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
proprietorship. It is a small Perp. structure, of no great interest.
_Butleigh_ is a pleasant village, 4 m. S. of Glastonbury. 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 glass. 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
Glastonbury Plain was erected to the memory of Sir Samuel Hood.
_Cadbury Camp_, near Tickenham. See _Tickenham_. The name is perhaps
connected with the Welsh _câd_ (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 glass 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 à 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 association 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 fashioned 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
Glastonbury. This is King Arthur's hunting track. Apart from these
legendary associations, 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 Glastonbury 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.
_Camel, Queen_ (1 m. S.W. of Sparkford Station), is a large and
attractive village, owing its name to the neighbouring stream, the Cam.
Its church is a dignified structure with a lofty tower, which has its
turret unusually placed at the N.W. angle (cp. Yeovil and Martock). The
arcade has octagonal piers. Two of them have small niches, and there is
a clerestory above. The roof has embattled tie-beams, the space above
them being filled with Perp. tracery. The E. window is lofty. The
chancel has a screen and rood-loft, with fan tracery E. and W.; the
staircase is in the S. pier of the arch. At the E. end is a piscina and
a sedile, each under an elaborate triple ogee canopy. The Perp. font is
unusual, being supported on pillars which have niches containing
figures. On the S. side of the church there is an incongruous
"classical" porch (cp. Sutton Montis). In the parish is a mineral
spring with properties resembling those of Harrogate waters.
_Camel, West_, a village 2 m. S.W. of Sparkford Station, has a church
with many features of interest. In plan it is cruciform, the S.
transept being under the tower, which is on the S. side, and is crowned
by a small spire. The arches of the tower, chancel, and N. transept are
probably Dec. The E. window is Dec., with the interior arch foliated.
The rest are Perp. The nave roof deserves notice. The chancel contains
a double piscina under a large foliated arch, and triple sedilia. The
font is Norm., with shallow arcading round the basin. Near it is a
fragment of the shaft of a cross, ascribed to the 9th cent., with the
interlaced carving generally associated with Celtic and Irish crosses.
In a window behind the pulpit there is some ancient glass.
_Camely_, a parish about 1-1/2 m. S.W. from Clutton Station, deriving
its name from another Cam. The church is a solitary building standing
back from the roadside. It has a good Perp. W. tower, but a very
uncouth-looking nave and chancel.
_Camerton_, a flourishing colliery village lying in a deep valley about
2 m. N.N.E. of Radstock. It has a terminal station on a small branch
line running up from Hallatrow. The church, which is rather obscurely
situated at the back of the rectory, has been well restored, and is
handsomely furnished. The chancel is new. A side chapel contains two
altar-tombs to members of the Carew family (1640-86), said to be mere
replicas of the original tombs in Carew Church, Pembrokeshire. Note (1)
stoup inside N. doorway, (2) piscina in organ chamber. _Camerton Court_
(Miss Jarrett), a modern building with a colonnade, stands over against
the church on the other side of the dale.
_Cannington_, a large village 4 m. N.W. of Bridgwater, is a place of
some interest. It is the birthplace of a distinguished man, for at
_Brymore House_, hard by, John Pym was born. The church has some
unusual features, for a single roof covers nave, aisles, and chancel;
and there is no chancel arch. The whole building is very lofty, and it
has good E. and W. windows. The tower, which will be seen to be out of
line with the axis of the nave, is richly ornamented with niches. Note
externally the turret above the rood staircase, and the series of
consecration crosses (12) on the E. and S. wall of the chancel; and in
the interior observe (1) the carved oak cornice, (2) the screen (the
upper part restored), (3) Norm. pillar (a survival of an earlier
church) in the vestry, (4) old Bible of 1617. A priory of Benedictine
nuns, founded by a De Courcy (of Stoke Courcy) in 1138, once existed
here. The large house with mullioned windows, near the church, now
occupied by a Roman Catholic industrial school, was once a court-house
belonging to the Clifford family.
