Part 3 (1/2)

_As.h.i.+ngton_, 3 m. E.S.E. of Ilchester, has a small church dedicated to St Vincent. It is remarkable for the large square bell-cot over the W.

gable (cp. Brympton and Chilthorne Domer) which is supported by a ma.s.sive b.u.t.tress in the middle of the W. front. Within the building note (1) the three lancets at the E. end; (2) the foliated interior arches of the chancel windows (two of which are very small lancets); (3) the pulpit, dated 1637. The gla.s.s in some of the windows is good.

_Ashton, Long_, is a straggling village, noteworthy for its court and church. _Ashton Court_, the seat of Sir J.H. Greville Smyth, was erected by Inigo Jones in 1634, and is surrounded by a beautifully-wooded park. Long Ashton church contains a fine screen, gilded and painted (the old colours being reproduced), and a 15th cent.

tomb (in the N. chapel) with two effigies, belonging to Sir Richard Choke and his wife. There are also two mutilated effigies, preserved in the N. porch, which are supposed to belong to the de Lyons family, who once owned the park.

_Ashwick_, 2 m. S.E. of Binegar. There is no village, but merely a group of houses. The church has a graceful late Perp. tower, with spirelet: this is the only original part of the fabric, the rest having been rebuilt in 1825. _Ashwick Grove_ is a prettily-situated mansion, said to contain a good collection of pictures.

_Athelney_, included within the parish of Lyng (with a stat.), is the spot historically famous for having harboured Alfred in 878 when he had to escape before a sudden inroad of the Danes (see p. 12). It was once an island (the name means ”isle of the n.o.bles”), and in wet weather must even now almost resume that condition. Alfred, after having defeated the Danes at Ethandune, founded a monastery here, of which all traces have unhappily disappeared. A small monument (best approached from the main road between Lyng and Borough bridge) was erected in 1801 by Mr John Slade, the owner of the estate, to commemorate the events connected with the locality; but the inscription is misleading in giving 879 (instead of 878) as the year when Alfred took refuge here, and in stating that he lay concealed for a whole year (instead of a few months). The neighbourhood abounds in osier and reed-beds, producing materials for basket-work.

AXBRIDGE, 10 m. N.W. of Wells, is an ancient town, which still preserves an air of antiquity. It is situated in a neighbourhood largely devoted to market gardens, in which quant.i.ties of strawberries are grown. It was a borough as early as the reign of Edward the Confessor, but its corporation was abolished in 1886. Its most notable feature is the church of St John the Baptist. It is a large cruciform structure with a central tower, having three windows in the belfry, and rather shallow b.u.t.tresses. The figure on the W. face of the tower is supposed to be Henry VI. or Henry VII., that on the E. St John. Within the church note (1) the roofs, that of the nave plaster with pendants (1636), those of the aisles oak (15th cent.); (2) the carved capitals of the S. arcade and squint in the S.E. tower pier; (3) the mural monument to William Prowse in the N. aisle; (4) the altar before the tomb of Anne Prowse (in S. aisle), covered with a cloth worked by her own hands (1720); (5) bra.s.s in N. aisle to Roger Harper (1493); (6) in S. wall of sanctuary piscina and sedilia. In the N. wall is a curious hole, apparently connected with an external cell (where there are the remains of a broken piscina). The purpose of this cell is a great puzzle. The church seems to have possessed two rood-lofts (cp.

Crewkerne); and has a two-storied building on the S. of the W. door, which is thought by some to be a treasury.

In the town there are some old houses with projecting upper storeys.

One of them, called _The Old Manor House_, deserves a visit for the sake of a fine ceiling in one of its rooms. In the Town Hall are preserved the old stocks, the apparatus used in bull-baiting, and a money-changer's table, dated 1627.

_Babcary_ is a village a short distance E. of the Fosseway, 6 m. N.N.E.

of Ilchester (nearest stat., Sparkford). The first syllable of the name is a personal appellation which doubtless appears in Babbicombe; the second is derived from the neighbouring stream. There is a church of ancient origin, but since its restoration it exhibits little of interest except a piscina (with credence shelf) and a good Caroline pulpit (1632).

_Babington_, 1 m. S. of Mells Road station. There is no village. The church dates from the reign of George II. _Babington House_ is a mansion of some age but little beauty.

