_Hamdon Hill_. See _Stoke, East_.

_Hardington_, a hamlet 5 m. N.W. of Frome. The church is a small
building with a W. tower. In the neighbourhood is Hardington Park.

_Hardington-Mandeville_, a village 4-1/2 m. S.W. of Yeovil. The church
was rebuilt in 1864, but retains some ancient features, including a
good Norm. arch and font, and a Jacobean pulpit.

_Harptree, East_, a village on a spur of the Mendips, 6 m. N. from
Wells. It possesses the attractions of a castle, a cavern, and a combe.
The last is a thickly wooded glen near the top end of the village. On
an inaccessible tongue of land at the far end of the gorge are the
remains of _Richmont Castle_, one of those lawless strongholds which in
the days of Stephen were a terror to the country side. In 1138 it was
strongly garrisoned by its owner, William de Harptree, on behalf of the
Empress Matilda, but was taken by Stephen by the ruse of a feigned
repulse. Now, only a fragment of the keep overlooks the glen. Half a
mile beyond is a remarkable cavern, the _Lamb's Lair_, entered by a
vertical shaft of some 70 fathoms. The chamber is of very considerable
dimensions, and is said by those who have seen it to be quite the
finest cave in the Mendips. The church is not particularly noteworthy
except for the odd device of avoiding a squint by an extension of the
arcading. The walls, font, and S. doorway are Norm. The S. porch is of
unusual size and contains a monument which must be a standing reproach
to a declining birthrate. Under a large Elizabethan canopy is an effigy
of Sir J. Newton (1568), attended by twenty children. At the other end
of the village are two mansions, _Harptree Court_ and _Eastwood_.