A handbook for travellers in Somerset ..

Front matter

M U R R AY^ S FOREIGN HAND BOO KS.

HANDBOOK— HOLLAND AND BELGIUM.— Map and Plans. Post 8vo. 65.

HANDBOOK — THE EHINE AND NORTH GERMANY, The Black Forest, The Hartz, ThUringerwald, Saxon Switzerland, RUoen, The uiant Mountains, Taunus, Odenwald, Elsass, and Lothrinoen. Maps and Plans. Post 8vo. 10«.

Preface

In former editions Somerset has formed part of a volume in which Wilts and Dorset were also included. It has been thought better to separate these counties in the present issue, and this volume consequently includes only the first-named. The whole has been carefully revised, and the accounts of Wells, Bath, and Bristol have received careful attention ; the Editor having to thank Mr. Percy Bate, keeper of the Holburne Art Museum, and Dr. Alfred Harvey, for many valuable suggestions in connection with the last two. To other correspondents too numerous to mention he begs also to express his obligations. The watering-places of Weston-super-Mare and Minehead, with the district around each, have been fully described ; and the Editor hopes that an adequate account of this beautiful county will be found within the pages of this book. Corrections and additions for a future edition should be sent to Mr. Murray.

LIST OF MAPS AND PLANS

1. General Map of County . . . . In pocket.

2. Ground Plan of Wells Cathedral . . Page

3. Plan of Bath . . . To face page 127

4. Bath and Bristol . . . . 155

5. Ground Plan of Bristol Cathedral . . Page 175

6. St. Mary Redcliffe Church . . . 201

7. Taunton and Yeovil . . To face page 287

8. North Coast of Somerset . . • ,, 467

HANDBOOK

FOR

Introduction

PAGE

i. History .... [vii]

ii. Physical Features . . [xv]

iii. Geology . . . [xviii]

iv. Description ; Communications ;

Industrial Resources [xxii]

PAGE

V, Antiquities : British ;

Roman . . , [xxiv]

vi. Architecture and Churches [xxvii]

vii. Places of Interest . [xxxii] viii. Cycling Routes . [xxxiv]

i. History.

The history of Somerset, as it should be called — for it never was a shire — cannot be satisfactorily written by itself, but must be taken in connection with that of its nearest neighbours, and particularly with that of Wilts and Dorset.

At the time of the Roman invasion, Wiltshire and Somersetshire were occupied by the immigrant Belgae, whose territory appears to have reached from the woodlands of Berkshire to the Bristol Channel.

We have no details of the Roman conquests in the S.W. of England, but it is probable that Vespasian made himself master of this district, and carried the Imperial eagles over the line of the Wansdyke. The Roman roads that intersected this part of Britain, and the number and extent of remains of miHtary and domestic architecture which it presents, prove a widespread and permanent occupation of the country. It has been thought that a College of Armourers was established by Hadrian at Aquae Solis (Bath), where it is certain, from the character of the baths and temples, &c., that have been excavated, that the Romans had a populous and opulent colony. Other Roman stations in

[viii]

INTRO D UCTION—HISTOR Y the county were Ischalis (Ilchester), Uxela (Bridgwater), and Ad Axium (Uphill, near Weston-super-Mare). The hills show many marks of Roman military occupation, often combined with the strongholds of the earlier inhabitants.

