Somerset Part 5

BRUTON, a small town of 1788 inhabitants, 7 m. S.E. from Shepton Mallet, with a station on the G.W.R. Frome and Weymouth line. It is also served by bus from Cole Station (S. & D.), 1-1/2 m. away. It is a quaint little place, lying at the bottom of a deep valley watered by the Brue, to the proximity of which it owes its name. Bruton makes no show of business; its activities are chiefly educational. The antiquarian will, however, find here much to interest him, for there is a fine church, and the town has many ecclesiastical a.s.sociations. It was at one time the site of a Benedictine Priory, which was subsequently converted into an abbey of Austin Canons in 1525. Of this foundation nothing now remains but a three-storeyed pigeon-house (which stands out conspicuously on the summit of a little knoll behind the town) and the abbey court-house in High Street (see below). The abbey itself stood on the site of the present rectory, which is said to incorporate one of its walls. At the Reformation the monastery went down in the wreck of the religious houses, and Sir M. Berkley, who as the king's standard-bearer was not without friends at Court, came in for the spoil. The church is a handsome Perp. building, with a n.o.ble W. tower of the Shepton type, decorated with triple windows and a rich parapet.

A second small tower rises above the N. porch (a very unusual feature).

The interior is remarkable for the painful incongruity of the chancel--a pseudo-cla.s.sical structure, built in 1743, to replace the dismantled monastic choir. It contains in a recess on N. rec.u.mbent effigies of Sir M. Berkley and wives (1559-85), and on the opposite wall a tablet to W. G.o.dolphin (1636). The nave is extremely handsome, and is covered with a fine roof. Note (1) niches between clerestory windows (cp. St Mary's, Taunton), (2) stepped recess in N. aisle (cp.

Chewton), (3) indications, on N. and S. walls, of stairway to rood-loft, which, unless the building was once shorter, must have stood in an unusually forward position, (4) piscina in S. aisle, (5) fragment of mediaeval cope in N.E. corner of nave, (6) chained copies of Jewel (1609) and Erasmus (1548), (7) Jacobean screen under tower. At the W.

gateway is an ancient tomb, said to be that of Abbot Gilbert, whose initials, _W.G._ are cut on one of the battlements of the N. wall. Near the school is a quaint pack-horse bridge ("Bruton Bow") spanning the river (cp. Allerford). In High Street (S. side) will be noticed the old _Abbey Court-house_ (now a private residence), bearing on its wall the "canting" device of Prior Henton (1448). On the same side of the street is _s.e.xey's Hospital_, an asylum for a few old men and women, founded in 1638 by Hugh s.e.xey, a Bruton stable-boy, who in the "s.p.a.cious days"

of Good Queen Bess rose to be auditor in the royal household. It consists of a quadrangle, the S. side of which is formed by a combined hall and chapel of Elizabethan architecture, finely panelled with black oak. The surplus revenues of s.e.xey's estate support a local Trade School. Bruton also possesses a well-equipped Grammar School, of Edward IV.'s foundation, which replaced an earlier school established here in 1520 by Richard Fitz-James, Bishop of London (1506-22).

_Brympton d'Evercy_, a small parish 3 m. W. of Yeovil. It gets its name from the D'Evercys, who seem to have possessed the estate in the 13th cent., but it subsequently pa.s.sed to other families, till in the 15th cent. it fell to the Sydenhams, changing hands again in the 18th cent.

The church is a very interesting structure of the Dec. period. It is cruciform in plan, with a N. chapel of Perp. date, and has on its W.

gable a large bell-cot (cp. Chilthorne Domer). Within, note (1) stone screen (Perp.), remarkable for the seat along its W. front, (2) piscinas in chancel, transepts, and chapel, (3) font (Dec.), (4) pulpit (Jacobean), (5) chandeliers (said to be Dutch), (6) squints. There are several effigies, which are not in their original positions, but are conjectured to have belonged to a chapel now destroyed. They are, (1) in the N. transept an abbot and a nun beneath recesses carved with modern reliefs; (2) in the chapel a knight in armour and a lady.

