D.), lying in a deep valley. The church has been rebuilt. The chancel
contains a Dec. piscina, and a fragment of diaper-work is inserted in
the porch.

[Illustration: DUNSTER CASTLE AND YARN MARKET]

_Dunster_, a village 24 m. N.W. from Taunton. It has a station 1/2 m.
distant on the G.W. branch line to Minehead. For many people
picturesque Somerset begins with Dunster, and its attractions are
hardly overrated. Here both the artist and the antiquary find
themselves in clover. The quaint wide street, with its gabled houses
commanded at one end by the frowning heights of the castle, and
overlooked at the other by a watch-tower, wears an air impressively
mediaeval. The village was once a noted emporium for cloth, and
"Dunsters" were quoted at reputable prices by every chapman. The
venerable yarn market still stands; the date 1647 is the date of its
repair by the grandson of the builder, George Luttrell. The _Castle_
claims first attention, as the history of Dunster is largely the story
of the Castle. It was, as might be expected, a legacy of the Conquest.
It was built by Wm. de Mohun, and by his successor was made a sad thorn
in the side of King Stephen. It passed into the hands of the Luttrells
(its present possessors) by purchase. In the Civil War it was
alternately held for the Parliament and the king, and in 1546 it was
regarded as Charles's last hope in Somerset. Its resistance was stout;
for 160 days Colonel Wyndham baffled the assaults of no less an
adversary than Blake, and only surrendered on the total collapse of the
Royal cause (p. 17). The grounds are entered under a gateway (Perp.),
built by Sir H. Luttrell. The oldest part of the castle lies to the R.
of this, flanked by two round towers (13th cent.), built by Reginald
Mohun. (Note door and huge knocker, replacing original portcullis: