Somerset Part 6

E. of the church, on the road to Wembdon, is _Gothelney Hall_, an old manor house, with a good front, and walls of great thickness. The banqueting-hall (now divided into rooms) was on the first floor and had a minstrel gallery, whilst the chapel was probably at the top of the tower. There is an interesting collection of portraits of (it is believed) former owners of the house.

_Charlton Adam_, a village 3 m. E. of Somerton, has a church which contains a few features of interest. The chancel has two foliated lancets; in the S. chapel there is the canopied tomb of Thomas Baker (d. 1592); and in both chancel and chapel are some curious old seats.

Note also (1) the piscina, (2) Norm. font, (3) a Jacobean pulpit, (4) rudely carved figures in S. porch. There seems to have been here a chantry of the Holy Spirit from 1348 to 1547.

_Charlton h.o.r.ethorne_ is a pleasant village 1-1/2 m. N.W. of Milborne Port Station. The church has a well-proportioned Perp. tower with bold b.u.t.tresses; the rest of the building appears to be earlier. Note (1) the recesses and niches in the N. and S. walls, (2) piscina, (3) heavy cylindrical font. The church porch is old. In the parish are some barrows which have been opened and found to contain remains.

_Charlton Mackrell_, 3 m. E. of Somerton, has a cruciform church with a central tower, in the piers of which are large foliated squints. The church contains little of interest; but note (1) the roof of the chancel, with the angels above the corbels, (2) the piscina, (3) the carved seat-ends (especially the figure of a satyr). The churchyard cross has figures carved on it, perhaps the symbols of the four Evangelists. Within the parish but nearer the village of Kingsdon is _Lytes Cary House_, situated a little distance from the Glas...o...b..ry and Ilchester road. It is an interesting example of domestic architecture, the chapel dating from 1340, the rest of the building from the 15th cent. The E. front has two oriels, whilst the S. front, crowned with a parapet, bears the arms of Lyte (a chevron between 3 swans) and Horsey (3 horses' heads), and the initials _I, E_ (John Lyte and Edith Horsey). The chapel has a Dec. window and ruined piscina and stoup. The hall, now divided by a wall, has a fine roof and cornice. An upper room retains a good moulded ceiling, decorated with heraldic blazons.

_Charlton Musgrove_, a small village 1 m. N. of Wincanton. The church is early Perp. and has a fair W. tower. Note (1) panelled chancel arch, (2) square blocked squint, (3) odd-looking font. One of the bells is pre-Reformation, and has the inscription _Regina coeli, laetare_.

_Charterhouse on Mendip_, a lonely hamlet at the W. end of the Mendips, 3 m. N.W. of Priddy. Here the Carthusians of Witham had a cell (hence the name), but all traces of the building have now disappeared. The locality is, however, still of interest as the scene of the Roman mining industry. Here lead was unearthed and transported across the hills for shipment at Uphill. The settlement seems to have been a sort of Roman "Roaring Camp," where the miners relaxed the tedium of their exile by the excitements of the gaming-table. The surrounding heaps of slag have been rich in revelations. Discarded trinkets, spoons, forks, beads, and dice bear eloquent testimony to their habits, whilst on a shoulder of the neighbouring upland is an amphitheatre. (Take Blagdon road and turn up a gra.s.sy lane on L.: the amphitheatre is in a field near the top). The workings have now been abandoned, but many attempts have been made since Roman times to re-start them. A Roman road is distinctly traceable in the fields beyond the mines. It ran in a straight line from Uphill to Old Sarum. The rounded upland on the N.W., a mile or so farther on, is Blackdown (1067 ft.), the highest point of the Mendips.

