The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Wells (medieval)
Parish church
North Wootton is 2.5mi SE of Wells, Somerset. The Somerset levels lie stretched out to the W and S of North Wootton. The small village lies at the S end of a cleft between two of the S foothills of Mendip, Launcherley and Stoodly Hills. Access to Pilton manor (former secular administrative centre) 2.5 kms ESE would have been along the direct route over Stoodly Hill, while the diocesan centre at Wells would have been reached N through the cleft mentioned above. The church oF St Peter was a chapelry of Pilton until becoming a vicarage in 1845 (VCH). The building dates from the 14thc and has a W tower, S porch, nave and chancel. There is a Romanesque font.
Parish church
Leigh-on-Mendip is about 5 miles from Frome and Shepton Mallet. At about 200m OD up on the E Mendips, the large linear village occupies reasonably level land on a broad W-E ridge to the SW of the large limestone quarry of Halecombe. Disused quarries lie to the N and S, the latter adjacent to Downhead; indeed, the surrounding area is punctuated by them. 500m S of the village runs the old main road between Wells and Frome. The church was rebuilt c1500 but contains a Romanesque font.
Parish church
The parish of Pawlett lies 4 miles N of Bridgwater in a bend of the river Parrett near its mouth. The village stands at the SE end of Pawlett Hill and consisted until the 19thc of a few stone farmhouses and irregular closes in a triangle of roads with the church in the SE angle. The church of St John the Baptist was a dependent chapelry of North Petherton minster but achieved virtual independence in the 12thc. Robert FitzHarding (d. 1171) gave the church to St. Augustine's abbey, Bristol, probably at its foundation c. 1140. The building consists of a 12thc nave with N and S transepts added in the 13thc. and a S porch, a chancel with N vestry and a W tower. The S nave doorway and font are Romanesque.
Parish church
Lamyatt lies within the triangle formed by Castle Cary (2 miles SE), Bruton and Evercreech, Somerset (3 miles to the N). The name means ‘lamb gate’, referring to the gap in the horseshoe of hills surrounding Evercreech (Watts, 2004). The village is on Lower Lias limestone, with Creech Hill to the E rising to Fuller’s Earth limestone. The church lies at 118m altitude 800m W of Lamyatt Beacon, in its own conch-like combe, 700m NE of the village centre, accompanied by its farm (‘Lamyatt Farm’) and associated buildings. The church is predominantly Perpendicular in date, but has a Romanesque font.
Parish church
The place-name of Loxton, Somerset signifies ‘tun on the Lox [Yeo river]’ . The small settlement occupies quite a dramatic situation on the W side of the gap formed in the Mendip Hills by the Lox Yeo, just 800m N of that river’s confluence with the major Axe: to the N lie the forbidding hills; to the S lie the Somerset Levels (between 1974 and 1996 Loxton was part of the County of Avon). The geology is Mercia Mudstone/Dolomitic Conglomerate, above the Alluvium of the Levels, beneath the Burrington Oolite and Dolomite/Black Rock Limestone of the hills. The church lies alone except for its neighbour farm to the E side of the hamlet. The church has 11thc origins, but mainly dates from the 13thc to 15thc; there was a restoration and extension in the early 20thc. The S doorway is Romanesque and there is a consecration cross of perhaps similar date.
Parish church
Puxton is a small village 5 miles NW of Axbridge in N Somerset. The church, which is hidden in a quiet setting behind some houses, consists of a W tower (which has a significant lean to the W due to it being built on peaty soil), nave, chancel and N porch. The church is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The sole Romanesque feature is a tub font.
Parish church
The village of Pylle is 4 miles SW of Shepton Mallet and 7 miles from Wells in the Mendips, Somerset. The line of the Roman Fosse Way, perpetuated by the A37, runs only 0.5 mile E of the village (and defines the E boundary of the parish except for a small salient further E). The church, manor house and farm rest on Lower Lias bedrock (specifically, the Langport Member known as ‘Blue Lias’), in a lush pastoral landscape. The church was rebuilt 1868 for the Portman family, except for the 15thc tower; it houses a Romanesque tub font.
Parish church
Middle Chinnock is 3 miles NE of Crewkerne in generally undulating country, an area of South Somerset notable as good farming country. Chiselborough Hill rises abruptly to the N of the Chinnock stream; the chalk hills of Dorset are not far to the S. The small, compact, settlement of Middle Chinnock is only a field away from the larger village of West Chinnock. The church of St Margaret is at the S end of the settlement, packed together quite closely with the rectory, manor house and farm. The medieval nave has a porch and W tower, and the plan at this end of the church seems unchanged. It had transepts added in 1836 and has a chancel that was restored in the 1860s. Remains from the Romanesque period include the S doorway to the nave, and a font. There are also re-set carved stones in the exterior walls of the N transept and chancel.
Public building
The village of Milborne Port is 3½ miles NE of Sherborne, Dorset. An elaborate and unusual Romanesque doorway is reset in a 17thc building which was once the Guildhall. This building is on the S side of the main A30 just W of the central crossroads.
Parish church
North Curry is a village 5 miles E of Taunton. The village straddles and straggles along a low Mercia Mudstone ridge extending over the low moors NE of Taunton terminated by the River Parrett at Stathe. It lies just S of the River Tone at about 25m OD, and 8km E of Taunton. North Curry, like Stoke St Gregory, is one of the two largest villages, both of which are blessed with parish churches. Although a road runs along the ridge, it is not now more than locally important.
The church of St Peter and Paul, sometimes known as 'Cathedral of the Moors' stands to the N of the village centre on the crest of the scarp, and commands a fine prospect across the low moors. The striking edifice can be very clearly seen from afar to the north, and its builders through the ages may well have been conscious of it making a strong statement on the landscape. Its building development suggests that there was no shortage of resources, particularly around 1300 and 1500 by which time the church had been largely rebuilt. The N doorway is Romanesque.