Mythical Creatures Take Over Wells Cathedral
Issue #13 | Monday 6 July 2026
Good morning, Mendips! Dragons and griffins are on the loose — Wells Cathedral's Mythical Creatures Trail opens today and runs all summer long. There's a scorcher of a week ahead too, with a heat-health alert in force as temperatures push past 30C, and by Friday WOWFest's big weekend, Priddy Folk Festival and Somerstock all kick off at once.
Paul
📸 Featured Event — Mythical Creatures Trail at Wells Cathedral
📅 What's On This Week — across the Mendips
🎬 This Week at Wells Film Centre
🏭 Dulcote papermill ruins could get modern upgrade
🏆 Glastonbury Town Deal projects scoop top planning awards
♻️ Weekend catch-up gets Mendip bins back on track
🔐 Police urge fuel security as rural thefts rise
☀️ Heat-health alert as another heatwave builds
🌡️ Weather — Wells BA5 forecast
📸 Featured Event: Mythical Creatures Trail at Wells Cathedral
Mythical creatures have escaped from the books of Wells Cathedral's medieval library — and they need your help rounding them up. The Cathedral's new family trail opens today (Monday 6 July) and runs daily from 9am to 4.30pm right through to 1 September.
Follow the playful, interactive trail through one of England's most breathtaking medieval buildings and you'll find dragons flying, griffins roaming and legendary beasts hiding in plain sight — each brought to life from centuries-old stories in the Cathedral's own collection. It's included with standard admission, and valid admission passes get you straight in.
With the school holidays nearly here and a hot, sunny week on the way, the Cathedral's cool stone interior might just be the smartest family outing on the Mendips. And if you're in the building on Saturday evening, stick around — WOWFest fills the Cathedral with a full symphony orchestra for Carmina Burana.
All week (6–10 Jul)
WOWFest: Wells Orchestral Weekend — venues across Wells. Free Fringe concerts from visiting youth orchestras continue all week, building to the main festival weekend (10–13 Jul). wellsyouthmusicfest.co.uk
Frome Festival 2026 — venues across Frome, until Sun 12 Jul. The 25th-anniversary festival rolls on with 300+ events of music, art, food and talks. fromefestival.co.uk
Hilliard Society Miniaturists Exhibition — Wells Town Hall, daily until Sat 11 Jul. Tiny masterpieces in pencil, watercolour and oil from artists across the UK and beyond; free entry. wellstownhall.co.uk
Harry Brockway: Ways With Wood — Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury. Wood engravings and sculpture from the Glastonbury artist, Tue–Sun 10am–5pm until 2 Sep (normal museum admission). More info
Wookey Uncovered — Wookey Hole Caves. Small-group heritage tours finishing with cave-aged cheddar and Somerset cider, running all summer. wookey.co.uk
Monday 6 Jul
Mythical Creatures Trail opens — 9am–4.30pm daily, Wells Cathedral. Today's Featured Event — see above for the full story. More info
RAFA Mid-Somerset Branch Meeting — 11am, Wells Golf Club, Blackheath Lane. Dave Willmott speaks on the 'Epic Delivery Flight of an HS 748'; visitors welcome.
Sustainable Street & Surrounds Monthly Meet-up — 6–7pm, back room at Fondo Lounge, Street. Free monthly get-together for anyone interested in local sustainability. More info
Tuesday 7 Jul
Sir Tony Robinson: The Bob Morris Lecture — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. The Time Team and Blackadder star delivers Frome Festival's 25th-anniversary lecture on a life in history and archaeology television. £28. Booking
An Evening with Chamtrul Rinpoche — Glastonbury. A teaching evening with the Tibetan Buddhist master. More info
Wednesday 8 Jul
Heathen Apostles — 7pm, The Tree House at the Cheese & Grain, Frome. Gothic Americana from the Los Angeles band. More info
Thursday 9 Jul
WOWFest Fringe: Haydn Youth String Orchestra — 7pm, St Mary Magdalene Church, Wookey Hole. Free fringe concert from the visiting youth strings. More info
Secret Supper Club — 7.30pm, The Bishop's Palace, Wells. Three seasonal courses for £40 behind the medieval drawbridge — a password gets you in, booking essential. Booking
Aida on Sydney Harbour — Strode Theatre, Street. Verdi's epic in the spectacular Handa Opera screening. Booking
Walk & Wine Thursday — 6–7pm, Wells. The Somerset Girl Collective's sociable evening stroll with a glass at the end. More info
Friday 10 Jul
Priddy Folk Festival — Fri 10–Sun 12 Jul, Priddy village green. Dervish, Melrose Quartet and Dallahan top seven stages at the Mendips' own volunteer-run folk weekend; free and ticketed events. priddyfolk.org
WOWFest main weekend opens — Opening Ceremony 3pm, Cedars Hall, Wells. Hundreds of young musicians from the USA, Brazil, the Netherlands, the UK and Ireland launch the festival's headline weekend. More info
Somerstock — Fri 10–Sat 11 Jul, Somerton Sports and Recreation Ground. Family-friendly festival with The Beatles Dub Club, Rusty Shackle and Pet Needs; gates 4pm Friday, under-12s free. somerstock.co.uk
Avalon Wellness Community Meetup — Glastonbury. Monthly wellbeing get-together for the Avalon community. More info
🗓️ Coming Up
Carmina Burana at Wells Cathedral — Sat 11 Jul. WOWFest's showpiece: full symphony orchestra and massed voices in the Cathedral, tickets £0–£15. wellsyouthmusicfest.co.uk
SWTA: ELEVATE — Strode Theatre, Street, Sat 11–Sun 12 Jul. South West Theatre Arts' whole-school dance showcase. Booking
Giant Flea Market — Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet, Sun 12 Jul. Over 250 stalls of retro furniture, vintage clothing, crafts and collectables. More info
Queen by Candlelight — Wells Cathedral, Thu 16 Jul, 7.30pm. Queen's greatest hits performed by candlelight. More info
The Godney Gathering — Godney, Fri 17–Sat 18 Jul. Somerset's home-grown music festival returns. Tickets
🎬 This Week at Wells Film Centre
Minions & Monsters [U]
Toy Story 5 [PG]
Supergirl [12A]
The Sheep Detectives [PG]
Glastonbury The Movie: The 30th Anniversary Cut [12A] — current listings run to Thursday 9 July; kids' tickets are £4.38 all summer
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6 July 1685 - The Battle of Sedgemoor
The week of 6–13 July is dominated by one of the most dramatic episodes in Somerset's history — the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685 — whose climax, chaos, and consequences swept directly through Wells, Shepton Mallet, Glastonbury, and the Mendip villages. Here's what happened in and around our patch across the centuries.