_Cheddar_, a large village 2-1/2 m. S.E. of Axbridge and 12 S.E. from Weston-super-Mare. The G.W.R. line from Yatton to Wells has a station here. There are few to whom Cheddar is not known by name as possessing one of the most remarkable bits of scenery in the British Isles. The gorge, the sides of which form the famous cliffs, cleaves the edge of the Mendips very abruptly, and at its mouth lies the village. The most impressive introduction to the sight is to approach Cheddar by road from Priddy and to descend the ravine from the top of the hills, as the cliffs increase in grandeur in the course of the descent, and the best is thus kept till last. To the majority of sightseers who arrive by train this is, of course, a counsel of perfection, but it is as well that those who ascend from the village should be warned that the top of the pa.s.s emerges upon open tableland, and that nothing remarkable awaits them at the end of their climb. The grand _canon_ is only a quarter of a mile or so from the mouth of the gorge. Here the road winds in and out like a double S at the foot of the cliffs, which, gracefully festooned with creepers, tower above the spectator like the bastions of some gigantic castle. Possibly there are higher walls of rock elsewhere, but there are none which, for their height, have the same perpendicularity. In some cases they rise sheer from the roadway with a vertical face of 450 ft. Unfortunately an energetically worked quarry has wrecked one side of the ravine, and the clatter of the machinery detracts considerably from the repose of the scene. Near the entrance of the pa.s.s a detached ma.s.s of rock roughly resembling a crouching lion guards it like a sentinel. At its feet is spread a pretty little sheet of water fed by subterranean streams. In these hidden rivulets we have no doubt the instrument which nature has used to fashion the cliffs. Geologists a.s.sert that the gorge is but the ruins of a collapsed tunnel which once carried the water of some primeval river. A series of caverns at the entrance of the valley are vigorously exploited by their owners as "side shows" to this exhibition of natural marvels. Of these caves _c.o.x's_, the one nearest the village, was discovered as early as 1832, and has long been known to excursionists as one of the sights of Cheddar (entrance fee 1s.). The stalact.i.tes within are highly fantastic in shape and peculiarly rich in colour. There is, however, more to be seen for the money at _Gough's_, a little higher up, where a similar charge is made. A long natural gallery, rendered in places more accessible by excavation, runs for a quarter of a mile into the heart of the rock and opens up a series of vast chambers elaborately hung with stalact.i.tes. When the electric light is thrown on these pendants an almost pantomimic effect is produced. The scientific interest of the cavern consists in the abundant remains of extinct animals that from time to time have been discovered here. Amongst other specimens on show at the entrance are the bones of a pre-historic man unearthed in 1903. At a point along the gallery will be heard the rumble of a hidden river.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHEDDAR VILLAGE]

The village itself is not particularly picturesque. In its centre is an ancient hexagonal cross (cp. Shepton) of no great merit, and much doctored. The cheeses for which Cheddar is also famous are not the exclusive product of the locality but are extensively made throughout Somerset. The church is worth inspection. It is a fine Perp. building, with a lofty W. tower of four stages. It has triple belfry windows, and a spired stair turret, but the shallowness of the b.u.t.tresses detracts from its impressiveness. Within there is a good coloured roof, some Perp. screens, a good 15th-cent. stone pulpit (also coloured), some carved benches, and a rich S. chantry chapel of the Fitz-Walters. In the sanctuary note the fine piscina and the bra.s.ses to the De Cheddars--one to Sir Thomas on a recessed altar-tomb on the N., and a smaller one to his wife on the floor below. The piers of the arcade stand on some curious bases, probably the foundations of earlier columns. The general effect of the interior is spoilt by the fantastic modern colouring at the E. end.

_Cheddon Fitzpaine_, a parish 2 m. N.E. of Taunton, preserving, like Stoke Courcy, Stoke Gomer, Norton Fitzwarren, the name of its Norman lord. It has a nice church, which, however, contains little that is noteworthy. The piers of the S. arcade have figures on the capitals (cp. Taunton St Mary's), and there are a few bench ends and two piscinas.

_Chedzoy_ (2-1/2 m. from Bridgwater) is, with its neighbour Weston Zoyland, a village of great historic interest, since between the two is the field of Sedgemoor. The final _-oy_ is probably identical with the _-ey_ (isle) which occurs in Athelney and Muchelney, whilst _chedz-_ may be the possessive of _Cedda_, a Saxon personal name. The church of St Mary well deserves inspection. The embattled tower has double belfry windows, and is noteworthy for the unusual way in which the b.u.t.tresses are finished. From its summit, in 1685, the approach of the royal troops towards Sedgemoor was discovered through a telescope. Over the S. porch is the date 1579, and the initials R.B. (Richard Bere, Abbot of Glas...o...b..ry), R.F. (Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester), and H.P.

(unknown). The interior is remarkable for the difference in the width of the aisles, which are separated from the nave by an E.E. arcade, above which there is a clerestory. Over the N. aisle there is a curious arch, with some defaced carving (apparently a crucifixion) above it.

