Chapter 12

HIGHBRIDGE, a growing little town on the Brue, 1-1/2 m. S.E. from Burnham. It has two stations, one on the G.W.R. main line to Taunton, the other on the S. & D. Burnham branch. It possesses a town-hall, a cattle market, and other evidences of prosperity. Brick and tile making are carried on in the locality, and a large bacon factory and a timber-yard are amongst its more important commercial undertakings. As the river is navigable up to this point for small craft it also encourages a coasting trade. Of antiquarian interest it has none. The church is as modern as the town.

_Hill Farrance_, 3-1/2 m. N.E. of Wellington, is a village on the Tone. Its church (ded. to the Holy Cross) has a massive-looking tower, with an open-work parapet, bearing the initials I.P. It contains sedilia and a piscina, and some carved bench ends. On the S. of the building is a mortuary chapel (14th cent.) of one of the De Vernais (once lords of the manor), which at the restoration of the church in 1857 was given to the parish.

_Hinton Blewitt_, a small and secluded village, 4 m. S.W. from Clutton. The church is Perp., with a fair W. tower. It possesses a stoup and a rather poor piscina. The village, which is on the slope of a hill, commands a pleasant view of the Mendips.

_Hinton Charterhouse_, a small village 6 m. S. of Bath, on the more easterly of the alternative roads from the city to Frome. Its sole attraction consists in a few fragments of a once considerable Carthusian priory. About 1/2 m. N. of the village, in the corner of a field near the main road, is what looks like a low gabled church tower, with a small E.E. chancel and some other out-buildings. These remnants are all that survive of a house founded here in 1232 by the widow of William Longsword, for the accommodation of a settlement of Carthusians; and it is worth noticing that of the Carthusian houses in England, which never numbered more than nine, Somerset had two. The ruins, which are very meagre, consist of two groups of buildings. (1) One is a three-storeyed structure, containing on basement a vaulted, chapel-like chamber, lighted by side lancets and a terminal triplet, and possessing a large piscina and an aumbry. This is generally but quite erroneously described as the "chapter-house." It may have been the fratry. On the first floor is another vaulted chamber, supposed to have been the library. It communicated at the end with a pigeon-cote, and is reached by a good stone staircase, which also gives access to a loft above. On the L. of the passage leading to the library will also be noticed a small room lighted by a square-headed window. (2) The second, in the stable-yard of the adjoining manor house, is the refectory, a good, vaulted apartment, with a row of octagonal columns down the centre. At the W. end it opens into the kitchen, in which will be discovered a fireplace. Of the priory church, which abutted on the N. wall of the so-called "chapter house," nothing is left but a single trefoiled piscina and one of the vaulting shafts. The buildings have evidently been freely used as a quarry for the erection of the neighbouring manor house. In a dingle in the adjoining field is a stone-faced, pointed archway, tunnelling the road. The parish church is an unattractive, ivy-clad building near the village. _Hinton House_ (J.C. Foxcroft) is a modern mansion, with a fine open green in front of it.

_Hinton St George_, a clean and attractive village equidistant (4 m.) from Crewkerne and Ilminster. It possesses a very fine cross, having on one face a representation of St John Baptist, which was originally flanked by smaller figures. The shaft has been barbarously crowned with a sundial and large ball. The church has a dignified tower with numerous pinnacles, and a pierced, embattled parapet. The W. front has a single large window which breaks the string course (cp. Shepton Beauchamp and Norton-sub-Hamdon). The S. porch has a ribbed and panelled roof and numerous niches. The interior of the church is not very interesting, apart from the tombs and monuments of the Pouletts, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. Most are in a large N. chapel, but there is one between the chapel and the chancel, and another in front of the family pew. The font is carved with shields bearing alternately a cross and the Poulett arms. There is a piscina in the chancel. _Hinton House_, the mansion of Countess Poulett, in the neighbouring park, has portions dating from the time of the first Sir Amyas Poulett (d. 1537), but the rest is later. It has a fine collection of pictures.

_Holcombe_, a colliery village 3-1/2 m. S. of Radstock. It has a small modern church; but an old church, now disused, lies in a dingle in some fields a mile away from the village. This possesses a good Norm. S. doorway, with a curious inverted inscription scratched on one of the capitals. The careless rebuilding of the columns shows that it is not in its original position.

_Holford_, a village 6 m. E. from Williton, at the foot of the Quantocks. Its church is picturesquely situated; in the graveyard is an old cross with a mutilated figure on the shaft. Past the church, two pleasant combes may be reached, Tannery Combe and Hodder's Combe (the latter is perhaps a corruption of the name of Odda, the Earl of Devon who aided Alfred, see p. 201). The hill between them bears the name of _Hare Kanp_, possibly preserving the memory of the Saxon armies that once marched along the trackway that crosses it (M.E. and A.S. _here_, an army). Near Holford is _Alfoxden_, the residence of Wordsworth in 1797, when Coleridge was at Nether Stowey.

