An ancient bridge across the Tone (perhaps dating from the 13th cent.) carries the road to Nynehead and Milverton: the parapet is modern.
Bradley, West, a small village 4 m. E.S.E. from Glastonbury. The church is an unattractive-looking little building, but of more interest than its appearance suggests. It has a short, battlemented W. tower (with pyramidal cap), supposed to date from 1400. The vault is groined. In the S. porch is a mutilated stoup. Within, note (1) in chancel, image brackets and defaced piscina; (2) rood loft stair and window. The nave roof is original.
Bratton Seymour, a village conspicuously perched on a hill 3 m. W. from Wincanton. The church has been rebuilt. Its prominent position makes it an excellent landmark. W. of the church is a tumulus where have been discovered the remains of a Roman watch-tower.
Brean, a scattered hamlet 4 m. N. of Burnham, near the estuary of the Axe. Its little church, with its foundations much below the level of the neighbouring sand-dunes, is noteworthy merely for its lonely situation. To the N. is Brean Down, a narrow promontory extending more than a mile into the sea, with traces of earthworks. From Weston it may be reached in the summer months by a ferry; the road from the same place is a circuitous one, by way of Bleadon or Lympsham.
Brent, East, a village 2 m. E. of Brent Knoll Station. The name may refer to the knoll, brent meaning a steep hill. The place has a church with a stone spire. Its most interesting features are, externally, the sculptures on the W. face of the tower ((1) Virgin and Child, (2) the Father holding the Crucified Son, (3) Christ crowning the Virgin), and, internally, the roof, the woodwork, and the ancient glass. The nave roof, of plaster, may be compared with that of Axbridge; its date is 1637. The Jacobean or rather Caroline pulpit dates from 1634, and the columns supporting the gallery from 1635. The seat-ends (15th cent.) are good: among the carvings note the symbols of the Evangelists (that of St Mark is missing, both here and at S. Brent) and the initials of John Selwood, the antepenultimate Abbot of Glastonbury (d. 1473). The old glass (late 14th cent.) will be seen in two windows in the N. aisle. Two effigies, one an ecclesiastic, the other probably a layman, have been placed under two of the windows. The frescoes (in S. porch and chancel) and the cross in the churchyard are modern: on the latter are statuettes of apostles, and mediaeval and modern ecclesiastics.
Brent Knoll is a conspicuous eminence of lias, drowned with a cap of inferior oolite, about 450 ft. above sea-level and four acres in extent. On the summit is a camp with a single rampart (though there are, in addition, external terraces in certain positions), British in origin, but utilised by the Romans. It commands a splendid view, embracing the Mendips and Quantocks, Glastonbury Tor, the Channel, and the River Parrett.
Brent, South, 1 m. from Brent Knoll Station, has a church very picturesquely situated on the side of the knoll. Though in the main Perp., it contains examples of earlier work. The S. doorway is Norm, or Trans. (12th cent.), and there is also a small Norm. pillar (perhaps part of a piscina) attached to the E. wall of the N. aisle. The S. wall is in E.E. (note the corbels); and a large S. chapel (note piscina), now used as a vestry, is Dec. (about 1370). The Perp. W. tower, with triple belfry windows, has unusually short buttresses for a tower of its class. Within the church the most noticeable features are (1) fine wooden roof of N. aisle; (2) mural monument of John Somersett (d. 1663) and his two wives; (3) font of unusual shape; (4) the seat-ends (assigned to the 15th cent.), with their curious carvings, partly sacred emblems and partly humorous scenes, the latter depicting a fox (1) in the robes of an abbot or bishop, (2) brought to trial, (3) executed.
Brewham, South, a village 3 m. N.E. of Bruton. It lies in a dell through which flows the Brue (whence its name). The church, chiefly Perp., is not of much interest, though beneath the tower at the S.W. corner is a doorway of rough construction but peculiar character; near it is a stoup. In the churchyard is a cross and an old font. North Brewham is a small hamlet ½ m. away.
Bridgwater, a seaport of more than 15,000 inhabitants, on the tidal part of the Parrett. It has a station on the G.W.R. main line to Exeter, and is the terminus of the S. & D. branch from Glastonbury. The general aspect of the town is uninviting, and its immediate surroundings are almost as uninspiring as its buildings. The river, which ministers largely to its prosperity, adds little to its attractions. It, however, furnishes the town twice a day with a mild sensation in the shape of a bore, which at the turn of the tide rolls up the river-bed like a miniature breaker. Though the name, Bridgwater, hardly savours of antiquity it really conceals quite a venerable origin. The not uncommon combination of a bridge and water has nothing to do with the nomenclature. The name appears to be a corruption of Burgh Walter, from Walter of Douay, one of the followers of William the Conqueror. In the Great Rebellion the place proved to the Royal cause in the West a kind of Metz. The castle was supposed to be impregnable, and was held in force for the king by Colonel Wyndham, but on the destruction of the suburb of Eastover by Fairfax, the royal colours were, much to the chagrin of Charles, unexpectedly hauled down from the stronghold, and the garrison, 1000 strong, tamely walked out. The Parliamentary commander made a huge "bag" by the capture. It was, however, in connection with Monmouth's ill-starred enterprise that Bridgwater attained its chief historical notoriety, for it was here that the Duke had his headquarters before the fatal engagement on Sedgemoor. Of the castle—founded by a De Briwere, who is said to have been the bearer of Richard I.'s ransom—hardly a vestige remains. King's Square now occupies its place, and a few fragments of its walls and portions of the water-gate are incorporated in some of the cellars which border the quay. In the centre of the town is the parish church of St Mary, a spacious building with a low W. tower of red sandstone crowned by a tall and graceful spire. It is chiefly Perp., with an ugly and inharmonious modern clerestory; but there are some remains of the Dec. period in the N. porch. Over the altar hangs a picture of the "Descent from the Cross," said to have been found in the hold of a captured privateer. The noteworthy features are (1) black oak screens and pulpit, (2) the blocked squints, in the porches, (3) stoup and geometric rose window in N. porch, (4) mural monument to Sir Francis Kingsmill and two sons. In the churchyard are two timeworn, recumbent figures recessed into the N. wall of N. transept, and an altar-tomb to Oldmixon, mentioned in Pope's "Dunciad." In front of the town-hall is a good statue of Blake, the famous Cromwellian admiral, whose birthplace, much modernised, will be found in Blake Street. An arched doorway in Silver Street is said to have been the gateway of a college of Grey Friars. A house E. of the churchyard has a fine panelled ceiling. The modern church of St John in the suburb of Eastover (for the name, cp. Northover at Ilchester and Southover at Wells) stands upon the site of a former hospital of the Knights of St John, founded by William de Briwere in the 13th cent. Besides its shipping trade, Bridgwater does a large business in bricks and tiles, and possesses a unique industry in the manufacture of Bath bricks—presumably so called from their resemblance to Bath stone. Beds of mingled mud and sand are left by the tide in recesses excavated in the river-banks. The deposit is dug out, moulded into bricks, and dried, and then exported for cleaning metals.
Brislington, a rapidly growing suburb of Bristol, 1¾ m. S.E. of the city, with a station on the Frome branch. The church has a tower which is characteristic of a considerable class of Somerset towers. On its S. face are two quaint little effigies (supposed to represent the founders, Lord and Lady de la Warr), and each side of the parapet has a niche containing a figure (cp. Tickenham and Wraxall). The S. aisle has a waggon-roof, and there is a piscina in the S. chapel. The square font is presumably Norm. Brislington Hill House is a 17th-cent. brick mansion.