Street

The Town

 Located in what our property buying agent can tell you is a relatively dry location for Somerset, Street is located at the end of the Polden Hills. Just north of Street lies the River Brue, which our Recoco property finder can tell you marks the boundary with Glastonbury. Our real estate buyers agent can outline the location’s long association with the Clarks family, mainly known for shoes.

Transport

If you’re wondering how transport links might affect your property search, our real estate buyers agent will probably mention the A39 road from Bath to Cornwall, and the A361, both of which run through Street. There is no railway station; our property buying agent can tell you Castle Cary or Bridgwater are closest, nine miles away. Several bus services run to Street, including the 376 to Bristol, travelling via Wells - check with our Recoco property finder. Or ask our property search company about the daily Berrys Coaches ‘Superfast’ service to and from London.

History

  Around two miles west of Street lies Sharpham Park, which has been dated as Bronze Age. Ask our independent buying agents about the evidence of Roman occupation, including villas near Ivythorn and Marshalls Elm and a Roman road. While the earliest known name of the settlement is Lantokay, our real estate buyers agent can tell you the name “Street” was first noted around 725.

 As your buyers agents can explain, the village was historically dominated by Glastonbury Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In the mid-1600s, the Society of Friends established itself in Street; Clarks were originally a Quaker company, and our property search company can explain  most of the profits were put back into housing, education, and employee welfare. Our Recoco buying agent can confirm some of Street’s wealth also came from local quarries, where blue lias stone was worked from the early 1100s to the late 1800s. 

If listed buildings interest you as a property buyer, just ask your Recoco buying agent - examples include the Grade I 14th century Anglican Parish Church of the Holy Trinity. As our property search company can confirm, Clarks no longer manufacture shoes in Street, and in 1993, former factory buildings were converted for the first purpose-built factory outlet in the UK, Clarks Village.

Education

Buyers agents can show you Millfield School, at the edge of the village; our property buying agent can tell you it’s located in the former Clarks family home.  Our independent buying agents can also show you Crispin School, on the Strode College site. Primary and junior schools include Hindhayes, Elmhurst, Brookside, and Avalon. Crispin School was the first Beacon School in Somerset; now a Technology College, its second specialism is as a Language College.

Leisure and Events

 Your Recoco property finder can give you the lowdown on sporting opportunities, including the non-league football club. For a property buyer keen on fitness, our boutique buying agents can point out the two public swimming pools, one in the Strode complex and an outdoor pool open from early May to September.

Strode Theatre is linked to the college complex and Crispin School and our buyers agents can tell you it’s the designated location for live performances, films, and exhibitions.

If you’d like to take a breather from your property search in a green space, ask your boutique buying agents about conservation project Brue Valley Living Landscape, managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. There are numerous wildlife reserves, as our independent buying agents can tell you -  they include the Walton and Ivythorn Hills biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, Street Heath, and Merriman Park.

Celebrity Connections

In the early 1940s, Henry John “Harry” Patch, the final surviving World War One “Tommy”, moved to the town, where, as our boutique buying agents can tell you, he ran a plumbing company until retiring at 65. He died in 2009. The last prime minister of the Cape Colony was also born here before emigrating to what is now South Africa in 1849 at the age of eight. Your Recoco buying agent can confirm other local figures of importance  are Henry Fielding and Edward Seymour, brother to Henry VIII’s third wife Jane.

Foodies’ Corner

 If you’re a property buyer who likes to consider eateries as a feature of your property search, there are several at Clarks Village and on the High Street including the Grape&Grain Brasserie, Italian Tamburino Village, dog-friendly Fondo Lounge, as well as several local Chinese and Indian restaurants, and some national chains.

Fun Fact

After fossils were discovered in the lias, an ichthyosaur was adopted as the town badge.