Part 11 (1/2)

_Kelston_, a parish 4 m. N.W. of Bath. The church, which is reached by a lane to the left, has been rebuilt, with the exception of the tower and N. porch. The latter has on its left jamb a very small carving of the Crucifixion. Within note (1) in the chancel some interlaced work on the N. and a piscina on the S.; (2) in the E. corner of the S. aisle a musical epitaph; (3) in one of the N. windows of the nave some fragments of ancient gla.s.s (the figure is said to be that of St Barbara: cp. Cucklington).

_Kenn_, on the R. of the road between Yatton and Clevedon, was the original home of Bishop Ken's family. The church retains its ancient tower, which has a curious cap. The nave has been rebuilt, but contains a quaint monument on the interior wall of the tower to Christopher Ken (d. 1593), and a mural tablet to Sir Nicholas Staling, ”Gentleman Usher” to Queen Elizabeth and King James I. (d. 1605).

_Kewstoke_, a village 2 m. N.E. of Weston-super-Mare. It is best reached by a delightful road through the woods on the seaward side of Worle Hill. Its picturesque church is interesting, and, like so many others, ill.u.s.trates successive styles of architecture. The S. door is Norm.; there is an E.E. lancet in the chancel, and the font perhaps belongs to the same period; the E. window and some windows on the N.

side of the church are Dec. (with foliated rear arches); whilst the tower and the clerestory (which is rarely found where there are no aisles) belong to the Perp. period. Note (1) the fine stone 15th cent.

pulpit, a not uncommon feature in the neighbourhood (cp. Worle, Hutton, Locking, Loxton, Banwell); (2) arch with quaint finial at entrance to rood-loft stair; (3) old gla.s.s in S. chapel. In 1852 a small carved figure, built into the N. wall of the church, was found to conceal, in a recess at the back of it, a broken wooden cup, stained with human blood, supposed to be that of St Thomas a Becket, and to have been brought from Worspring Priory. It is now in Taunton Museum. Opposite the church door is a series of steps leading up the hill, called _St Kew's Steps_, the origin of which is unknown. On the top of the hill is the village of _Milton_, with a modern church.

KEYNSHAM, a small town on the Chew near its confluence with the Avon.

It has a station on the G.W. main line to Bristol. Pop. nearly 3000. It is a long straggling sort of place of not very lively appearance, resembling an overgrown village. Its history is rather romantic than reliable. Its patron saint, S. Keyne, a Welsh lady of exceptional sanct.i.ty, dwelt in a neighbouring wood much infested with serpents. The reptiles, not usually susceptible to the voice of the charmer, were at her intercession turned into stone--a fact to which the ammonites in the local quarry bear witness. St Keyne's name occurs also at Kentisford, near Watchet. Later, the town acquired a borrowed l.u.s.tre from its a.s.sociation with one of the greater religious houses. In 1170 William of Gloster founded here on a magnificent scale a monastery of Austin Canons. This glory has now departed. The Reformation and the Bridges family between them made a clean sweep of everything. The abbey was used as a quarry for building the family mansion, which has by the irony of fate likewise disappeared. Monastic odds and ends may be discovered here and there worked into houses and garden walls. A gateway on the R. of lane leading to station is made up of such fragments. A heap of debris to the E. of the church indicates the whereabouts of the original buildings. The church is a s.p.a.cious rather than an inspiring edifice. A ma.s.sive W. tower was built in 1634 to replace a tower which stood at the E. end of the N. aisle, and was destroyed by a thunderstorm. The chancel is the most interesting part of the building, and should be examined externally where the original E.E. lancets are visible. Within, it has been converted into a kind of mausoleum for the Bridges family, some of whom are represented in effigy. Note the round-headed double piscina in sanctuary. The S. aisle is Dec., and contains a fine Perp. screen. The Caroline screen dividing the S. chapel from chancel should also be observed. The window tracery throughout the church is crude. A row of alms-houses near the Wingrove Hotel were founded by Sir T. Bridges. A Roman tessellated pavement was discovered in making the railway cutting, and was removed to Bristol.

_Kilmersdon_, a village 2 m. S. from Radstock. It lies prettily in a hollow at the foot of Ammerdown Park. The church is a 15th cent. Perp.

building with a lofty W. tower which forms a graceful object in the vale. The nave within and without bears traces of Norm. work. Note corbels and scale work on S. external wall, and in the interior the small Norm. window. In Perp. times the walls were raised, the old corbel-table being left in its original position. The triple panelling to the tower arch and the reduplication of the chancel arch is a little peculiar. A triangular lychgate of unusual design has lately been added to the churchyard. There is an Elizabethan communion cup dated 1566.

_Ammerdown House_ (Ld. Hylton) stands amongst the trees on the hill-side behind the village. It is an Italian mansion, designed by Wyatt. The summit of the hill above is crowned by a graceful memorial column with a glittering lantern. As the hill is 800 feet high, it is a conspicuous landmark.

_Kilton_ is a parish 7 m. E.N.E. of Williton. Its church has been rebuilt, but retains a good Perp. font, and some small bra.s.ses on the S. wall of the chancel. Two communion chalices belonging to the church date from 1514 and 1572 respectively. Nearer the coast is _Lilstock_ church, of which only the chancel remains, serving as a mortuary chapel.

_Kilve_, a village on the Channel, 5 m. E.N.E. of Williton, has had its name enshrined in the verse of both Southey and Wordsworth. From the sh.o.r.e some pretty coast views are obtainable. Its church retains its stoup, piscina, and ancient font, and there is some 15th cent. woodwork near the entrance to the tower. Close to the church are the remains of a chantry. Though many of the walls are still standing, it is rather difficult to trace the plan.

