Buckland Denham, a village prominently perched on a hillside 3 m. N.W. from Frome. It was once a busy little town with a flourishing cloth trade. The church has a W. tower with an unusual arrangement of windows (cp. Hemington). The Norm. S. doorway and the device by which the upper part of the porch has been converted into a parvise should be noticed. Three chapels are attached to the church. The one at the N., originally the chantry of Sir J. Denham, has on the floor the figures of a knight and his lady in relief. In two of the chapels are piscinas, and there is a large one in the chancel. Some ancient glass, with emblems of the Evangelists, will be found in one of the chapels. The Norm. font, with different mouldings on opposite sides, deserves attention.
Buckland St Mary, a parish 5 m. N.W. of Chard, has a modern church (1853-63), very richly decorated, which it owes to the munificence of the rector, though to some its ornateness will seem a little out of harmony with its rural surroundings. The wooden cover of the font is said to be all that remains of the former church. Not far away are a number of flint stones which are conjectured to be Celtic memorials.
Buckland, West, 5 m. S.W. of Taunton, has a Perp. church, preserving earlier materials, but of no great interest to the ordinary observer. The W. tower has the bell-turret on the S. side (cp. Wellington and Bradford). Note (1) the Norm. font (on a modern base), (2) the entrance to the former rood-loft. The churchyard commands a fine view.
Burnett, a small village 2½ m. S.E. of Keynsham. The church is a tiny late Perp. building of poor workmanship. In the organ-chamber is a small brass to John Cuttle (1575), once Mayor of Bristol. An attendant family are all quaintly labelled.
Burnham, a watering-place on the Bristol Channel, 24 m. S.W. from Bristol and 8 N. from Bridgwater. The S. & D. branch line from Edington Junction has a terminal station here. Neither art nor nature has done much for Burnham. Though a good deal exploited by the local railway company as a half-holiday resort, it possesses few attractions for the summer visitor. It has shown recently some signs of improvement, but no enterprise can make a first-rate watering-place out of a muddy estuary and a strip of sandy shore. A small pier, a narrow esplanade, and some small gardens form its chief artificial recommendations, and its one natural merit is an invigorating breeze which never seems to fail. A tall lighthouse, standing some considerable distance away from the sea, is a conspicuous landmark on the N., and a supplementary light burns from a wooden erection on the beach. The church of St Andrew, near the esplanade, is early Perp. Its two features of interest are its leaning W. tower, and an altar-piece designed by Inigo Jones for Whitehall Chapel, but eventually erected in Westminster Abbey. It appears to have been turned out of the abbey as lumber on the occasion of George IV.'s coronation, and to have been placed in Burnham Church by the then vicar, who was also Canon of Westminster.
Burrington, a small village in the Vale of Wrington, with a station on the Light Railway. It possesses a remarkable ravine, which would be considered fine by any one unacquainted with Cheddar. It has the magnitude but not the grandeur of its famous competitor. The hillsides present merely a series of steep slopes broken by protruding masses of rock. The combe runs up to the shoulders of Blackdown, and is throughout wild and picturesque. Like the Cheddar gorge, it abounds in caverns, there being no fewer than four, all of which have been prolific in "finds." It was whilst taking shelter here that Toplady composed "Rock of Ages." On one of the hills above the combe is a Roman encampment fenced with a rough wall of stone, locally known as Burrington Ham. Another picturesque spot in the neighbourhood is a glen called Rickford. The church, which stands in some fields near the mouth of the gorge, is a Perp. building with a low W. tower and a peculiarly graceful spirelet over the rood-loft turret. There are some good parapets to the aisles, but the roof of one of the chapels projects in an ugly manner above that of the chancel (cp. Yatton). Note (1) ancient glass in window above N. door, (2) pieces of an old bell with maker's mark (a ship), c. 1470.
Burrow (or Borough) Bridge, 1½ m. N.E. of Athelney Station. It is noteworthy for its conical hill, locally called the Mump, crowned by a ruined church (St Michael's). It affords an extensive view over the surrounding plain, and may be the site of Alfred's fort (see p. [ 13]).
Burtle, a parish 1 m. N. of Edington Station. (S. & D.). The church 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.