Between the chapel and chancel is the large coloured tomb of Sir John Sydenham, 1626 (the curious epitaph is worth reading). In the chapel is some ancient gla.s.s, and in the churchyard there is the base of an old cross and two early fonts.

N. of the church is a building of two storeys, variously described as a _chantry house_ (a chantry was founded here by Sir Peter d'Evercy, 1307) or a _manor house_, with an external octagon turret containing a staircase. _Brympton House_ (the residence of Sir S.C.B. Ponsonby-Fane) has a good W. front of Tudor date (note arms of Henry VIII.), with a porch added in 1722, and a S. front built in the 18th cent., though from designs by Inigo Jones (died 1697), with terrace leading to the garden.

_Buckland Denham_, a village prominently perched on a hillside 3 m.

N.W. from Frome. It was once a busy little town with a flouris.h.i.+ng cloth trade. The church has a W. tower with an unusual arrangement of windows (cp. Hemington). The Norm. S. doorway and the device by which the upper part of the porch has been converted into a parvise should be noticed. Three chapels are attached to the church. The one at the N., originally the chantry of Sir J. Denham, has on the floor the figures of a knight and his lady in relief. In two of the chapels are piscinas, and there is a large one in the chancel. Some ancient gla.s.s, with emblems of the Evangelists, will be found in one of the chapels. The Norm. font, with different mouldings on opposite sides, deserves attention.

_Buckland St Mary_, a parish 5 m. N.W. of Chard, has a modern church (1853-63), very richly decorated, which it owes to the munificence of the rector, though to some its ornateness will seem a little out of harmony with its rural surroundings. The wooden cover of the font is said to be all that remains of the former church. Not far away are a number of flint stones which are conjectured to be Celtic memorials.

_Buckland, West_, 5 m. S.W. of Taunton, has a Perp. church, preserving earlier materials, but of no great interest to the ordinary observer.

The W. tower has the bell-turret on the S. side (cp. Wellington and Bradford). Note (1) the Norm. font (on a modern base), (2) the entrance to the former rood-loft. The churchyard commands a fine view.

_Burnett_, a small village 2-1/2 m. S.E. of Keynsham. The church is a tiny late Perp. building of poor workmans.h.i.+p. In the organ-chamber is a small bra.s.s to John Cuttle (1575), once Mayor of Bristol. An attendant family are all quaintly labelled.

_Burnham_, a watering-place on the Bristol Channel, 24 m. S.W. from Bristol and 8 N. from Bridgwater. The S. & D. branch line from Edington Junction has a terminal station here. Neither art nor nature has done much for Burnham. Though a good deal exploited by the local railway company as a half-holiday resort, it possesses few attractions for the summer visitor. It has shown recently some signs of improvement, but no enterprise can make a first-rate watering-place out of a muddy estuary and a strip of sandy sh.o.r.e. A small pier, a narrow esplanade, and some small gardens form its chief artificial recommendations, and its one natural merit is an invigorating breeze which never seems to fail. A tall lighthouse, standing some considerable distance away from the sea, is a conspicuous landmark on the N., and a supplementary light burns from a wooden erection on the beach. The church of St Andrew, near the esplanade, is early Perp. Its two features of interest are its leaning W. tower, and an altar-piece designed by Inigo Jones for Whitehall Chapel, but eventually erected in Westminster Abbey. It appears to have been turned out of the abbey as lumber on the occasion of George IV.'s coronation, and to have been placed in Burnham Church by the then vicar, who was also Canon of Westminster.

