Heathfield, a parish 2½ m. E. of Milverton. Its church is small, and the only objects of interest which it contains are (1) a mural monument on the N. of the chancel, with kneeling figures, of the 16th cent.; (2) a carved oak pulpit (said to be reconstructed from ancient materials). There is the shaft of an ancient cross in the graveyard, with a mutilated figure.
Hemington, a village lying at the end of a wide vale, 3 m. E.S.E. from Radstock. The church has a few features in common with the neighbouring church of Buckland Denham, viz., (1) peculiar arrangement of windows in tower, (2) clerestory to nave, though the building possesses only one aisle. The interior shows (a) some good Dec. work in windows, some of which have foliated rear arches, with detached shaft; (b) plain Norm. chancel arch. Observe also (1) piscina on the respond of the chancel arcade, (2) the central pier of the arcade (it is surrounded by four detached shafts). On the hill above the village, standing by the side of the Trowbridge road, is a square tower of as much beauty as utility, locally known as "Turner's Folly." The "green" of the neighbouring hamlet of Falkland retains its ancient stocks.
Henstridge, a large village 7 m. S. of Wincanton, with a station on the S. & D.J.R. The church has been rebuilt (except the tower and part of the N. and W. walls), but contains some ancient features. There is a 15th-cent. altar-tomb in the chancel under a carved and coloured canopy, with two effigies. These represent William Carent (who inherited the property of two wealthy families, the Carents and the Toomers), and his wife Margaret (née Stourton). The arms that adorn the tomb are those of Carent and Stourton. The rhyming inscription round the arch of the canopy is, Sis testis Xte quod non tumulus iacet iste corpus ut ornetur, sed spiritus ut memoretur. There is also an elaborately carved niche or tabernacle in the N.E. angle of the N. (or Toomer) aisle. Note, too, (1) decorated piscina, (2) remains of figures over the entrance to the N. chapel. The "Virginia Inn" at the cross-road is said to be the spot where Sir Walter Raleigh's servant emptied a stoup of beer over his master, who was smoking, in the belief that he was on fire. At Yeaston, a hamlet between Henstridge and Templecombe, there once existed a Benedictine priory, attached to an abbey of that Order at Coutances (Normandy). A field is still said to bear the name of the Priory Plot.
HIGHBRIDGE, a growing little town on the Brue, 1½ 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, 3½ 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 ½ 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 3½ 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.