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St David, Barton St David, Somerset

Location
(51°4′57″N, 2°39′29″W)
Barton St David
ST 540 317
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Somerset
now Somerset
medieval All Saints
now St David
  • Robin Downes
14 November 2005

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Feature Sets
Description

Barton St David is a sizeable village towards the E of central Somerset, 5 miles SE of Glastonbury in the valley of the river Brue. The church is on the SW edge of the village, and is cruciform in plan with a 2-bay chancel, a 3-bay nave with a N porch, single-bay transepts and an octagonal NE tower. Construction is of local lias ashlar and the church dates from the 12thc to the 15thc. There was a major 19thc restoration. The only Romanesque feature is the N nave doorway.

History

The Domesday Survey records two manors here. The larger, of 3½ hides, was held by Edmund son of Pain from Humphrey the Chamberlain in 1086, and had been held by Eadwulf before the Conquest. The manor also included 50 acres of meadow, 60 acres of pasture and a mill. The second manor was of 1½ hides and was held by Norman from Roger de Courseulles in 1086, and had been held by Alstan before the Conquest. There was another mill here, and 24 acres of meadow and as many of pasture. One hide in Keinton Mandeville belonged to this manor in 1066.

According to VCH the subsequent history of the smaller estate is obscure. The larger, held in 1086 by Edmund son of Pain, came to Pain of Walton by 1198 and the tenancy remained in the Walton family until the mid-16th century, when the male line failed and the manor passed by marriage to the Cheverells.

The church and the advowson were given to Wells cathedral to form a prebend by Robert de Meisy in 1215. The dedication to All Saints is found in 1279. In 1791 it is recorded with its present dedication.

Features

Exterior Features

Doorways

Comments/Opinions

Pevsner dates the doorway to the 12thc, as does the present author. The NMR dates it to the 13thc. The bases and trellis ornament of the doorway may be compared with Kingweston, a mile to the W.

Bibliography

D. E. Greenway (ed), Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1200, vol 7, London 2001, 38-39.

Somerset County Council, Historic Environment Record 51472.

EH, English Heritage Listed Building 262807.

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: South and West Somerset, Harmondsworth 1958, 83.

VCH, Victoria County History: Somerset, X, London 2010.