_Burrington_, a small village in the Vale of Wrington, with a station on the Light Railway. It possesses a remarkable ravine, which would be considered fine by any one unacquainted with Cheddar. It has the magnitude but not the grandeur of its famous compet.i.tor. The hillsides present merely a series of steep slopes broken by protruding ma.s.ses of rock. The combe runs up to the shoulders of Blackdown, and is throughout wild and picturesque. Like the Cheddar gorge, it abounds in caverns, there being no fewer than four, all of which have been prolific in "finds." It was whilst taking shelter here that Toplady composed "Rock of Ages." On one of the hills above the combe is a Roman encampment fenced with a rough wall of stone, locally known as _Burrington Ham_. Another picturesque spot in the neighbourhood is a glen called Rickford. The church, which stands in some fields near the mouth of the gorge, is a Perp. building with a low W. tower and a peculiarly graceful spirelet over the rood-loft turret. There are some good parapets to the aisles, but the roof of one of the chapels projects in an ugly manner above that of the chancel (cp. Yatton). Note (1) ancient gla.s.s in window above N. door, (2) pieces of an old bell with maker's mark (a s.h.i.+p), _c._ 1470.

_Burrow_ (or _Borough) Bridge_, 1-1/2 m. N.E. of Athelney Station. It is noteworthy for its conical hill, locally called the _Mump_, crowned by a ruined church (St Michael's). It affords an extensive view over the surrounding plain, and may be the site of Alfred's fort (see p.

13).

_Burtle_, a parish 1 m. N. of Edington Station. (S. & D.). The church is modern.

_Butcombe_, a village 2 m. N. of Blagdon, prettily situated in a nook of the Wrington Vale. Several monastic bodies originally owned property here, but the church does not seem to have benefited largely by their proprietors.h.i.+p. It is a small Perp. structure, of no great interest.

_Butleigh_ is a pleasant village, 4 m. S. of Glas...o...b..ry. Of its church the only old portions are the tower (which is central), the nave, the porch, and the chancel, to which N. and S. transepts and a N. aisle have been added in modern times. Most of the windows of the nave and chancel are Dec., with foliated rear arches. The large W. window is Perp., and contains some ancient gla.s.s. In the S. transept is a monument to the three brothers Hood, with a long epitaph in blank verse by Southey. In the N. aisle are preserved figures (Jacobean) of a man and woman, with a kneeling child between them, obviously portions of an old tomb. The neighbouring mansion is _Butleigh Court_ (R.N.

Grenville). The tall column which is so conspicuous from the Glas...o...b..ry Plain was erected to the memory of Sir Samuel Hood.

_Cadbury Camp_, near Tickenham. See _Tickenham_. The name is perhaps connected with the Welsh _cad_ (battle). There is another near Yallon.

_Cadbury, North_, a village 2-1/2 m. E. from Sparkford Station (G.W.R.). It possesses a remarkably fine Perp. church, built by Lady Eliz. Botreaux (1427) for a college of eight priests. The tower, of more than ordinarily plain design, is of rather earlier date, and the arcades have probably been preserved from some previous structure. The interior, though not rich, is imposing, owing to its size and excellent proportions. The chancel is of great dignity, and some elaborately carved tabernacles, bearing traces of colouring, flank each side of the E. window, and form a fine architectural addition to the E. end. The roofs and bench ends (1538) should also be observed. Note (1) altar slab fixed to N. wall of sanctuary, (2) rood-loft stair and turret, (3) three altar-tombs under tower, one (early 15th cent.) bearing effigies of Sir W. and Lady Eliz. Botreaux, (4) fragments of gla.s.s in W. window.

Of this church, Ralph Cudworth, the famous Cambridge philosopher, was once rector.

At the S.E. of the church is _Cadbury Court_, a fine gabled Elizabethan mansion, with a curiously incongruous modern front on the S.

_Cadbury, South_ (2-1/4 m. E. of Sparkford), is a village on the N.E.

side of Cadbury Camp, with a church dedicated to St Thomas a Becket, who is perhaps intended by the fresco of a bishop which is on the splay of a window in the N. aisle. The responds of the aisle arches are curiously banded. There is a good reredos, a piscina, and a hagioscope.