Down a road running E. from the church is _Gurney Street Farm_, an old
manor-house. It has a small chapel, with piscina, aumbry, niches, and
carved roof; above is a chamber (probably for the priest), reached by
stairs, each of which consists of a single block of oak, while behind
is a room panelled in oak, with a window looking into the chapel.
A mile from the village on the Stowey road (take path to left) is
another manor house, _Blackmoor Farm_. It has a good porch, and retains
its chapel (note piscina and niches), over the W. end of which some of
the chambers on the first floor project.
_Carhampton_, a village on the Dunster and Williton road, 2 m. S.E. of
Dunster. The church has been restored and in parts rebuilt. It still
contains a fine and richly coloured screen, evidently copied from the
one at Dunster (cp. Timberscombe), but there are no indications of a
stairway. Note (1) piscinas in S. aisle and chancel, (2) carved
wall-plate in S. aisle. There is the base of a cross in the churchyard.
On the road to Blue Anchor there is an ancient manor-house, called
_Marshwood Farm_, which has in its porch some curious plaster figures.
CASTLE CARY, a small market town at S.E. corner of the county, with a
station (1 m.) at the junction of the G.W.R. Weymouth line with the
Langport loop. Its population in 1901 was 1904. The town has a pleasant
air of old-fashionedness about it. The castle which gave it its name
long since disappeared from history, and until recently from knowledge.
It was only in 1890 that its site was revealed. Some excavations in a
field at the bottom of Lodge Hill brought to light the foundations of a
large square Norm. keep. Its outlines are now marked by pillars. It
seems to have acquired notoriety chiefly in the disorderly days of
Stephen. The Church possesses a good spire, and is conspicuously
situated. But though outwardly picturesque, it has little of interest
within. Note, however, (1) piscina in chancel, (2) oak screen, (3)
carved pulpit, (4) panel and canopied effigy over S. porch. There is
also a shallow font (_temp._ Henry VI.) on a pedestal of curious
design.
_Castle Neroche_, locally known as Castle Ratch, a remarkable earthwork
of problematical origin, 7 m. S. of Taunton. It crowns the edge of a
precipitous hillside, over which runs the main road to Chard. The camp
is of quite exceptional strength, and occupies a position of great
strategic importance. Recent excavations have proved it to have been
occupied and strengthened, if not originally made, by the Normans. On
the accessible side looking towards Chard the station is defended by a
triple row of ramparts and ditches, but the side overlooking the vale
of Taunton is so precipitous that the only protection provided appears
to have been a kind of citadel surmounted probably by a keep. The
centre of this once formidable military position is now incongruously
occupied by a farm-house. The view from the citadel or beacon across
Taunton Dean is far-reaching and exhilarating. The outlook on the other
side is circumscribed by the high ground beyond.
_Castle of Comfort_, a lonely public-house on the top of the Mendips,
standing by the side of the Bristol and Wells road. For the tourist it
forms a very convenient landmark from which to indicate the more
interesting features of the Mendip plateau. (1) The Roman road from
Uphill to Old Sarum may be traced across a field near the house. (2)
The Devil's Punch Bowl, one of the most notable swallets on the
Mendips, is 1/4 m. nearer Bristol (climb a wall on the R. and the
swallet, a funnel-shaped hollow, partly overgrown with brushwood, will
be seen in a field about 100 yards from the roadside). (3) The old
Roman lead mines are 2-1/2 m. away on the road to Charterhouse. (4) The
"Lamb's Lair" cavern (now unexplorable) lies 2 m. to the N. near the
Bristol road. (5) Nine Barrows, to find which take the Wells road; 1/2
m. to the S. is another solitary inn, and opposite are the barrows.
_Catcott_, a village on the Poldens, 3 m. S. of Edington Station. The
church is quaint; note, in particular, the old oak seats, and the odd
means by which they can be lengthened. There is an old octagonal font.
_Chaffcombe_, a secluded village on the slope of Windwhistle Hill,
2-1/2 m. N.E. from Chard. The church is a small Dec. building with a
Perp. W. tower containing a pre-Reformation bell.
