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St Peter, South Barrow, Somerset

Location
(51°2′56″N, 2°34′8″W)
South Barrow
ST 602 279
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Somerset
now Somerset
  • Robin Downes
17 November 2005

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Description

South Barrow is a village in south central Somerset, 6 miles W of Wincanton and a mile N of the A303, the main road linking Exeter and Andover. It extends for half a mile along a minor road with the church in the centre of the village. St Peter’s has a simple plan of a two-bay chancel and a three-bay nave with a S porch and a W tower. The church is substantially 13th-14thc, but the present chancel dates from a restoration in 1850. The church is built of local lias cut and squared with Cary dressings.

History

South Barrow was held by Bretel from the Count of Mortain in 1086, and by Almaer before the Conquest. They were assessed at 5 hides with 8 acres of meadow, 20 acres of pasture and 40 acres of woodland. The overlordship remained with the Counts of Mortain until the 14thc, while the tenancy was held by Henry Lovell in 1166, and by other members of the same family until the end of the 13thc. A mesne tenancy was granted by Henry Lovell to Robert de Puntsoud and his descendants retained this subtenancy until the early 14thc. The church was given by Alfred de Puntsoud to Wells Cathedral in 1189 or thereabouts.

Features

Exterior Features

Doorways

Furnishings

Fonts

Comments/Opinions

The doorway is not convincingly Romanesque but is included since it contains nailhead. The EH listing describes the font as 'a chamfered cuboid bowl, lettered, on possibly earlier shaft with attached corner shafts.’ Pevsner dates the stem to the 13thc but does not date the bowl. Its form may be compared with that at Crewkerne, some distance away on the other side of the river Parrett.

Bibliography

EH, English Heritage Listed Building 445801.

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: South and West Somerset, Harmondsworth 1958, 291.

Somerset County Council, Somerset County Council, Historic Environment Record 52401.

VCH, Victoria County History: Somerset texts in progress (South Barrow) 9 November 2011, www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/counties/somerset/work-in-progress.