely believed that Periton Lane is a Registered Ancient Monument, although I agree it deserves such protection I have not been able to find such registration. I believe it is a Saxon holloway perhaps one thousand years old, because that's what Saxon holloways look like. At nine meters deep that is a lot of work for no reason, but a defensive entrance is a good reason and the Vikings raided this area for four hundred years. Although there is no fortified Saxon settlement in Periton listed in the Anglo- Saxon Chronicles. Carhampton was a Royal estate of the Saxon Kings and Dunster was occupied and fortified after Viking raids in 878AD. A bloody slaughter and feud between the Earl of Mercia and the Earl of Essex at Porlock which was burned to the ground in 1052 and Minehead and right next door Bratton is listed in the Doomsday Book. I hope you will agree with me that some thing needs to be done to save Periton Lane and I hope you will sign this petition please.