For this week's footsteps Gerry Brooke travels just beyond the Mendips to the hamlets of Rackley and Webbington.

Nestling below Crook Peak, an M5 landmark, is the tiny hamlet of Rackley - just a handful of old houses hidden away, with no road sign, down a no through road.

But this tranquil little place, now part of the nearby parish of Compton Bishop, has in its time seen much comings and goings.

Known in medieval times as Redeclive this was once part of a bold experiment by its 12th century land owner, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, to establish a new inland port.

The hamlet now sits on a shallow backwater (the Cheddar Yeo) of the main river Axe which, over many years, has been diverted away.

The River Axe, as you probably know, meets the Bristol Channel at Uphill, near Weston.

But in medieval times the river, which must then have been much deeper, was navigable at far as Hythe, near Cheddar.

At a time when transport by road was both difficult and expensive the river would have served the thriving ecclesiastic centre of Wells.

It used to be thought that Rackley's origins lay way back in Roman times when its wharves could have been used to ship away lead mined at Charterhouse in the Mendips.

But there is no real evidence for this and, as none of the Roman roads across Mendip led this way, this theory seems increasingly unlikely.

Rackley's real story starts in 1189 AD when King Richard I granted the tiny, fledgling settlement, borough and market status.

King Edward II confirmed this in 1324 AD but despite the appellation, which should, in theory, have led to great prosperity, Rackley was never a great success.

The hamlet gets another mention some fifty years later when the Dean and Chapter at Wells paid Bishop Harewell £10.00 towards the expense of making a "cut" in the river bank at Rackley - no doubt to carry off flood water.

In 1388 AD Thomas Tanner of Wells was using the wharves to export cloth and corn to Portugal and to bring back iron and salt in exchange.

Later 15th and 16th century documentation tells us that there was also a barton (farmhouse), grange and fishery here.

Although the river bordering the hamlet's few houses is today pretty shallow in Georgian and Victorian times salt, coal and slate were imported through here by barge rather than coming in by road.

In fact the rambling old sheds where the goods were stored can still be seen incorporated into other domestic buildings next to picturesque Rackley House whose gardens now stretch down to the old wharves.

The River Axe, it's said, could still be navigated here until about two hundred years ago when agricultural improvements led to changes and flood gates were installed at Bleadon.

It's hard now, visiting on a sunny, peaceful afternoon, to imagine that this place was ever busy - but it was.

From Rackley - a highway dead end - a public footpath takes you through the fields to Webbington, another hamlet dominated by Crook Peak.

The name, its said, derives from the Saxon meaning, "the weaving enclosure" - but sadly none of that goes on here today.

The hundred year old mock Tudor mansion - once known as the "Nite Spot of the West" because of its late licensing and notable cabaret acts - is now a hotel and spa.

A landmark from the nearby M5, the house was originally built by a branch of the wealthy Tiarks family who were hunting enthusiasts