Kilmersdon

Kilmersdon is a small village on the slopes of the Mendips, near Frome. Here you can find ‘Jack and Jill Hill’, inspiration for the nursery rhyme. There are several stories about how this rhyme came into being, but the one involving Kilmersdon is concerned with a couple called Jack and Jill.

One day, so the story goes, Jack and Jill were expecting a baby. Jack went up the hill to collect some water when he was killed by a boulder dislodged from a nearby quarry, which hit him on the head.  Jill died of a broken heart shortly after giving birth to their son, who was then raised by the villagers of Kilmersdon and known as Jill's son.  The surname Gilson is apparently still common in the Kilmersdon area.

The story is now commemorated by a series of markers telling the rhyme up the hill. Outside the primary school at the top of the hill, there is a well and some plaques on the building, showing the connection between the rhyme and the village.

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down and broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling after.