_Holton_, a village 2-1/2 m. S.W. of Wincanton. Its church is small and contains a stone 15th-cent. pulpit and a Norm. font. On the S. porch is an old sundial, and in the churchyard the base of a cross.

_Holms, The Flat and Steep_, two islands in the Bristol Channel, forming familiar objects to all visitors to the Somerset sea-board. Geologically they belong to the county, for they are the last expiring protest of the Mendip chain against its final submergence in the sea. The Steep Holm, the nearer and more conspicuous of the two islets, 5 m. from the coast, is little better than a barren rock rearing its huge bulk precipitously, nearly 300 ft. above the waves. It is almost inaccessible, but has perhaps for this reason occasionally afforded an asylum to refugees from the mainland, although the statement that Gildas found security in this retreat appears to be an error. There still remain some fragments of a priory. The Flat Holm, 2 m. farther off, though of about the same circumference (1-1/2 m.), is a far less imposing object in the sea-scape, but is more amenable to the influences of civilisation. It is occupied by a lighthouse and a farm, and is sometimes made the excuse for a channel trip by visitors from the neighbouring watering-places, as it affords amongst other attractions some facilities for bathing.

_Hornblotton_, a parish 3 m. N.W. of Castle Cary Station. The church, which stands about a mile from the Fosse Way to Ilchester, is modern, but the tower of the old church is left standing, and a piscina has been removed from it to the new building.

_Horner Valley_, one of the many charming walks which abound in the neighbourhood of Porlock. Follow the Minehead road for about a mile and then strike up the banks of the Horner Water by a lane on the R. On the way will be noticed spanning the stream a quaint pack-horse bridge beloved of photographers (cp. Allerford). At Horner village the road winds round to Luccombe, but a broad path follows the course of the Horner and leads up through the woods. The scenery is comparable with that of the E. Lynn. It is a delightful combination of wood, mountain, and rill, and is everywhere full of charm. The Horner Water descends from the moors and babbles its way through the valley to the sea. It receives on the right a contributary rill which flows through a combe that rivals the main valley in romantic beauty. The second plank-bridge across the water will lead up a very steep footpath to Cloutsham.

_Horrington, East and West_, two contiguous villages on the S. slope of the Mendips, 2 m. E. from Wells, and overlooking the city. At E. Horrington there is a small modern church (1838).

_Horsington_, a largish village 1 m. N. of Templecombe. The church is spacious and has been rebuilt (1884-85), with the exception of the tower. It contains a 15th-cent. octagonal font with, rudely carved figures of angels at the angles. Near the church is a cross (said to be 13th cent.) with the canopied figure of an ecclesiastic on the shaft.

_Huish Champflower_, a village 3-1/2 m. N.W. from Wiveliscombe. The church is one of the few Dec. churches in the county, but not a pure example of the style, as the tower and window tracery are Perp. There is a good arcade of clustered columns with foliated capitals dividing the nave from the N. aisle. The window at the E. end of the aisle should also be observed, as the tracery is particularly good, and it retains some of its original glass. There is a barrow in the neighbourhood which has recently been excavated.

_Huish Episcopi_ is a parish situated E. of Langport, the two churches being less than half a mile apart. It is famed for its beautiful tower, which, however, is perhaps a little over-praised, for the crown of pinnacles, graceful in itself, does not seem to spring naturally from the summit, but to be super-imposed upon it. The belfry storey has double windows, and each stage is divided from the one below by bands of quatrefoils which produce rather a formal effect. The S. door is late Norm., its red colour being due to fire; in the upper corner of the porch traces of stone stairs are visible. Some Dec. windows remain in the chancel, but the majority are Perp.: the glass at the E. end of the S. aisle is by Sir E. Burne-Jones. Note (1) the stoup near S. door; (2) the piscina in the chancel; (3) the squint in the S. pier of the chancel; (4) the Jacobean pulpit (dated 1625).

_Huntspill_, a parish 1-1/2 m. S.S.W. from Highbridge, supposed to derive its name from Hun, a Somerset ealdorman in the reign of Egbert. It has a very handsome church which has been rebuilt since it was destroyed by fire in 1878. The pillars of the arcade still show traces of the flames. The tower is good, with bold buttresses. The church contains the effigies of a knight in armour and his lady, within a recess in the S. wall. Note (1) stoup in S. porch; (2) piscina in S. chapel; (3) fine black oak pulpit.

