Near the church are two ancient buildings. The one (approached through a small ruined arch) is a 14th-cent. manor house, with a hall lighted by windows that are square without and foliated within. Note (1) oak roof, (2) curious brackets. The other (now the church-house) was formerly a grammar school, founded by William Strode of Barrington in 1661; note arms and motto. A small building, surrounded by a moat, is said to occupy the site of a manor house given to Lord Monteagle for bringing about the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. The market cross is a column crowned by a sundial and ball (cp. Ilchester).
Masbury, a station on S. & D. line from Bath to Templecombe. Here the railway, after an arduous ascent, at length reaches the summit of the Mendips. To the E. of the station is Masbury Ring, a large circular encampment. It is probably of British origin, but was, no doubt, also occupied by the Romans, as it lies on the line of the old Roman road from Uphill to Old Sarum. The fosse is now partly filled with trees. The ring may be regarded as the summit of the E. Mendip range, which here reaches 958 ft. About a mile to the E. is a thicker clump of fir trees crowning Beacon Hill, another high spot. The view from Masbury is most extensive. Below are the towers of Wells and Glastonbury Tor. On the W. horizon are the Blackdowns and Quantocks; and on clear days Dunkery and Exmoor are visible. To the E. are the Wiltshire Downs and Alfred's Tower, whilst right in front, to the N., is Dundry Hill.
Meare, a village 3½ m. N.W. from Glastonbury (nearest stat. Ashcott, 1¼ m.). It betrays by its name the former condition of the country round it, it having been an isle (like Athelney and Muchelney) only approachable (it is said), even as late as 1808, by a bridle-path. It belonged to the abbots of Glastonbury, who frequented it for fishing; and of their connection with the place there are surviving memorials in a Manor House (where they stayed) and a Fisher's House. The first (E. of the church) contains on the first floor a fine dining-hall with large hooded fireplace and Dec. windows; the building at right angles to it is said to have been the chapel. The second, where the abbey fisherman lived, is in a field adjoining the Manor House; it is roofless (the consequence of a fire), but the walk are intact, and the building is a good example of a mediaeval dwelling-house (erected 1335). The parish church has a 14th-cent. chancel with a Dec. E. window; the nave (Perp.) dates from the 15th cent., and has on the parapet of the S. aisle the monogram of Abbot Selwood, the penultimate Abbot of Glastonbury. There is a 15th-cent. stone pulpit.
Mells, a large village 3 m. W.N.W. from Frome (nearest stat. Mells Road). Mells possesses a fine church, several old houses, and a well-merited reputation for picturesqueness. The church is a rich example of 15th-cent. Somerset Perp., with the usual low chancel and an elaborately panelled and pinnacled W. tower (cp. Leigh). Note (1) fine groined porch (cp. Doulting); (2) octagonal vestry on S. with chamber above; (3) mural tablet with emblem of peacock, on N. wall of tower, designed by Burne-Jones; (4) Norm. font. There are some modern brasses to former incumbents, and in N. chapel a tablet to Sir J. Homer (1659). Immediately adjoining the church on W. is a fine gabled Elizabethan manor house. Mells Park (J.F. Horner) is a plain freestone mansion, standing in some well-timbered grounds at the farther end of the village. The founder of the family is popularly reputed to be the "little Jack Horner" of nursery fame. In the neighbourhood of Mells are three camps, Newbury and Wadbury, on the road to Elm, and Tedbury, on the way to Frome. The last mentioned is triangular, occupying a point of land between two ravines (cp. Ruborough).
Mells Village
Mendips, The, a chain of hills some 25 m. long, running in a straight line across the county in a N.W. direction from Frome to the Channel. On its S.W. face the ridge drops abruptly into the plain, but the opposite side gradually shelves away in a series of irregular undulations, though the descent becomes sharper as the hills approach the coast. Viewed from the sea-board the outline of the chain is on either side sharply defined, and forms a prominent and shapely feature in the landscape. From the low-lying central flats of the county the Mendips have a quite fictitious impressiveness. Nowhere does their altitude reach 1100 ft., and their ridge-like summit is nothing but an extended plateau, in places from 2 to 3 m. wide. They have, however, even on the top a certain picturesqueness, for the undulating tableland is relieved by copses, and diversified by little wooded "bottoms," scooped out by prehistoric torrents. Nearer the sea the uplands become more desolate, the "bottoms" are replaced by rocky combes, like the gorges at Cheddar and Burrington; villages become less frequent; and traces of discarded mines give a weirdness to the solitude. The moors are, however, healthy, and nowhere lacking in interest. Geologically the structure of the Mendips is simple. A core of old red sandstone, which occasionally crops out at the surface, and through which in one spot, near Downhead, a vein of igneous rock has forced its way, is thickly coated with a crust of mountain limestone. The once superincumbent coal-measures are huddled together on one side in a confused heap near Radstock, and on the other are probably buried beneath the Glastonbury marshes. The detached hills in their neighbourhood are doubtless only the remnants of an oolitic covering which once completely enveloped them. A noteworthy feature of the Mendips, but one shared by other limestone formations, is the number of caverns and "swallet holes" with which they abound. Of the former the Cheddar Caves and Wookey Hole are the most remarkable; and a good example of the latter is the [ Devil's Punch Bowl ] near E. Harptree. The chief antiquities consist of the old Roman lead-mines and an amphitheatre near Priddy, the old Roman road linking Uphill with Old Sarum, and a few camps, such as those at Masbury and Burrington. The hills are fairly uniform in height, the chief prominences being Beacon Hill (near Shepton), Masbury Ring, and Blackdown (1067 ft.). A fairly good road traverses the range from Frome to Cheddar or Burrington; and a ramble taken anywhere along its length will repay the pedestrian.
Merriott, 2 m. N. of Crewkerne, is partly, occupied, like the neighbouring town, in the manufacture of sail-cloth. The church, in the main Perp., has been restored, but retains its massive tower, which is singularly plain, with a pinnacled turret in the middle of the S. face. The tower arch looks like E.E., and there is a fine E.E. (restored) piscina in the chancel. The S. entry has some intricate carving above it, and there are some quaint figures on a stone inserted over the vestry door.
Middlezoy (6 m. S.E. from Bridgwater, 4 from Athelney Station) has a church (ded. to the Holy Cross) which contains some interesting features. The tower has double belfry windows (not triple, like Weston Zoyland). The chancel is Dec. (the E. window being good), and has a large piscina under a foliated canopy. There is a second piscina in the S. aisle, which likewise has a low side-window (cp. Othery). Note (1) the roof (with a few pendants); (2) the early Jacobean pulpit (dated 1606); (3) some carved seat ends; (4) Perp. screen; (5) old chest with three locks; (6) some fragments of ancient glass in the N. chapel; (7) a small brass (in the middle of the nave) to "Louis Chevaleir (sic) de Misiers," a French gentleman serving in the English army, who was killed at Sedgemoor (here called "the battle of Weston").
Midford, a station on the S. & D. line to Bath. There is a pretty view to be obtained from the platform, which overhangs a deep valley. Some of the S. surroundings of Bath may be conveniently explored from here by good walkers. Midford Castle, a modern antique, built in the shape of a triangle, stands just above the railway.