The chancel originally had a lateral chapel on the S., of which traces are visible both within and without. On the W. b.u.t.tress of the S.

transept there are still marks where Monmouth's rustics sharpened their scythes and axes. On both the S. and N. walls of the church there are consecration crosses. One of its most notable features is the excellence of its woodwork: note in particular (1) the bench ends, one of which has _M_ (Queen Mary), surmounted by a crown, with the date 1559; (2) the lectern, dated 1618; (3) the pulpit, with linen-pattern carving; (4) the railings near the organ, and the base of the tower, bearing the dates 1620 and 1637. The rood-screen is partly modern, but contains some old work. Note also the holy-water stoup, squint, sedilia, and double piscina. Three altar frontals have been constructed out of a beautiful cope which was discovered under the pulpit. There is a good bra.s.s (about 1490), said to belong to a Sydenham, near the S.

entrance. Recently (1904) a curious sale took place in accordance with a custom which is said to have been observed since 1490, when a piece of land was left to be sold every twenty-one years to provide for the repairs of the church, the auction to last during the burning of half an inch of candle, and the last bidder before the candle was consumed to become the purchaser. A similar method of sale is stated to prevail at Tatworth, near Chard.

_Chelvey_ is a village 1 m. S.W. of Nailsea Station. Its church, ded.

to St Bridget, preserves a Norm. door within the S. porch, and a Norm.

font on the S. side of the building. There is a large chapel containing three recesses beneath ogee canopies. Note the corbels on either side of the chancel to support the Lenten veil, and some curious old seats.

There is some old gla.s.s in the windows, and a cross in the churchyard.

In a farmhouse near are the remains of _Chelvey Court_, once the residence of the Tynte family, who have memorials in the church.

_Chelwood_, a small parish 2 m. S.E. of Pensford. Its little church contains nothing of interest except an ancient font (probably Norm.) and a medley of early gla.s.s (probably French) in the W. window.

_Cheriton, North_, a pleasant village 3 m. S.W. of Wincanton. It has a restored church, which preserves a pulpit of Charles I.'s time (1633), and a tub font. The screen is, in the main, modern, though part dates from the 15th cent.

_Chesterblade_, 2 m. N.E. of Evercreech, perhaps owes the first part of its name to its contiguity to the camp on Small Down (mentioned below).

Its church has a Norm. S. door. Note also (1) the quaintly carved Norm.

corbels at the N.E. and S.E. angles of the nave, (2) the Norm. font, (3) the stone reading-desk (16th cent.), (4) the bell-cot, (5) the base of a very ancient cross in the churchyard. On the adjoining height of _Small Down_ there is a camp, defended on the E. side by two ditches.

In it remains of flint implements and pottery have recently been found, and are now preserved in the Taunton Museum.

_Chew Magna_ (originally Bishop's Chew) is a village on the Chew, 3 m.

W. from Pensford Station. As its appearance suggests, it was once a small town. The main street has a raised causeway and several old houses. The church, supposed to have been built by Bishop Beckington, whose arms appear on the fabric, is a large and stately building with a lofty Perp. W. tower. It has N. and S. aisles, but no clerestory. The S. arcade is Dec. A fine gilded Perp. screen stretches right across the church. Note (1) round-headed piscinas in sanctuary and S. aisle, (2) Norm. font. There are several interesting monuments: (1) in S. chapel an elaborate Elizabethan tomb with rec.u.mbent effigies of E. Baber and wife (1575), (2) in N. chapel an altar-tomb with effigies of a gigantic knight and a diminutive lady (Sir J. St Loe and wife), (3) in recess beneath window in S. aisle a gaudily painted wooden figure of Sir John Hautville (_temp._ Henry VII.), said to have been brought from Norton Hautville Church (see _Stanton Drew_). The churchyard contains the base of a cross. At the entrance to the churchyard is a fine old mediaeval building with a good roof, where the manorial courts were once held.

Hard by is _Chew Court_, an old manor house, possessing a Tudor gateway with a solar above. Down a lane leading off from the Chew Stoke road is the _Manor House_, rebuilt in 1656 on the site of an earlier residence.

_Chew Stoke_, a village 4-1/2 m. S.W. from Pensford Station. The church stands back from the road, and has a graceful tower (restored), with spirelet. The building is Dec., but much restored. On the R. hand side of lane leading to the church is the old rectory, a quaint 15th-cent.

building, with small octagonal turrets and a front much decorated with heraldic devices.