_Kingsbury Episcopi_, 2-1/2 m. N.W. of Martock, is a village wearing an air of antiquity, and possessing a fine church. The church tower, with double belfry windows, closely resembles that of its neighbour at Huish Episcopi. It is inferior in its b.u.t.tresses and mouldings, but has a better W. window. The elaborate crown produces a more top-heavy effect than at Huish. The niches which adorn the tower are noticeable for retaining in many cases their figures, which are seated (cp. Ile Abbots). The tower arch is finely panelled with niches on the E. face, and there is a clerestory (note the angel corbels below the roof). The piers of the chancel and transeptal arches are ornamented with foliage, and the chancel windows are large, with traceried transoms. Note (1) the screen; (2) the fragments of ancient gla.s.s in the N. transept; (3) the piscina in the S. chapel; (4) the sacristy below the E. window (as at N. Petherton and Langport); (5) the small crucifix over the S. porch (which originally had a parvise).

_Kingsdon_, a village 2-1/2 m. S.S.E. of Somerton. Its church, in the main Perp., has a plain embattled tower and some Dec. windows. The S.

porch has niches for images and a stoup; there are piscinas in the chancel and the N. transept, and in the same transept the effigy of a crusader, believed to be one Guy Bryan. On the road between Ilchester and Somerton, which pa.s.ses over the hill below which the church is situated, a fine view may be obtained, embracing the Quantocks, the Blackdowns, and part of the Mendips.

_Kingston St Mary_, a village 3 m. N. of Taunton. Its church, prettily situated on rising ground, has a fine W. tower, crowned with numerous pinnacles and a turret spirelet. On three sides are canopied niches, the upper ones supported on cherubs or angels. The arcade of the nave is Trans. or E.E., that of the chancel Perp., the junction being rather clumsily effected. There is no chancel arch. The S. porch has a fine groined roof, with niches and holy-water stoup. Note (1) the carved seat-ends (one having the date 1522); (2) the large tomb (_temp._ Edward III.) in the S. aisle belonging to the Warres; (3) black-letter Bible (1617) and Bishop Jewel's works (chained). The neighbouring mansion of _Hestercombe_, once the possession of the Warres, but now belonging to the Portmans, is said to preserve a sword taken by one of the Warres from King John of France at Poitiers.

_Kingston Seymour_ is a village about 2 m. W. of Yatton, with a halt on the Clevedon and Weston light railway. Its church has a tower surmounted by a spire: the parapet, which is of an unusual character, rises from the base of the latter. The S. aisle has an exceptionally large squint, and a piscina; and the churchyard contains the base and shaft of an old cross. The parish on more than one occasion has suffered from destructive inundations of the sea.

_Kingstone_, a small village 1 m. S.E. of Ilminster. The church is Perp., with a good central tower. The windows contain some fragments of ancient gla.s.s. The shape of the font is curious.

_Kingweston_ (said to be a corruption of Kenwardston) is a parish 3 m.

N.E. of Somerton. Its church has been rebuilt (1855), and its octagonal tower is crowned with a tall spire. The doorway and font of an earlier Norm. church are still preserved, and in the chancel is an E.E.

piscina. The churchyard has the base and shaft of a cross.

_Kittisford_, a lonely parish 4 m. N.W. of Wellington, near the Tone.

The church has been restored, but retains a piscina and a pulpit of 1610. In the parish is an old manor-house called Cothay, of Tudor date.

_Knowle St Giles_, a small hamlet on a hillside, 2-1/2 m. N.E. of Chard. The church has been rebuilt.

_Lambrook, East_, 2-1/2 m. S. by W. of Martock, is a hamlet belonging to Kingsbury Episcopi, with a small towerless church. It has a Dec. E.

window with a foliated interior arch, a niche for a small piscina, and two heads inserted in the walls (perhaps originally for the Lenten veil). There are some remains of an old house at the post-office which are worth observing.

_Lamyatt_, a parish on the slope of Creech Hill, 2 m. N.W. from Bruton.

The little church has a low tower, with a pyramidal top. Note the two ancient corbel heads built into its W. front. Within there is a Norm.

font with cable moulding. The roof has tie beams with Perp. open-work above them.

_Langford Budville_ (or _Botteville_), a parish 2-1/2 m. N.W. of Wellington. Its church has a battlemented tower, with a turret on the S. (cp. Wellington). The columns of the S. arcade, which have circlets of foliage in place of capitals, deserve notice. On one of them is carved a needle and thread, which has been conjectured to be connected with some benefaction to the church by a member of Queen's College, Oxford, where a ceremony is observed in which a needle and thread (_aiguille et fil_) figures in memory of Queen Philippa. In this aisle is a holy-water stoup. The N. aisle is modern.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE HANGING CHAPEL, LANGPORT]

LANGPORT, a very small town on the Parrett, with two stations on the G.W.R. It is built along a ridge rising above the level of the surrounding marsh lands, and is an unattractive little place, but has seen some history (it was the scene of a defeat of the Royalists in the Civil War), and possesses an interesting church. The tower (embattled and pinnacled) has three windows in the belfry storey, but is inferior to many of its cla.s.s, and should be compared with Long Sutton. The chancel has unusually large Perp. windows, with traceried transoms; and the E. window is remarkable for its ancient gla.s.s (representing ten saints). The W. window has modern stained gla.s.s in memory of Bagehot, the historian, who was born here. Among other features deserving notice are (1) the squint in the N. pier of the chancel arch; (2) the niches on the corresponding S. pier; (3) the piscina on the centre pier of the S. chapel; (4) the sacristy behind and below the E. window (as at N.