The retirement of the Romans left the country once more in the hands of the native Britons and Romanized Britons, who in the sixth century were called to defend their country against the invading hordes of Cerdic and his sons. **Step by step, from a small settlement on the Hampshire coast, the West Saxons had won their way, fighting battle after battle against the Welsh (the native Britons), and after nearly every battle extending their borders by a new acquisition of territory." — Freeman, In 520 the battle of Mons Badonicus (which many place at Badbury Rings, near Wimborne), in which the Britons under Arthur were victorious, gave a temporary check to Cerdic's advance, and led to a treaty between him and Arthur, followed by a period of comparative peace. Cerdic died in 534, and Arthur in 542. — Guest, War broke out again, and in 552 Cynric totally defeated at Old Sarum a vast army of Britons raised against him. In 556 the desperate battle of Barbury Hill (near Swindon), fought by Cynric and Ceawlin with the Britons under Aurelius Conan, decided the fate of the country of the Wilsaetas, which thenceforward formed part of the kingdom of Wessex. Twenty-one years later (577) the decisive battle of Deorham (Dyrham, in South Gloucestershire), won by Ceawhn the Bretwalda, sealed the fate of South Britain. The Britons lost their three great fortified towns of Gloucester, Cirencester, and Bath, and were thus cut off from their brethren in what we now know as Wales. Divided and weakened, all hope of making head against the enemy was gone. They retired westwards, where, separated from the kingdom of Wessex by the Somersetshire Axe and the forests of Somersetshire and Wiltshire, they long maintained their independence. "This was the last heathen conquest waged by West Saxons against the Britons. During a space of 300 years the conquest still went on. Step by step the English frontier advanced from the Axe to the Barrett, from the Barrett to the Tamar ; Taunton at one stage, Exeter at another, were border fortresses against the Welsh enemy." — Freeman, Wiltshire saw the sun of its conqueror's prosperity set when at the battle of Wanborough (near Swindon), a.d. 591, Ceawlin was defeated by the Welsh headed by his rebellious nephew Ceolric, and compelled to abdicate his

INTROD UCTION—HISTOR Y [ix]

throne. Two years after he died in exile. This defeat reduced Wessex to a state of great weakness, from which it revived under Cenwealh, who fought with signal success against the Britons at Bradford, a.d. 652, and at *'Peonna" (identified by some with Penselwood), a.d. 658, and effected the final subjugation of Somersetshire as far as the Parrett. This victory, which made the district for ever after EngUsh ground, was followed by a lasting peace, in which the conquered sat down side by side with the conquerors. Struggles for supremacy now began between Wessex and Mercia. In 675 Wulfhere of Mercia was defeated by ^scwin of Wessex at Great Bedwyn. In 710 Ine marched upon the British king of Dyvnaint, Geraint, the most important of the Celtic princes of the day, whom St. Aldhelm addressed as "the glorious lord of the western realm." The result of Ine's victory was his acquisition of the district of the Tone, whereon he erected a fortress, our modern Taunton. This is still a linguistic borderland, for Mr. Elworthy states, in his "Dialect of West Somerset," that "the people of the little village of Ruishton, only a mile and a half to the E. of Taunton, speak the eastern dialect ; while at Bishop's Hull, one mile to the W., they speak the western." Mr. Green has shown that the percentage of place-names whose termination in " ton " shows them to have been of Saxon origin becomes relatively smaller as we cross Somerset from E. to W. This termination, he tells us, N. of the Mendips, in the county which had been won in the early days of West Saxon invasion, bears to all other names the proportion of about a third; between Mendip and Parrett, in the county conquered by Cenwealh, it reaches only a fourth ; across the Parrett, but E. of the road from Watchet to Wellington, the proportion decreases to a fifth; and westward of this it becomes rapidly rarer, and varies in different districts from an eighth to a tenth. In 7 1 5 a still fiercer battle was fought between the same powers in the same district at Wanborough, between Ine and the forces of Mercia, without any decisive result. The power of Mercia continually increasing, Ethelbald, King of the Mercians, in 733, penetrated into the heart of Wessex, and invested Somerton, which fell under his power, the enfeebled Ethelard being unable to relieve it. About this time also the Western Welsh became troublesome. In 721 they had risen and seized on Taunton in Ine's absence, but his queen recovered it, and rased it to the ground. After Ine's abdication the Welsh succeeded in great

INTRO D UCTION—HISTOR Y measure in casting off the Saxon yoke, but were reduced to subjection once more by Cuthred in 753. An expiring effort for supremacy on the part of Mercia was effectually crushed in 823, when Egbert defeated Beornwulf, King of the Mercians, at Ellandune. Four years later Mercia submitted to the conqueror, and Egbert assumed the title of Bretwalda.