_Cadbury Castle_, near Sparkford (2 m. away), is the most remarkable of all the Somerset earthworks. Besides its antiquarian importance, the "Castle" derives a romantic interest from its popular a.s.sociation with the fabled Camelot. The hill is best ascended by a lane near a farm-house to the S. of S. Cadbury Church. Though much covered with timber, the fortifications are still clearly traceable, and consist of a quadruple series of ramparts and ditches. The interior "ring" is faced with wrought masonry. The fortifications enclose an area of some 18 acres, and the crest of the hill is crowned by a mound locally known as King Arthur's Palace. The defensive works must originally have been of great strength, and are impressive even in their decay. The S. face of the hill is fas.h.i.+oned into a series of terraces, possibly with a view to cultivation. A well, called King Arthur's Well, will be found within the lowest rampart by taking the path to the right of the entrance gate. Another well--Queen Anne's--is in the neighbourhood of the keeper's cottage. The country-side is rich in Arthurian traditions.

King Arthur and his knights are said on moonlight nights to gallop round the fortifications on steeds shod with silver shoes. A hardly traceable forest-path runs at the base of the hill in the direction of Glas...o...b..ry. This is King Arthur's hunting track. Apart from these legendary a.s.sociations, Cadbury must have played a considerable part in the British struggle for freedom. It may have been here (instead of at Penselwood) that the West Welsh made their last effort against Cenwealh, when he drove them to the Parrett (see p. 12). For so low an eminence, the "castle" commands a remarkably extensive view. The great plain of Central Somerset spreads away at the foot of the hill. In the foreground is the ever-conspicuous Glas...o...b..ry Tor; the Mendip ridge closes the horizon on the right; the Quantocks and Brendons are in front; and the Blackdowns and Dorset highlands lie jumbled together on the left.

_Camel, Queen_ (1 m. S.W. of Sparkford Station), is a large and attractive village, owing its name to the neighbouring stream, the Cam.

Its church is a dignified structure with a lofty tower, which has its turret unusually placed at the N.W. angle (cp. Yeovil and Martock). The arcade has octagonal piers. Two of them have small niches, and there is a clerestory above. The roof has embattled tie-beams, the s.p.a.ce above them being filled with Perp. tracery. The E. window is lofty. The chancel has a screen and rood-loft, with fan tracery E. and W.; the staircase is in the S. pier of the arch. At the E. end is a piscina and a sedile, each under an elaborate triple ogee canopy. The Perp. font is unusual, being supported on pillars which have niches containing figures. On the S. side of the church there is an incongruous "cla.s.sical" porch (cp. Sutton Montis). In the parish is a mineral spring with properties resembling those of Harrogate waters.

_Camel, West_, a village 2 m. S.W. of Sparkford Station, has a church with many features of interest. In plan it is cruciform, the S.

transept being under the tower, which is on the S. side, and is crowned by a small spire. The arches of the tower, chancel, and N. transept are probably Dec. The E. window is Dec., with the interior arch foliated.

The rest are Perp. The nave roof deserves notice. The chancel contains a double piscina under a large foliated arch, and triple sedilia. The font is Norm., with shallow arcading round the basin. Near it is a fragment of the shaft of a cross, ascribed to the 9th cent., with the interlaced carving generally a.s.sociated with Celtic and Irish crosses.

In a window behind the pulpit there is some ancient gla.s.s.

_Camely_, a parish about 1-1/2 m. S.W. from Clutton Station, deriving its name from another Cam. The church is a solitary building standing back from the roadside. It has a good Perp. W. tower, but a very uncouth-looking nave and chancel.

_Camerton_, a flouris.h.i.+ng colliery village lying in a deep valley about 2 m. N.N.E. of Radstock. It has a terminal station on a small branch line running up from Hallatrow. The church, which is rather obscurely situated at the back of the rectory, has been well restored, and is handsomely furnished. The chancel is new. A side chapel contains two altar-tombs to members of the Carew family (1640-86), said to be mere replicas of the original tombs in Carew Church, Pembrokes.h.i.+re. Note (1) stoup inside N. doorway, (2) piscina in organ chamber. _Camerton Court_ (Miss Jarrett), a modern building with a colonnade, stands over against the church on the other side of the dale.