_Chantry_, or _Little Elm_, a small village 4-1/2 m. S.W. from Frome.
The church is a beautiful bit of modern Gothic, designed by Sir G.
Scott.
_Chapel Allerton_, a village 4-1/2 m. S.W. from Axbridge. The church is
a 13th-cent. building which has been subsequently altered and enlarged.
In the parish are the remains of an old "hundred stone," marking the
boundaries of the hundred of Bempstone.
CHARD, a market town of 4437 inhabitants, at the S. extremity of the
county, served by both the G.W.R. and L. & S.W.R. Chard is a pleasant
variant upon the usual cramped type of Somerset county town. It spreads
itself out up the side of a hill with a magnificent disregard for
ground values in one broad and breezy street a mile long. Its situation
is remarkable for the impartiality of its maritime predilections, for
the runnels at the side of the thoroughfare are said to discharge their
contents, the one into the Bristol, the other into the English Channel.
Its early name, Cerde (for Cerdic), implies its Saxon origin, but it
was a benefaction of Bishop Joceline, who gave half his manor for its
extension, which really made the town. Chard has figured a little in
history. Charles I. and Fairfax both made some stay in it. Penruddock
suffered a severe reverse in the neighbourhood in 1655, and Monmouth,
in 1685, marched through Chard _en route_, as he thought, for the
throne, a circumstance which Jeffreys did not allow the town to forget.
"Hangcross tree," which once stood near the L. & S.W. station, was long
locally reputed to be the gibbet on which some of the Duke's
sympathisers expiated their treason. The town is nowadays chiefly
dependent upon a large lace works and some collar factories. The
church, which stands in the "old town" (turn down Axminster Road), is
said to have been erected about 1400, and is a spacious Perp. building
without a clerestory. It has a squat W. tower, some good porches (cp.
N. porch with Ilminster), and some bold gargoyles. Within note (1)
squints, (2) rood-loft stair with external turret, (3) indistinct
traces of mural paintings in N. transept, (4) Brewer monument (early
17th cent.) in N. transeptal chapel. The main street contains some
notable examples of domestic architecture--(1) gabled hostelry, "The
Choughs" (opposite street leading to church), (2) fine old house
opposite Town Hall, date about 1580, supposed to have been the court
house of the manor (containing an exceptionally fine room, with two
mullioned windows of 20 lights, and a moulded plaster ceiling), (3)
grammar school, at foot of the town opposite a fountain. A leaden pipe
carries the date 1583, though the present school was not founded till
1671.
_Charlcombe_ is a parish 2 m. N. of Bath, with a very small church,
which has a Norm. S. door. Note (1) the font (probably Norm.), (2) the
massive stone pulpit, (3) the reredos. There is a fine yew tree near
the porch.
_Charlinch_, a parish 5 m. W. of Bridgwater. The second syllable
(recurring in _Moorlinch, Redlynch_) means a level terrace on the side
of a hill; the first is probably a personal name. Its church
illustrates many periods of architecture, for it has a Norm. font and
S. door (with depressed arch), a Trans. chancel arch (pointed), a Dec.
E. window, and Perp. tower, chapel (or transept), and nave windows. The
altar-piece, in memory of Lady Taunton, is a modern copy of the
15th-cent. painter Francia. There are two interesting epitaphs, one on
the S. wall of the chancel, the other on a brass on the floor. There
are also some fragments of ancient glass; and a stone, with a
consecration cross, is built into the porch.
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 Horethorne_ is a pleasant village 1-1/2 m. N.W. of Milborne
Port Station. The church has a well-proportioned Perp. tower with bold
buttresses; 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 Glastonbury 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 grassy 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 pass emerges upon open tableland, and that nothing remarkable
awaits them at the end of their climb. The grand _cañon_ 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 pass a detached mass 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 assert 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 _Cox'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
stalactites 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 stalactites. 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.
[Illustration: CHEDDAR VILLAGE]