We now come to the epoch of Danish invasion. These inroads had commenced in the reign of Beohrtric, a.d. 789, on the coast of Dorsetshire. A successful landing took place in 833 at Charmouth. The reigns of the son and grandsons of Egbert were almost wholly taken up by the struggle against these piratical marauders. Ethelred himself was wounded in a battle with the heathen northerners at Melton, and was buried as a saint and martyr at Wimborne. Alfred was summoned from the funeral to meet the Danish army at Ellandune, which has been identified with Allington, near Amesbury, in Wiltshire, but may have been Wilton, where a long and obstinate conflict left the enemy masters of the field. In 876 W^areham was surprised by them. Alfred purchased their retirement, together with a pledge that they would not invade Wessex again. But the next year saw them attacking Wareham, on their retreat from which they fell in with Alfred's fleet near Swanage, and were driven on shore with great loss. The year 878 saw the most tremendous attack on Wessex that had yet been witnessed. With largely increased forces, Guthrum's army from Gloucester burst into the territory of the Wilsaetas, took the royal town of Chippenham, from which, as their headquarters, they made themselves masters of the whole country. For the time all seemed lost. The marshes of the Sumersaetas alone remained free from their ravages. Thither Alfred retired, and, with the aid of the faithful Somerset thanes, raised a fortress in the Isle of Athelney, strong in its natural defences of morass and forest. At the end of eight months he issued from his fastness, gathered round him a large army, and dealt a crushing blow on the Danish power at Ethandun (either Edington near Westbury, or, perhaps more probably, Edington on the Poldens, near Wedmore). The Northmen were forced to conclude the disgraceful peace of Wedmore, and their leader, Guthrum, had to submit to the rite of baptism, which he received at Aller.

The feeble reign of Ethelred saw the wearying spectacle renewed of incessant landings and skirmishes of the Danes.

INTRO D UCTION—HISTOR Y [xi]

In 988 Watchet was attacked ; several thanes were killed, but the enemy were at last beaten off. Nine years later (997) they cruelly ravaged Somersetshire, and the next year Dorsetshire. To avenge the atrocious massacre of St. Brice's Day, Swegen invaded England in person in 1003, and after storming and plundering Exeter he marched into Wiltshire, and sacked Old Sarum and Wilton. In 1015 he made Bath his headquarters, where he received the submission of the western thanes. Cnut's first landing in England in 10 15 was at Frome Mouth, the port of Wareham, whence he proceeded to harry the shires of Somerset, Dorset, and Wilts, while Ethelred lay sick at Corsham. On Ethelred's death the next year, Wessex acknowledged Edmund as king. The wisdom of their choice was soon confirmed when Edmund's small force met and routed the army of Cnut at Penselwood. In 105 1 Bristol, which was rising into importance chiefly as the seat of the Irish slave-trade, was selected by Harold and his brother Leofwine as the place of embarkation for Ireland. On their return in 1052 they landed at Porlock. The men of Somerset and Devon met them in arms, and Harold began his enterprise of deliverance by being compelled to do battle with those he came to deliver. More than 30 thanes and a large number of meaner folk were slain, and Harold returned to his ships victorious, to join his father Earl Godwin's fleet at Portland. The year succeeding the Norman Conquest, 1067, Harold's three sons, who had taken refuge with Dermot, King of Leinster, attempted to enter England by the Avon, but were driven back by the people of Bristol, who knew that domestic tranquillity was essential to their commercial prosperity. In 1086 W^illiam the Conqueror held his court at Old Sarum. During the insurrection in support of Duke Robert's claims to the throne of England, under the leadership of Odo of Bayeux, 1087, the district was much distressed by the predatory excursions made by his supporters. Bp. Geoffrey of Coutances and Robert de Mowbray, from Bristol. Their followers burnt Bath and attacked Ilchester, where they were repulsed.

