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St Andrew, West Bradley, Somerset

Location
(51°7′46″N, 2°37′58″W)
West Bradley
ST 558 369
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Somerset
now Somerset
medieval Wells
now Bath & Wells
medieval unknown
now St Andrew
  • Robin Downes
  • Robin Downes
31 July 2007, 18 May 2022

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Feature Sets
Description

West Bradley is a dispersed settlement 4m ESE of Glastonbury. The isolation of the church is relieved only by the adjacent manor house and one other house across the lane. Its location may well be linked to the Bradley Brook, flowing NE to SW along the NW boundary of the manor house grounds. At about 30m above sea level, West Bradley is about 20m higher than the nearby Somerset Levels, in very gently undulating rich farmland — traditionally and currently used as pasture for dairy animals. The church of St Andrew has nave, chancel, S porch and W tower and is predominantly 14thc/15thc, with much 19thc restoration; it also houses a Romanesque tub font.

History

In 746 King Ethelbald is said to have sold an estate in Bradley to Glastonbury abbey. DB records a hide of thegnland in Pennarminster which Ailmar held in 1066 and Serlo de Burci held of the abbot of Glastonbury in 1086; this has been identified as West Bradley. The abbey retained overlordship of the estate until the Dissolution. (VCH)

Features

Furnishings

Fonts

Comments/Opinions

The font is relatively plain and the execution of the central section has been done by eye rather than very precisely. This suggests that resources were probably quite modest.

Bibliography
  1. F. Arnold-Forster, Studies in Church Dedications (London, 1899), III, 61.

Historic England listing 1058795

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: South and West Somerset North Somerset and Bristol (Harmondsworth, 1958), 336.

M C Siraut et al.,, 'Parishes: West Bradley', in A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 9, Glastonbury and Street, ed. R W Dunning (London, 2006), 75-82.

Somerset County Council, Historic Environment Record 21298. Online at http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/text.asp