_Backwell_, 1-1/2 m. S.E. of Nailsea station, a parish which perhaps owes its name to the _back_ or ridge on which it stands. It has a s.p.a.cious church, prettily situated. The Perp. tower has double belfry windows, and elaborate pinnacles, but the summit seems to have been injured and rebuilt, for the upper lights are enclosed within an ogee moulding which breaks the line of the parapet; and one of the pinnacles is of unusual character. At the S. door note stoup, and within the church observe (1) the 15th cent. screen; (2) the squints, high up in the chancel pillars; (3) the E.E. sedilia on the S.; and (4) the chapel on the N. side of the sanctuary. In front of the chapel is a large tomb with a full length effigy of a knight in armour (probably a Rodney); whilst within there is a mural bra.s.s and other memorials. The chapel is the resting-place of Elizabeth, successively wife of Sir Walter Rodney and of Sir John Chaworth, who died 1536.

_Badgworth_, 3 m. S.W. of Axbridge, lies a little way off the Bristol and Bridgwater road. The church is dedicated to the saint that has given his name to Congresbury, St Congar. It has a fair tower (with a good open parapet), which contains two pre-Reformation bells, but the interior contains little of note. The piscina looks like E.E. with a restored drain.

_Bagborough, West_, 3-1/2 m. N. of Bishop's Lydeard station, is a parish pleasantly situated on the S.W. side of the Quantocks. The church (St Pancras) adjoins Bagborough House, and preserves its former stoup and piscina. There are a few carved bench ends.

_Baltonsborough_, a village on the Brue, 4 m. S.W. of Glas...o...b..ry. It possesses a 5th cent. church (St Dunstan's) containing a few features of interest in the chancel, among them being the cornice, the piscina and aumbry, and an old chair dated 1667. The screen is modern. The nave retains a number of the old 15th cent. benches; to the end of one of them is hinged a seat which, when raised, projects into the aisle, perhaps to accommodate some youthful but unruly member of the congregation. The old door and lock deserve a pa.s.sing notice.

_Banwell_, a large village 1-1/2 m. W. of Sandford and Banwell station, was once the site of a Saxon monastery, bestowed by Alfred upon a.s.ser, and is now famous for its church and caves. The place gets its name from its large pond, fed by a copious spring, though the meaning of the first syllable is obscure (perhaps from _bane_, ill, implying that the spring was thought to have remedial qualities). The church has a tower with triple belfry windows, which is lofty and finished with pinnacles and spirelet. It should be compared with Wins...o...b.., both being spoilt by the flatness of the b.u.t.tresses. It is regarded as early Perp., and a.s.signed to about 1380. The figures on the W. front are the Virgin and St Gabriel; note the lilies (there should be only one, as at Wins...o...b..). The nave is lofty, with clerestory and plaster roof (coloured like oak); the effigy at the W. is St Andrew. There is a very fine rood-loft (1521) with fan-tracery both in front and rear: the present colours are believed to reproduce the original; curiously, the choir seats are _outside_ the screen. Note (1) the font (Norman) with unusual carving on the bowl; (2) Perp. stone pulpit, attached to one of the pillars of the arcade; (3) the seat ends and oak benches (the original width of the latter may be seen in the last pew on the S.

side); (4) the bra.s.ses, three on the floor before the chancel, and another (of John Martok, succentor of Wells, and physician to Bishop King) in the vestry. This vestry contains some old Flemish gla.s.s (brought from Belgium in 1855), depicting the story of Tobit; and there is more ancient gla.s.s belonging to the church in the E. windows of the aisles. Originally there was only a N. aisle, and the tower b.u.t.tresses can still be seen within the S. aisle.

_Banwell Court_, near the church, contains some remains of a manor house, built by Bishop Beckington. In a shed near the fire brigade station are (1) two old thatch-hooks (1610), used to drag burning thatch from the roofs of houses; and (2) an old fire-engine of the same date.

On the hill which rises above the church (in a field entered near the junction of the roads) a large cross is traced on the surface of the ground, and raised in relief to the height of 2 ft., the limbs being between 50 and 70 ft. long. It is surrounded by a low stone or earth fence, and its purpose is problematical. On the hill there is also a camp, where flints of Neolithic date have been found; and near it is an ancient track-way known as the _Roman Road_.

The _caves_ (two in number) are in private grounds belonging to Mrs Law. They have probably been created by the action of water, and when discovered were filled with the bones of wild animals (many of them now extinct) embedded in silt, which had been washed into them. In one of them there is now stacked a quant.i.ty of these bones, whilst a selection of them is deposited in Taunton Museum. The caves are shown by some of the outdoor servants of the house. Unlike the caves at Cheddar and Burrington, they open upon the summit of the hill instead of into a ravine.