In the 12th century the counties of Wilts, Somerset, and Dorset were the scene of many of the most stirring events during the struggle between Stephen and the Empress Maud. The castle of Bristol was held by Robert Earl of Gloucester, its lord, A.D. 1 1 38, for his half-sister. That city became the headquarters of her partisans, from which they ravaged the

[xii]

INTRO D UCTION—HISTOR Y country round, which became a prey to their outrages and depredations. Bath was held alternately by the forces of the two contending parties. Maud's cause was supported by William Louvel at Castle Gary, and William Fitz-John at Harptree. Stephen having vainly attempted to take Bristol by siege, turned his attention to these two castles, both of which surrendered. This success was followed by the submission of Wareham, which had been occupied for Maud in this year. The warlike Bp. Roger of Sarum, the chief builder of castles as well as of churches of his day, was at this time, with his nephews the Bishops of Lincoln and Ely, secretly favouring the Empress's cause, and had furnished his castles of Devizes, Sherborne, Malmesbury, and Sarum with provisions and munitions to support her claims. The three prelates being summoned to a Council at Oxford, 1139, Roger and Bp. Alexander of Lincoln were arrested by Stephen : but ]3p. Nigel of Ely escaping, took refuge at Devizes, which, with the other strongholds, was soon surrendered to the King as the price of the liberation of the two captive bishops.

The atrocities and devastation committed by the lords of the castles on their unhappy neighbours were renewed by William of Mohun from his castle of Dunster. Stephen, having vainly attempted to take it by assault, surrounded it by his forces to hold him in check, and succeeded in restoring tranquillity to the harassed district.

In 1 1 39 Baldwin de Redvers landed at Wareham, and occupied Corfe Castle, being speedily followed by Maud and the Earl of Gloucester. From Arundel the empress proceeded by way of Calne to Bristol, where she summoned the barons to her aid, and, as at Gloucester subsequently, assumed royal state and, unfortunately for her hopes of success, more than royal imperiousness. Trowbridge Castle was held by a strong garrison for her by Humphrey de Bohun. The castles of Devizes and Malmesbury, with others, were continually being taken and retaken by the contending parties.

When Stephen was taken prisoner at the battle of Lincoln, A.D. 1 141, he was transferred for safe custody to Bristol Castle. Maud, who was now recognised as Lady of England," celebrated the Easter festival this year in royal state at Wilton. The same year Maud, on her escape from Winchester, fled first to Ludgershall and then to Devizes, and Stephen left his prison by exchange for the Earl of Gloucester, who had been taken at

INTRO D UCTION—HISTOR Y

[xiii]

Stockbridge. Bristol Castle soon became the home of Maud's young son, afterwards Henry II., who remained there for four years. Maud's sovereignty was generally acknowledged by the western counties, a.d. 1143, after the disastrous defeat of the royal forces at Wilton, while Stephen held London and the eastern and central parts. Sherborne, which was regarded as a principal key of the kingdom, was surrendered to her, and at one time she made her temporary home at Devizes. The chief strongholds in Wiltshire being held by the adherents of the contending parties, that district became a prey to rapine, bloodshed, and widespread misery, which was only terminated by the treaty of 1 153.

During the 13th and 14th centuries these three counties had a breathing-time, taking little if any share in the events which were shaping our national history. At the period of Jack Cade's rebellion, 1450, the Bp. of Salisbury's tenants rose and barbarously murdered the prelate at Edington. In 147 1 Margaret of Anjou and her son landed at Weymouth, and took refuge at Cerne ; shortly afterwards Edward IV. passed through Malmesbury on his way to Tewkesbury. In 1497 the peace of the western counties was again disturbed by the invasion of the pretender Perkin Warbeck and his adherents. Being confronted with Henry VII. and his forces at Taunton, Perkin fled, and his forces surrendered to the royal mercy.

