Dowlish Wake home of the family of John Hanning Speke who took part in three expeditions to Central Africa from 1854-1862, the last two in search of the source of the Nile. He discovered Lake Victoria and maintained that it was the source of the White Nile. On his third expedition, Speke identified Ripon Falls, the outlet of Lake Victoria, as the source of the Nile; this was confirmed by Henry Morton Stanley in a later expedition. Speke was killed in Neston Park in Wiltshire by his own gun while hunting with his cousin on 18 September 1864; Dr David Livingstone and
Dillington House Court was William Speke of Jordans near Ilminster, father of the celebrated discoverer of the River Nile John Hanning Speke. It is now a Grade II* listed building. Dillington House was the country residence of George III's Prime Minister, Lord North who acquired it through marriage to Anne Speke. The stables which were built in the 18th or early 19th century were remodelled in 1875 by George Nattress and later in the 1960s when the Coach House was converted into a theatre. The two lodges adjacent to the main gate are also Grade II* listed and are in private ownership.