_Barrington_, a village 4 m. N.E. of Ilminster, is worth visiting for the sake of its church and its interesting Elizabethan house called _Barrington Court_. The church is cruciform, with an octagonal central tower. The tower arches are E.E., with plain chamfered piers; but there is a good deal of Dec. work in the transepts (note windows and the fine canopy over one of the piscinas). The E. window is Perp.: observe the piscina and niches in the chancel, and the large squints. The N. porch has an ogee moulding, and contains a niche with figures of the Virgin and Child.

_Barrington Court_ (now a farm) is a magnificent E-shaped building, with numerous twisted chimneys, turrets, and finials. It was built by Henry Daubeny, the first Earl of Bridgwater, (d. 1548); and pa.s.sed successively into the possession of the Phelipses (afterwards of Montacute) and the Strodes. It was here that William Strode in 1680 entertained the Duke of Monmouth. Recently an effort has been made to purchase it for the nation.

_Barrow Gurney_ is a small village, prettily situated (1 m. from Flax Bourton stat.), with a church about a mile away. Near the church there once existed a Benedictine nunnery (said to have been founded before 1212); and what is now the S. aisle was formerly the nuns' chapel, and it still retains an early doorway and a few other vestiges of antiquity. At the W. end of the aisle is an enclosure with a number of tiles, supposed to be the burial-place of one of the sisters. With the exception of this S. aisle, the church has been entirely rebuilt and enlarged. Note the mural monument to Francis James (of Jacobean date), and the old bell beneath the tower. The churchyard contains a restored cross. Adjoining the church is _Barrow Court_ (H.M. Gibbs) a fine Elizabethan building. In the village is a house of the date 1687. Some reservoirs of the Bristol waterworks are close by.

_Barrow, North_, a small village 2-1/2 m. N. from Sparkford Station (G.W.R.). The church, rebuilt 1860, is without interest, except for a very curious font of uncertain date, standing on a modern pedestal.

_Barrow, South_, is a village 1 m. N. from Sparkford. The church, a small aisleless building, contains (1) ancient bench ends; (2) piscina and aumbry in sanctuary; (3) bra.s.s to R. Morris on floor of nave. A fragment of Norman work will be noticed over the N. door. The font, dated 1584, has a curious E.E. look.

_Barton St David_, 5 m. S.S.E. of Glas...o...b..ry, 4 m. N.E. of Somerton, gets its name from its church, dedicated to the Welsh bishop (who was buried at Glas...o...b..ry hard by). The plan of the church is cruciform, the tower (which is octagonal) being placed in the angle formed by the N. transept and the chancel. The N. doorway is Norman, the arches of chancel and transepts E.E. The chancel windows are lancets with foliated heads and interior foliations. Note (1) the squint; (2) the piscina. In the churchyard there is a headless cross, with the figure of a bishop in his mitre on the shaft (perhaps St David).

_Barwick_, a small village 1 m. S. from Yeovil. The church--a rather large building for so small a place--has the tower oddly placed at the E. end of N. aisle (cp. E. c.o.ker). The N. aisle is richer and evidently later than the S. aisle. Observe the panelling of the arches of the arcade and the external battlements. The character of the arcade on both N. and S. is peculiar (cp. Shepton Mallet). The chancel has been rebuilt, but it retains the original piscina. The church has some fine bench ends (1533). The initials _W.H._ on the door of the reading-desk are said to be those of William Hope, the patron of the living early in the 16th cent. Note (1) position of Dec. piscina in S. aisle and dwarf doorway, showing raising of floor; (2) squint and rood-loft stairs on N.; (3) square fluted font with cable moulding; (4) consecration crosses on jamb of W. door, on chancel b.u.t.tresses, and on wall of S.

aisle (cp. Nempnett); (5) arched doorway into tower from chancel, made up of a sepulchral slab with incised foliated cross.

_Batcombe_, a small village equidistant (3 m.) from Cranmore, Evercreech, and Bruton stations, has an interesting church. The tower, one of the finest in Somerset, is of marked individuality, combining features belonging to two distinct types. It resembles Shepton in the arrangement of its b.u.t.tresses, and Evercreech and Wrington in the character of its triple windows. The absence of pinnacles and of superfluous ornamentation lends to it considerable dignity and impressiveness. Note the figure of our Lord and censing angels on W.

front, as at Chewton. On exterior of church observe (1) debased S.

porch; (2) crucifix on E. gable of nave. The interior is disappointing.