Part 5 (1/2)

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.