lightning man". In 1836 Sir Richard Phillips described seeing a wide variety of voltaic piles at Fyne Court, totalling 2,500, of which 1,500 were in use when he visited. The house was the childhood home of The Right Hon. Susan Harris, Countess of Malmesbury, who was the daughter of John Hamilton of Fyne Court and the second wife of James Harris, 3rd Earl of Malmesbury, Foreign Secretary and Tory politician. She published a number of books and articles in her lifetime including 'Village Life in England' in which she recorded some reminiscences of life in Broomfield. She later married Major General Sir John Charles Ardagh who is buried in Church of St Mary & All Saints, Broomfield churchyard and wrote an account of his life. The house burnt down in 1894. However the detached music room in which Crosse conducted his experiments survived, along with some of the books and oil paintings by Anthony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens. The laboratory table on which Crosse carried out experiments stands in the aisle of the Church of St. Mary and All Saints in Broomfield and an obelisk in his memory is in the churchyard. In 1918 several hundred acres of the woodland within the park was sold at an auction in Taunton. Fyne Court was left to the National Trust by John Adams in 1967, and passed in to the Trust's ownership in 1972 once legal issues were resolved. It was also used as the headquarters of the Somerset Wildlife Trust. The Quantock Hills AONB Service have their headquarters in the grounds. Grounds Fyne Court is surrounded by a estate. Much of the landscaping, including an arboretum laid out in 1780, has become overgrown and now provides varied habitats including broadleaved woodland, ponds and meadows grazed by highland cattle. The site is home to over 100 species of fungi and some rare invertebrates. In the grounds is a folly with two wide crenelated towers, and a boathouse. See also List of National Trust properties in Somerset References External links Fyne Court information at the National Trust National Trust properties in Somerset Nature reserves in Somerset Historic sites in England