Our story · Somerset, UK
A lifelong connection to minerals and the land.
Avalon Crystals & Minerals is an independent mineral specialist based in Crewkerne, Somerset.
Welcome to Avalon
Natural specimens, personally selected.
Avalon Crystals & Minerals offers a carefully curated collection of natural crystals and fine mineral specimens for collectors, enthusiasts and interior display.
Each piece is chosen for crystal form, provenance, condition and visual presence. Clear photography, accurate measurements and honest descriptions allow every specimen to be considered on its own merits.
Somerset roots
Chapman and Gooding family roots.
My family is rooted in Somerset. Generations of Chapmans lived and worked on the land around Ilminster and Winterhay Farm, as well as Speckington Manor, Lufton, Tintinhull, Hardington Mandeville and Yeovilton.
The Chapman family history I have traced reaches back to Joseph Chapman of Winterhay Green, Ilminster, born in 1777. Later generations included Joseph Chapman and Mary Ann Bond, followed by their son Joseph and his wife Ethel Mary Matthews. Their son, Joseph Henry Chapman, married Kathleen Gooding. They were my grandparents.
My nan Kathleen came from the Gooding family, with farming roots across Somerset and into Devon. The Gooding line in our family tree reaches back into the late 1600s. Farming and the land are an important part of that side of my family's story.
Their family included Josephine Mary and my dad, Colin Henry Chapman. Dad married my mum, Sally Mary Kirkpatrick. Grace, Ellen, Fanny, Edith Mary, Hilda Nellie, Ivy Dora and many more relatives are part of this wider family story too.
To my family, past and present: thank you. Thank you for the lives you lived, the land you cared for and the family history you carried forward. I remember that inheritance with respect and affection.
The collection in pictures
Photo gallery
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