In the great civil war of the 17th century the western counties were, with the exception of the great towns, firm in their loyalty to Charles I., and they became the scene of active warfare. In the early part of 1643 ^^e Cornishmen took up arms for the King, defeated the Earl of Stamford at Stratton May 16, and advanced into Somersetshire. Numerous sieges and engagements, with various issue, occurred. In May Wardour Castle was taken by Sir Edw. Hungerford, and garrisoned by Ludlow, but retaken by the royalists in March of the next year. In Sept. the Earl of Essex was unexpectedly attacked on Aldbourne Chase by Charles I. and Prince Rupert, and defeated with great loss. The same year the royalist garrison of Malmesbury surrendered to Sir W. Waller, who had recently made himself master of Chichester ; but it was speedily retaken, and in July Waller was defeated at Lansdown, near Bath, and at Devizes a few days afterwards by the royalist general Lord Wilmot. Shortly after this serious loss. Prince Rupert made a fierce attack on Bristol, which surrendered to him in three days.

[xiv]

INTRO D UCTION—HISTOR V

Corfe Castle sustained a determined but unavailing siege from the Parliamentary forces. The following year the sun of the King's prosperity began to set in the west. Taunton w^as taken for the Parliament by Colonel Blake, but was soon afterwards invested by the royalist forces. Lyme was besieged by Prince Maurice, whose military reputation was seriously tarnished by the unsuccessful issue of the attack, and in 1645 the Parliamentary forces of the new model, animated by the sternest fanaticism, under the nominal command of Sir Thomas Fairfax, but whose real leader was Cromwell, swept through the west in an unbroken tide of conquest. Sherborne fell after an obstinate defence of 16 days. Taunton, after enduring a siege of the most extreme severity under Goring, was relieved, July 3, by the mere tidings of their approach. Goring was defeated at Langport and Aller Moor July 10 ; Bridgwater fell July 23, Bath July 30. These successes cooped up the royalist forces in Devonshire and Cornwall, and precluded them from sending any assistance to Charles. They were crowned by the surrender of Bristol, after a very feeble defence by Prince Rupert, Sept. 10. Devizes fell Sept. 23, and Cromwell, having done his work, marched his forces to Donnington. Before this period armed associations of Clubmen had been formed in the western counties, attaching themselves to neither party, with the object of protecting their property and checking the depredations and violence of both armies. A large body of these was routed by Cromwell on Hambledon Hill at the outset of his western campaign, Aug. 4, 1645.

The peace generally prevailing through the Commonwealth was temporarily broken by the abortive insurrection of Penruddock at Salisbury in 1655.

These counties w^ere the theatre of the landing of the Duke of Monmouth, his brief success, and disastrous defeat, followed by " the Bloody Assize " of Judge Jeffreys. Monmouth landed at Lyme June 11, 1685, was proclaimed king at Taunton June 20, marched onwards by Bridgwater June 21, Glastonbury June 22, Wells, Shepton Mallet, with the view of seizing Bristol. Foiled in that hope, and finding the gates of Bath shut against him, he turned towards Wiltshire, and, after a skirmish at Philip's Norton, reached Frome, his forces wearied and dispirited. Without any settled plan of a campaign, he returned to Wells, and re-entered Bridgwater July 2, to sustain a complete overthrow at Sedgemoor July 6. The infamous

INTRODUCTION— PHYSICAL FEATURES [xv]

cruelties of Kirke and the judicial barbarities of Judge Jeffreys are inseparably connected with Taunton, Dorchester, and the other towns which had the misfortune of welcoming Monmouth.

Three years later these counties witnessed the triumphal progress of William of Orange, and the last feeble attempt of James II. to secure his throne and crown. Having landed at Torbay Nov. 5, 1688, the beginning of December saw William at Salisbury, occupying the same apartments in the episcopal palace that James had left only a few days before, on the resignation of his vain scheme of meeting the invader in the field. The first blood spilt was shed in a skirmish at Wincanton. On Oct. 6 he reached Hungerford, and held a conference with the Royal Commissioners at Littlecote Hall.

The annals of the counties during the last 180 years have been happily uneventful.

ii. Physical Features.