The Battle of Sedgemoor, fought in the early hours of 6 July 1685, was the last pitched battle fought on English soil. The climax of the Duke of Monmouth's Protestant rebellion against the Catholic King James II. Monmouth's ill-equipped army of Somerset farm workers and artisans was routed by trained royal troops led by Lord Feversham and the future Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill.
Crucially, just days before the battle, Monmouth's rebels had marched through Wells on 1 July, stripping lead from the roof of Wells Cathedral to cast as bullets, smashing its windows, and vandalising the nave and organ.
8 July 1685 — Monmouth Captured
Two days after his crushing defeat, the Duke of Monmouth was discovered hiding in a ditch near Ringwood, exhausted and disguised as a peasant. He had fled the Sedgemoor battlefield carrying almost nothing — reportedly just a handful of raw peas in his pocket. He was taken to London, begged his uncle King James II for mercy, and was beheaded on Tower Hill on 15 July 1685 by the notoriously botched strokes of executioner Jack Ketch.
Late Summer 1685 — The Bloody Assizes Come to Wells
In the weeks following Sedgemoor, Judge Jeffreys toured the West Country holding the infamous Bloody Assizes. When the trials reached Wells, Jeffreys condemned 94 people to death in the Market Place for supporting Monmouth's rebellion. Over 1,400 prisoners were tried in total across the region, with hundreds executed, many hanged, drawn and quartered in local towns as a brutal warning — making this the most savage judicial aftermath in English history.
In Other News . . .
🏭 Dulcote papermill ruins could get modern upgrade
Paper making - the old way
The ruins of Dulcote's old papermill could get a new lease of life. Plans lodged with Somerset Council would preserve the historic structure behind Grade II-listed Old Mill House and slot in a plant and pool shower room — complete with green roof and air source heat pumps. Paper was made in the village from the late 1600s; comments are open on the plans until 20 July.
♻️ Weekend catch-up gets Mendip bins back on track
Around 30,000 households — including in Glastonbury and Shepton Mallet — missed Friday's recycling collection after staffing problems at council contractor SUEZ. Crews worked through the weekend to catch up, and with hot weather forecast, collections start at 6am this week. The council's advice: put your bins and boxes out the night before.
🔐 Police urge fuel security as rural thefts rise
Neighbourhood teams covering Wells and Shepton are warning that rising fuel prices have made heating oil, diesel and petrol a target for thieves on farms, homes and businesses across the Mendips. Officers recommend simple steps — tank locks, better lighting, CCTV and regular checks — and ask residents to report suspicious activity on 101, or 999 if a crime is in progress.
☀️ Heat-health alert as another heatwave builds
The UK Health Security Agency has issued a yellow heat-health alert for Somerset, running until 8pm on Saturday, with temperatures forecast above 26C every day this week. It won't match late June's record 36.7C, but the Mendips could nudge past 30C by Thursday and Friday. Check in on older neighbours, and keep the water bottle handy.
🌡️ Wells BA5 Weather — Week of 6 July 2026
A dry, sunny and increasingly hot week ahead in BA5. Monday and Tuesday sit at a pleasant 25C with a light westerly breeze, before the heat really builds — 29C on Wednesday, 31C Thursday and up to 32C on Friday, with wall-to-wall sunshine into the weekend. Nights stay comfortable at 13–17C, but UV and pollen are high, so pack the sun cream if you're heading to Priddy or the Palace gardens.
Contact Mendy the Mendiplodocus
Paul Branston, Editor
Hi, I’m Paul Branston and I publish the Mendiplodocus every morning, Monday to Saturday. Each issue goes out to a growing base of thousands of local residents who want to keep up to date with events and local news. If you have events or news to share or you have a local business to promote, please get in touch.
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