_Chewton Mendip_, a prepossessing village, held in some repute by sightseers, on the N.E. edge of the Mendips, 5 m. N.N.E. from Wells. It may be reached from either Hallatrow (G.W.R.) or Binegar (S. & D.) Stations. Its chief attraction is its singularly interesting church, which possesses one of the most stately towers in the county. This, as the most meritorious feature, should perhaps be noticed first. The arrangement of double belfry windows in the _two_ upper stages is unusual, and the conventional lines of the elaborately pierced parapet above are relieved by the projecting stair turret and spirelet. The general effect is rich and impressive. The figure of our Lord, surrounded by four pairs of adoring angels, over the W. doorway should also be observed (cp. Batcombe). In the body of the church note should be taken of the good Norm. doorway forming the N. entrance. The interior is remarkable for an ugly bit of mediaeval vandalism. To render the altar observable from all parts of the church, a Norm.

triplet, which once formed the chancel arch, has been mutilated; a pointed arch has been inserted, and the corner of the S. wall pared away. The chancel contains the only extant specimen in Somerset of a _frid stool_, a rough seat let into the sill of the N. window of the sacrarium for the accommodation of any one claiming sanctuary. Note (1) piscinas of different dates in chancel; (2) change of design in arcading of nave, showing subsequent lengthening of church--the earlier columns stand on Norm. bases; (3) rood-loft doorway and ancient pulpit stairs near modern pulpit; (4) Jacobean lectern and Bible of 1611. The "Bonville" chantry, S. of chancel, contains a 15th-cent. altar-tomb with rec.u.mbent effigies of Sir H. Fitzroger and wife, and a modern mural tablet with medallion to Viscountess Waldegrave. In the churchyard is a weather-worn but fine cross, with a canopied crucifix.

The Communion plate is pre-Reformation, dating from 1511. The neighbouring _Priory_ (Earl Waldegrave) is an unpretentious modern building, occupying the site of an ancient Benedictine house, afterwards tenanted by Carthusians. Portions of the old causeway which once connected the priory with the church are still traceable.

_Chilcompton_, a village picturesquely situated at the bottom of a valley through which flows a rivulet. The stream forms a pretty margin to the village street. The church was entirely rebuilt in 1839, and a chancel of better type added in 1897. On the hill above, which commands an attractive view of the vale, is a station (S. & D.).

_Chillington_, a small village 4 m. N.W. from Crewkerne. It has a Perp.

church possessing an early font and some well-preserved early Communion plate.

_Chilthorne Domer_, a village 3 m. N.W. of Yeovil, has a small church with some interesting features. Like the churches of Ashington and Brympton, it has no tower but a curious square bell-cot over the W.

gable. There is a piscina attached to the N. pier of the chancel arch.

Some of the windows are Dec., and a lancet in the S. wall has the interior arch foliated. The remains of a second piscina are observable on the sill of one of the chancel windows. Under a recess in the chancel is an effigy of a knight in chain armour, supposed to be Sir William Domer or Dummer (_temp._ Edward I.). The Jacobean pulpit bears the date 1624.

_Chilton Cantelo_, a village 5 m. N. of Yeovil (nearest stat. Marston Magna, 2-1/2 m.), which gets its name from the Cantilupe family. The church, which has been rebuilt, has a good tower, with pinnacled b.u.t.tresses and a row of quatrefoils under the belfry storey. The body of the building retains four piscinas (in the chancel and the two transepts). Most of the windows have foliated rear arches. Note, too, the screen and the ma.s.sive font.

_Chilton-upon-Polden_ a village 1 m. S.E. of Cossington Station, possessing a church rebuilt in 1888-89.

_Chilton Priory_ is the church-like structure by the side of the main road from Bridgwater to Wells, about half a mile from Chilton village.

It is a modern building, though incorporating old material said to belong to a Benedictine priory, and was once a museum. The top of the tower commands a fine view both of the plain of Sedgemoor and the Brue Level, with the Quantocks and Mendips in the background.

_Chilton Trinity_, a parish 1-1/2 m. N. of Bridgwater. Its church is of little antiquarian interest.

_Chinnock, East_, a village 5 m. S.W. of Yeovil, has a church which retains no remains of antiquity except a piscina and a font.

_Chinnock, West_, 3 m. N.N.E. of Crewkerne, is a parish on the Parrett.

Its church has been wholly rebuilt (1889), the only parts of the original fabric retained seemingly being a lancet-window in the N. wall of the chancel and a Perp. one in the S.