The county, though its physical aspect is much varied, naturally arranges itself in three main divisions, a central basm between two hilly districts, one on the W., the other on the N.E. The Mendips and Quantocks are the E. and W. boundaries of the central portion, which is in fact coterminous with the physical basin watered by the Parrett, the Brue, and the Axe, or the Bridgwater Level, as it is sometimes called ; and contains no elevations other than the low-lying Polden Hills (about 300 feet high and 20 miles long), and such islands as Brent Knoll, Glastonbury Tor, Wearyall Hill, Wells Tor, and the like, rising out of the flat alluvial deposit. It is generally describable as an irregular parallelogram, about 15 miles either way, divided into two parts by the Poldens. The division between the Polden Hills and the Mendips includes Glastonbury turf-moor, while the other division, to the W. of the Polden Hills, contains King's Sedgemoor.

The hilly district on W. consists of the Quantock Hills, of which Will's Neck, the highest point, reaches 1261 feet. The other chief heights are Thorncombe Barrow, Huxley Beacon, Danesborough, Fire Beacon, Bagbarrow Station, Cothelston, and Bancombe Hill. The Quantocks are about 14 miles long, and 4 or 5 wide. The steep escarpment on the western face is in a great measure occupied by woods and plantations. The eastern slope is more gradual, and is intersected by the

[xvi] INTRODUCTION— PHYSICAL FEATURES beautiful valleys of the Seven Wells and Hunter's Combe. Also in W. are the Brendon Hills, among which are Haddon Hill (1164 feet), and Dunkery Beacon, the highest point in Somerset (1707 feet).

The elevation of Dunkery, though in itself inconsiderable and of an easy gradient, is relatively commanding. From its top you may see right through Somersetshire, from end to end, some 60 miles. The curious physical feature of Central Somerset — islands of hill rising from the flat, such as Brent Knoll, Glastonbury Tor, Brean Down, and Worle Hill — is conspicuous. The entire coast-line from Weston to Lynton is traceable, except where Minehead interrupts it.

The N.E. hilly district is very different in its character from that in the W. With the exception of the Mendips, it does not consist of distinct lines of hill, but of irregularly disposed heights which gradually slope away to the rivers Frome and Avon, which drain the district on the N. The Mendips from Whatley, near Frome, in E., to Brean Down in W., are about 34 miles long, rising in some parts to more than 1000 feet. Their chief heights are Worle Hill, near Weston, Banwell, Sandford, Dolberry, Burrington Ham, Wavering Down, Shutshelve, Blackdown, North Hill, Pen Hill, Milton Hill (above Wells), Maesbury Castle, and Beacon Hill (above Shepton Mallet). The straight sky-line of the Mendips, interrupted in W. by the Cheddar gorge, is one of the most striking features ' to the eye. The chief of the irregular hills are in the neighbourhood of Bath and Bristol, such as Falkland Knoll, near Norton St. Philip; Lansdown (780 feet), Claverton, Combe, and Odd Downs, near Bath; Dundry (765 feet), Broadfield Down (with its Cleve and Brockley combes), S. of Bristol, and Leigh Down W., with its St. Vincent rocks.

What Dunkery is in the W., Lansdown Racecourse is in the E. The great oolitic escarpment trends thence N.E. along the Cots wolds, S.W. towards the Mendips, which meet it at right angles ; due W. the eye rests on the outlier of Dundry ; due E. it passes over the N.W. Wiltshire valley to the chalk downs hung like a curtain on the horizon. Along the sea -coast there are not many bold headlands, but rather easy lines of beach and bay, sometimes wooded, as at Quantock's Head, almost to the water-line, or ending in a lace of low cliff, as at Watchet and Cleeve. The point of .Brean Down, a bold bar of mountain hmestone, running

INTRODUCTION— PHYSICAL FEATURES [xviij athwart the six miles of sandy beach which begin at Burnham Church, and Minehead Hill, with its tongue-like termination of Hurlstone Point, are exceptions to this series of soft scalloped curves of coast-line.