_Cannington_, a large village 4 m. N.W. of Bridgwater, is a place of some interest. It is the birthplace of a distinguished man, for at _Brymore House_, hard by, John Pym was born. The church has some unusual features, for a single roof covers nave, aisles, and chancel; and there is no chancel arch. The whole building is very lofty, and it has good E. and W. windows. The tower, which will be seen to be out of line with the axis of the nave, is richly ornamented with niches. Note externally the turret above the rood staircase, and the series of consecration crosses (12) on the E. and S. wall of the chancel; and in the interior observe (1) the carved oak cornice, (2) the screen (the upper part restored), (3) Norm. pillar (a survival of an earlier church) in the vestry, (4) old Bible of 1617. A priory of Benedictine nuns, founded by a De Courcy (of Stoke Courcy) in 1138, once existed here. The large house with mullioned windows, near the church, now occupied by a Roman Catholic industrial school, was once a court-house belonging to the Clifford family.

Down a road running E. from the church is _Gurney Street Farm_, an old manor-house. It has a small chapel, with piscina, aumbry, niches, and carved roof; above is a chamber (probably for the priest), reached by stairs, each of which consists of a single block of oak, while behind is a room panelled in oak, with a window looking into the chapel.

A mile from the village on the Stowey road (take path to left) is another manor house, _Blackmoor Farm_. It has a good porch, and retains its chapel (note piscina and niches), over the W. end of which some of the chambers on the first floor project.

_Carhampton_, a village on the Dunster and Williton road, 2 m. S.E. of Dunster. The church has been restored and in parts rebuilt. It still contains a fine and richly coloured screen, evidently copied from the one at Dunster (cp. Timbers...o...b..), but there are no indications of a stairway. Note (1) piscinas in S. aisle and chancel, (2) carved wall-plate in S. aisle. There is the base of a cross in the churchyard.

On the road to Blue Anchor there is an ancient manor-house, called _Marshwood Farm_, which has in its porch some curious plaster figures.

CASTLE CARY, a small market town at S.E. corner of the county, with a station (1 m.) at the junction of the G.W.R. Weymouth line with the Langport loop. Its population in 1901 was 1904. The town has a pleasant air of old-fas.h.i.+onedness about it. The castle which gave it its name long since disappeared from history, and until recently from knowledge.

It was only in 1890 that its site was revealed. Some excavations in a field at the bottom of Lodge Hill brought to light the foundations of a large square Norm. keep. Its outlines are now marked by pillars. It seems to have acquired notoriety chiefly in the disorderly days of Stephen. The Church possesses a good spire, and is conspicuously situated. But though outwardly picturesque, it has little of interest within. Note, however, (1) piscina in chancel, (2) oak screen, (3) carved pulpit, (4) panel and canopied effigy over S. porch. There is also a shallow font (_temp._ Henry VI.) on a pedestal of curious design.

_Castle Neroche_, locally known as Castle Ratch, a remarkable earthwork of problematical origin, 7 m. S. of Taunton. It crowns the edge of a precipitous hillside, over which runs the main road to Chard. The camp is of quite exceptional strength, and occupies a position of great strategic importance. Recent excavations have proved it to have been occupied and strengthened, if not originally made, by the Normans. On the accessible side looking towards Chard the station is defended by a triple row of ramparts and ditches, but the side overlooking the vale of Taunton is so precipitous that the only protection provided appears to have been a kind of citadel surmounted probably by a keep. The centre of this once formidable military position is now incongruously occupied by a farm-house. The view from the citadel or beacon across Taunton Dean is far-reaching and exhilarating. The outlook on the other side is circ.u.mscribed by the high ground beyond.

_Castle of Comfort_, a lonely public-house on the top of the Mendips, standing by the side of the Bristol and Wells road. For the tourist it forms a very convenient landmark from which to indicate the more interesting features of the Mendip plateau. (1) The Roman road from Uphill to Old Sarum may be traced across a field near the house. (2) The Devil's Punch Bowl, one of the most notable swallets on the Mendips, is 1/4 m. nearer Bristol (climb a wall on the R. and the swallet, a funnel-shaped hollow, partly overgrown with brushwood, will be seen in a field about 100 yards from the roadside). (3) The old Roman lead mines are 2-1/2 m. away on the road to Charterhouse. (4) The "Lamb's Lair" cavern (now unexplorable) lies 2 m. to the N. near the Bristol road. (5) Nine Barrows, to find which take the Wells road; 1/2 m. to the S. is another solitary inn, and opposite are the barrows.