Included in this parish is the village of _Chinnock, Middle_, which lies a little to the E. of W. Chinnock. The church has been restored, but retains several features of interest. The low embattled tower has a very wide staircase-turret. The S. door is Norm., with the zigzag moulding on the jambs and arch, and a carved tympanum. Under one of the stone seats in the porch is a canopy, protecting the head and shoulders of a small effigy (apparently an ecclesiastic). There is a (late) Norm.

font, with an unusual moulding. Note, too, an old carved stone built into the exterior of the N. transept. The gable of the porch carries a curious sundial (as at Tintinhull).

_Chipstable_, a picturesquely situated village, 3 m. W. from Wivelis...o...b... The church is of ancient origin, but it is difficult to say how much of the original fabric survives. The Perp. W. tower appears to have been restored merely, but the nave and aisles were rebuilt in 1869. The window tracery is good, and the cl.u.s.tered columns with angel capitals on the S. are noteworthy.

_Chiselborough_, a parish near the Parrett, 4-1/2 m. N.N.E. of Crewkerne. Its church has a central tower and spire, built over unusually low E.E. arches, with a groined vault. One of the bells bears the inscription "_Carmine laetatur Paulus campana vocatur_," and the name of the maker. The body of the church was rebuilt in 1842. The chancel is a makeshift.

_Christon_, a parish 3 m. S.W. of Sandford and Banwell Station, has a small but very interesting church. It is without aisles or transepts, but has a low central tower. The tower-vault has quadripart.i.te groining, with curious ornaments at the base of the ribs, and is supported by two Norm. recessed arches, with double chevron and other mouldings, resting on fluted pillars. The S. door has likewise a fine Norm. arch with the lozenge moulding. The chancel windows have rear foliations. The other windows are modern restorations.

A fine view is obtainable by crossing the hill on the N. which separates Christon from Hutton.

_Churchill_, a parish 1-1/2 m. E. of Sandford and Banwell Stations.

Like Wellington, it is a.s.sociated (though perhaps distantly) with one of the greatest soldiers our history has known, for _Churchill Court_, a mansion near the church, was once the home of the family from a branch of which the Duke of Marlborough sprung. The church itself is not without interest. There are two aisles, separated from the nave by arcades of different styles. The N. aisle has a good wooden roof, whilst the S., in which are hung some pieces of armour, contains a bra.s.s (protected by a carpet) to "Raphe Jenyns" and his wife (1572), who are said to have been ancestors of Sarah Jennings, who became d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough. Note (1) the old font, (2) the carved seat ends, (3) the squint looking from the S. aisle, (4) the monument to Thomas and Sarah Latch, with a quaint inscription, said to have been written by Dr Donne.

A little way S.E. of Churchill, on the summit of a conspicuous hill, is _Dolbury Camp_. It occupies 22 acres, is irregularly oblong in shape, and is defended by a rampart, constructed of fragments of limestone piled together, outside of which is a ditch, traceable in places. The camp is presumably British in origin, but was used by the Romans, who seem to have made their ramparts within the British earthwork.

_Clandown_, a small unlovely village on a hillside a little to the R.

of the Bath road, 1-1/2 m. N. from Radstock. The church, which is almost screened from observation by the workings of a colliery, is a small, modern building, rather foreign in appearance. The Fosse Way strikes right through the village, and may here be inspected with advantage. The modern Bath road deserts the Roman trackway to make an easier descent into Radstock, but the Roman road, _more suo_, regardless of obstacles, clambered up hill and down dale, and made straight for Stratton. The lane which pa.s.ses in front of the post-office and mounts the opposite embankment keeps the line of the original route.

_Clapton-in-Gordano_, a parish 4 m. N.E. of Clevedon. The description, _in Gordano_, still attached to four places in this neighbourhood, Clapton, Easton, Walton, and Weston, and formerly affixed to Portbury and Portishead besides, goes back to the 13th cent. The prevailing English form seems to have been _Gorden_ or _Gordene_, and the name was probably applied to the triangular vale in which all these places are situated, from _gore_, a wedge-shaped strip of land (cp. the application of the term to a triangular insertion in a garment), and _dean_ or _dene_, a valley (as in Taunton Dean). Clapton Church and manor house are both of considerable antiquity. The church has a plain W. tower, which is said to be of the 13th cent., though the main building has Perp. windows; it contains a large monument to the Winter family. At the entrance to the tower is a curious wooden screen, which is not ecclesiastical but domestic, and originally belonged to _Clapton Court_, the 14th-cent. manor house mentioned above, which is near the church.

_Clatworthy_, a village 4 m. N.W. from Wivelis...o...b... The church is a small Dec. building, of no particular interest, though it contains an ancient font. About a mile away is an encampment.