The watershed-Hne, sometimes in Somerset, sometimes in Dorset, enters the former county at Alfred's Tower, on the chalk ; passes on the oolites between Wincanton and Bruton by Bratton ; turns S. at Milborne Port by Purse Caundle and Glanville's Wootton ; rejoins the chalk again above Glanville's Wootton, and follows it by Evershot, Corscombe, Mosterton, Shave-lane Hill, Wind-whistle Hill, Chard, Combe St. Nicholas, and the Blackdown Hills on the kindred greensand, where, leaving the cretaceous series, it passes through the new red sandstone to White-ball Hill, through carboniferous limestone at Hockworthy, joins the Devonian rocks at Clayhanger, and so by the Brendon Hills to Dunkery Beacon and Porlock. Thus are the waters which flow through Somerset and Dorset divided between the Bristol and English Channels.

The main system of drainage is that of the central basin watered by the Barrett (the principal river in the county, and rising i mile beyond its S. border), with its tributaries : — i. The He on the left bank ; 2. The Yeo (one source being in Dorset, and the other in Somerset) on the right bank ; 3. The Tone (rising in the S. slope of Brendon Hill, and flowing through Taunton Dene) on the left bank ; 4. The Cary (rising near Castle Cary) on the right bank. The Brue, also rising on the border of Dorset and Somerset, and flowing by Bruton and Glastonbury, cannot be truly called a tributary of the Parrett, but empties into the same estuary as that river, from which it is separated by the low line of the Poldens. The Axe may be said to be appurtenant to the Mendips, rising in Wookey Hole, flowing at their foot, and passing into the Bristol Channel between Uphill and Brean Down.

The W. hills are watered by the brooks which flow into the sea at Watchet, Dunster, and Porlock. The two sources of the Exe (the Barle and the Exe) are in Exmoor, on the very confines of the county. The N.E. district is drained by the Avon and its tributaries. On entering the county, and before reaching Bath, it receives the Box Brook, the Midford Brook, and the Frome. The Chew joins below Bath above Keynsham.

b

[xviii] INTRODUCTION— GEOLOGY iii. Geology.

The geology of Somersetshire includes specimens of nearly all the formations which appear on the surface of England from Wales to Norfolk — the Devonian in the hills of Exmoor, Brendon, and Quantock ; the old red sandstone and mountain limestone in Mendip ; the coal-measures among the hills S. of Bath ; the new red sandstone and marls in the vale of Taunton Dene and at the base of many of the hills ; the lias, which bounds the Bridgw^ater Level like a sea-cliff, or rises out of it in patches like islands, as Brent Knoll ; the oolite formations, extending over the S. and E. of the county ; the greensand and chalk, which appear yet further S. in the Crewkerne and Chard hills, in the Blackdown Hills E. of Bruton, and in the tableland between Somerset and Devon ; and, lastly, an extensive alluvial deposit, partly covered by peat and fen land, which fills up the Bridgwater Flat.

This alluvial deposit is partly marine (though this part is small and intermittent), flat mud-banks by the sea-shore, such as the Bridgwater Flat, properly so called, but chiefly estuarine and fliiviaiile^ such as the Burnham Level, Huntspill Level, the flats from Portishead to Aust Passage, Nailsea and Kenn moors, and others, which extend- from Weston to the inland ranges.

The chalk formation in Somerset occurs but in three outlying patches, extending into the county from Wilts and Dorset, one of greensand just capped with chalk (Roddenbury Hill) on the E. side of the Somerset and Weymouth Railway between Frome and Bruton ; another more considerable, of which Cricket St. Thomas is the centre, to the W. of Crewkerne, separated by the tributaries of the Axe from the third and larger mass of chalk and greensand, which occupies the country about Chard, and extends over the Blackdown Hills. In the upper greensand are found concretionary layers 12 or 18 feet thick, affording the scythe and hone stones which form an important branch of manufacture, and are sent all over the kingdom. The Oxford clay occupies a considerable extent of the eastern part of the county, from Standerwick, E. of Frome, to Henstridge and Stalbridge, though nearly cut into two parts at Wincanton by the approximation of the cornbrash and coral rag. The lower oolites are found in the isolated hill of Dundry in the N., in the district round Bath, descending in a band, more or less interrupted