Madi people sources of the river Nile". He also hoped to meet the East African expedition led by John Hanning Speke and James Augustus Grant, somewhere about the Victoria Lake. Baker spent a year on the Sudan-Abyssinian border, during which time he learned Arabic, explored the Atbara river and other Nile tributaries. In early 1862 he arrived at Khartoum, and in December the same year, he left the city to follow the course of the White Nile. Months later in arrived in Gondokoro. In 1862, Speke and Grants who Mr. Baker planned to meet Mr Baker in Gondokoro, arrived in the Madi
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.