The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Parish church
Nunney lies 3 miles W of Frome, Somerset. The ‘island of nuns’, in a pleasant shallow valley at the E end of the Mendips, lies to the SE of several local limestone quarries. A Cistercian nunnery was established in 1162. There is a 14thc castle and other evidence of previous importance. The church of All Saints (formerly St Peter) is built of coursed and squared Doulting rubble with ashlar dressings, and has a cruciform plan with a W tower, aisled nave, S porch and chancel. The Romanesque elements comprise the tub font and a possible sculpture of uncertain date in the N arcade.
Parish church
Saltford extends westwards from the L bank of the Avon between Bath and Keynsham (4 miles from the former and 2 miles from the latter), on either side of the main A4 between Bristol and Bath. The church is at the N edge of the village only 300m from the river, accompanied by the manor house dating from the Norman period and reputably the oldest habitation in the country. Geologically, Saltford exploits (like many settlements in this area of N Somerset) an unusually large area of limestone bedrock: specifically Blue and White Lias of the Lower Lias division of Jurassic rock. The place-name signifies ‘salty=tidal ford’ although various weirs now prevent the river being so up to this point. Saltford’s relatively low-lying position in the Avon valley alone must have occasioned considerable traffic and exploitation of resources; further, communication from the R bank which gave access to the Roman road running north of the Avon between Bath and the port at Sea Mills (W of Bristol) would have enhanced its utility.
The church is of 12thc or possibly Saxon origin, with some mid 17thc rebuilding following Civil War damage in 1643. It was restored and remodelled in 1832, with much of the walling rebuilt on earlier foundations. The font might have 12thc origins but has been remodelled.
Parish church
Where the river Avon runs past Batheaston, 2.5 miles NE of Bath city centre, it makes a right-angle turn. At that angle, from the N, the river receives the water of St Catherine’s Brook, which stream runs down steep (and quite well-wooded) valleys from the Cotswold plateau near Cold Ashton and Marshfield over the county border in Gloucestershire. Northwards from a point about 1 mile from its confluence with the Avon, St Catherine’s Brook forms the boundary between Somerset and Gloucestershire. The parish of St Catherine is the most NE in Somerset, well ensconced by the S folds of the Cotswolds. About 1.8 miles from Batheaston a lane runs past the nucleus of the Court, the Court Farm and the Church of St Catherine: there are few other buildings. Indeed, the whole valley has clearly not attracted settlement apart from farms; it is extremely sequestered despite its proximity to Bath and major communication routes.
The church sits at an altitude of about 85m above OD (about 35m higher than the Brook). The church was built in the 12thc as a chapel of ease for Bath Abbey, and was altered and remodelled extensively c. 1490 for Prior Cantlow of Bath. The Romanesque elements consist of a chamfered tower arch and the font.
Parish church
Marksbury is a small village in Somerset sited near the Chew valley, about 5.5 miles SW of Bath and 13 miles NE of Wells. The meaning of the place-name (‘boundary-fort’) suggests potentially significant history (Costen, 1983). S of the Avon Valley, E of the Chew Valley and W of Newton Brook Valley, Marksbury is in a historically active area and nowadays part of a favoured, prosperous district either side of the Avon. The bedrock on which the village rests is the Lower Lias known as ‘Blue Lias’. There is a quarry marked on nineteenth-century OS mapping immediately W of the village. One of the site photos, taken from the neighbouring parish of Farmborough, gives a view across the relatively flat land of Marksbury Plain to the church tower and beyond to the hills of Winsbury and Stantonbury. The original settlement lies offset below and to the NW of the A39, which is a long-established route along the high ground.
The church of St Peter therefore would seem originally to have occupied an almost solitary commanding position (at 124m above OD) on the high ground of the ridge, isolated except for its farm close-by on its SW side. The church consists of W tower, nave, N porch and chancel. The church is of late 12thc origin, but mainly dates to the 15thc, and was extensively restored in 1875. The only Romanesque feature present is a 12thc font.