_Hutton_, a small village 3-1/2 m. S.E. of Weston-super-Mare. It lies at the base of Bleadon Hill, and may be approached from Weston either through Uphill or by a path that leaves the Worle road. Its small but picturesque church has a good tower of three stages and preserves an excellent stone pulpit, reached by a recess in the wall (which once led to the rood loft), and two brasses to members of the Payne family (one will be found immediately in front of the altar, the other in a recess in the N. wall of the chancel). _Hutton Court_, which is close by, is a 15th-cent. building much altered.

ILCHESTER, a small, decayed town on the Ivel, 4-1/2 m. N.E. of Martock, which was formerly of considerable importance. Its name recalls the fact that it was a Roman station, and upon it several Roman roads converge. It was besieged in the strife between William Rufus and his brother Robert; and it was fortified in the Great Civil War. It once had a nunnery, and it was the birthplace of Roger Bacon, who was born here in 1214. But apart from its historic associations it has little now to attract attention, its only noteworthy building being its church (the last remaining of five). This has a short tower which is octagonal throughout and does not rest, like others elsewhere, upon a square base. Some Roman bricks seem to be among the materials of which it is constructed, and there are a few old pieces of carving built into the walls. The oldest parts of the building appear to date from E.E. times, but it has undergone a good deal of restoration. Note (1) the E. window (three lancets under a hood moulding); (2) niches; (3) squint. There is a market cross, consisting of a cylindrical pillar supporting a sundial (cp. Martock). Though Ilchester is not now a borough, it was so once, and a very curious macehead (13th cent.) is still preserved.

_Ile (or Isle) Abbots_, a village 3-1/2 m. E. of Hatch Station. It gets its name from its position on the little river Ile (or Isle) and its former connection with Muchelney Abbey. It possesses an interesting church with a fine tower, having double windows in the belfry and numerous niches, which for the most part retain their statuary. The S. porch has fair groining with a central pendant, and there are some beautiful pierced parapets. The windows are of various dates--E.E., Dec., and Perp. Note in the chancel (1) low side-window (cp. Bleadon, Othery), (2) piscina, surrounded by panelling, (3) triple sedilia. The font, rudely carved, is Norm. The arcade piers are encircled with the "Devonshire" foliage.

_Ile (or Isle) Brewers_ (the latter half of the name a corruption of _De Bruyère_, the family that once owned the manor) is a parish 5 m. E. of Hatch Station. The church has been rebuilt (1861), and the tower (on the S.) is surmounted by a spire. Within is a Norm. font.

_Ilminster_, a small market town (with station) on the Ile, is a place of great antiquity but of little present importance, though it has some lace, shirt, and collar manufactories. It was attached to the Abbey of Muchelney until the dissolution of the monasteries. It possesses a noble church, the fine central tower having triple windows in double tier (cp. Mells and Leigh), and being surmounted by clustered pinnacles, whilst the vault is beautifully groined. The S. porch and the transepts are also excellently designed, these parts of the structure having been built by Sir William Wadham (15th cent.). The nave (rebuilt in 1824) is much inferior. Note (1) large ribbed squints; (2) font (probably once attached to a pillar); (3) vestry behind the E. window (cp. N. Petherton, Kingsbury, Langport, and Porlock); (4) piscinas in transepts; (5) grotesque corbels. In the N. transept are the tombs and brasses of (1) Sir William Wadham (d. 1425) and his wife; (2) Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham (1609 and 1618), the founders of Wadham College, Oxford. In the S. transept is a monument to Humfrey Walrond (d. 1580). The communion plate includes two Elizabethan chalices. The only other building in the town of any interest is the Grammar School, N. of the church. It bears a motto and the date 1586, and owes its origin to Humfrey Walrond. It is now a girls' school, the boys having been transferred to new buildings (reached from the street S. of the church).

_Ilton_, a village on the Ile, 2 m. N. of Ilminster. It has a church of some interest. The windows are partly Dec. and partly Perp., and the tower is on the S. Note (1) piscinas in chancel and chapel; (2) brass of Nicholas Wadham (d. 1508); (3) effigy of "Joan," wife of another Nicholas Wadham (d. 1557).

_Keinton-Mandeville_, a large village 4 m. E.N.E. of Somerton, lying for the most part along the Castle Cary road, with a station on the Castle Cary and Langport loop-line. The church is in a field at the S. extremity of the village. The nave was rebuilt in 1800, but the chancel retains some indication of its E.E. origin, and the old Norm. font is still preserved. The village was the birthplace of Sir Henry Irving, whose real name was Brodribb.

_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 glass (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, illustrates 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 glass 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 sanctity, 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 lustre from its association 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 débris to the E. of the church indicates the whereabouts of the original buildings. The church is a spacious rather than an inspiring edifice. A massive 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 brasses 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 shore 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 buttresses 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 glass 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 passes 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.