WOMEN have been allowed to join an historic village organisation near Wellington for the first time in nearly 750 years.

It comes after the ‘jurymen’, or members, of Milverton Court Leet voted to change its constitution to remove any reference to gender.

Now, the court leet’s portreeve Tim Bidlake-Corser has sworn in the Vicar of Milverton, the Rev Helene Stainer, as its first woman member.

The earliest records of a court leet in Milverton date to 1276, during the reign of Edward I, and handwritten minutes of meetings going back to 1857 are held in the Somerset Heritage Centre, in Norton Fitzwarren.

A roll of everybody who has served as portreeve of Milverton Court Leet since 1857 is on display on a wall of the village’s Victoria Rooms.

Ms Stainer said she was delighted to have become the first woman member, particularly as her great-grandfather Albert Travers had been a portreeve in Milverton in the early 1900s and was listed on the roll in the Victoria Rooms.

She said: “To be able to follow a family tradition is wonderful, and for the court leet to decide it is time to allow women to join makes that possible.

“I was very pleased, and very honoured.”

Today, court leets are purely ceremonial, but they were originally manorial courts dispensing local justice and carrying out administrative duties.

Milverton’s court leet meets twice a year in March and September and is a court of record with every minute starting by recording the meeting as the ‘court leet and view of frankpledge of our sovereign’, where to be ‘frank’ means to be ‘free’.

It comprises up to 24 members, including a portreeve, who is the leader of the jury presiding over the court in session, a bailiff responsible for summoning the court and the guardian of any monies, an ale taster, water tester, and town crier.

Other members are either jurymen or free suitors, who are jurymen who have gone through office.

The court leet members agreed an amendment to their constitution, which had remained unchanged for centuries and stated membership was for ‘men from within the Milverton Hundred’ who had been resident for at least 10 years.

Now, the constitution reads ‘the court consists of 24 people resident within the Milverton Hundred’.

Vacancies are filled by members voting on a list of possible candidates who have contributed to the ‘benefit of the hundred’ and the community’s health and wellbeing.

Milverton Court Leet no longer has any legal responsibilities and its meetings are essentially social gatherings, but members maintain some ancient traditions and continue to ‘take representations relating to matters of local concern’.

One recent initiative was the establishment of a village benevolent fund created by the late Chris Mann when he was portreeve, where members donate £10 per meeting to support projects which can benefit the village.

In 2022, they arranged the planting of seven oak trees in the village recreation ground to commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, with each tree representing a decade of her reign.