_Catcott_, a village on the Poldens, 3 m. S. of Edington Station. The church is quaint; note, in particular, the old oak seats, and the odd means by which they can be lengthened. There is an old octagonal font.

_Chaffcombe_, a secluded village on the slope of Windwhistle Hill, 2-1/2 m. N.E. from Chard. The church is a small Dec. building with a Perp. W. tower containing a pre-Reformation bell.

_Chantry_, or _Little Elm_, a small village 4-1/2 m. S.W. from Frome.

The church is a beautiful bit of modern Gothic, designed by Sir G.

Scott.

_Chapel Allerton_, a village 4-1/2 m. S.W. from Axbridge. The church is a 13th-cent. building which has been subsequently altered and enlarged.

In the parish are the remains of an old "hundred stone," marking the boundaries of the hundred of Bempstone.

CHARD, a market town of 4437 inhabitants, at the S. extremity of the county, served by both the G.W.R. and L. & S.W.R. Chard is a pleasant variant upon the usual cramped type of Somerset county town. It spreads itself out up the side of a hill with a magnificent disregard for ground values in one broad and breezy street a mile long. Its situation is remarkable for the impartiality of its maritime predilections, for the runnels at the side of the thoroughfare are said to discharge their contents, the one into the Bristol, the other into the English Channel.

Its early name, Cerde (for Cerdic), implies its Saxon origin, but it was a benefaction of Bishop Joceline, who gave half his manor for its extension, which really made the town. Chard has figured a little in history. Charles I. and Fairfax both made some stay in it. Penruddock suffered a severe reverse in the neighbourhood in 1655, and Monmouth, in 1685, marched through Chard _en route_, as he thought, for the throne, a circ.u.mstance which Jeffreys did not allow the town to forget.

"Hangcross tree," which once stood near the L. & S.W. station, was long locally reputed to be the gibbet on which some of the Duke's sympathisers expiated their treason. The town is nowadays chiefly dependent upon a large lace works and some collar factories. The church, which stands in the "old town" (turn down Axminster Road), is said to have been erected about 1400, and is a s.p.a.cious Perp. building without a clerestory. It has a squat W. tower, some good porches (cp.

N. porch with Ilminster), and some bold gargoyles. Within note (1) squints, (2) rood-loft stair with external turret, (3) indistinct traces of mural paintings in N. transept, (4) Brewer monument (early 17th cent.) in N. transeptal chapel. The main street contains some notable examples of domestic architecture--(1) gabled hostelry, "The Choughs" (opposite street leading to church), (2) fine old house opposite Town Hall, date about 1580, supposed to have been the court house of the manor (containing an exceptionally fine room, with two mullioned windows of 20 lights, and a moulded plaster ceiling), (3) grammar school, at foot of the town opposite a fountain. A leaden pipe carries the date 1583, though the present school was not founded till 1671.

_Charlcombe_ is a parish 2 m. N. of Bath, with a very small church, which has a Norm. S. door. Note (1) the font (probably Norm.), (2) the ma.s.sive stone pulpit, (3) the reredos. There is a fine yew tree near the porch.

_Charlinch_, a parish 5 m. W. of Bridgwater. The second syllable (recurring in _Moorlinch, Redlynch_) means a level terrace on the side of a hill; the first is probably a personal name. Its church ill.u.s.trates many periods of architecture, for it has a Norm. font and S. door (with depressed arch), a Trans. chancel arch (pointed), a Dec.

E. window, and Perp. tower, chapel (or transept), and nave windows. The altar-piece, in memory of Lady Taunton, is a modern copy of the 15th-cent. painter Francia. There are two interesting epitaphs, one on the S. wall of the chancel, the other on a bra.s.s on the floor. There are also some fragments of ancient gla.s.s; and a stone, with a consecration cross, is built into the porch.