House; it is roofless (the consequence of a fire), but the walk are
intact, and the building is a good example of a mediaeval
dwelling-house (erected 1335). The parish church has a 14th-cent.
chancel with a Dec. E. window; the nave (Perp.) dates from the 15th
cent., and has on the parapet of the S. aisle the monogram of Abbot
Selwood, the penultimate Abbot of Glastonbury. There is a 15th-cent.
stone pulpit.

_Mells_, a large village 3 m. W.N.W. from Frome (nearest stat. Mells
Road). Mells possesses a fine church, several old houses, and a
well-merited reputation for picturesqueness. The church is a rich
example of 15th-cent. Somerset Perp., with the usual low chancel and an
elaborately panelled and pinnacled W. tower (cp. Leigh). Note (1) fine
groined porch (cp. Doulting); (2) octagonal vestry on S. with chamber
above; (3) mural tablet with emblem of peacock, on N. wall of tower,
designed by Burne-Jones; (4) Norm. font. There are some modern brasses
to former incumbents, and in N. chapel a tablet to Sir J. Homer (1659).
Immediately adjoining the church on W. is a fine gabled Elizabethan
manor house. _Mells Park_ (J.F. Horner) is a plain freestone mansion,
standing in some well-timbered grounds at the farther end of the
village. The founder of the family is popularly reputed to be the
"little Jack Horner" of nursery fame. In the neighbourhood of Mells are
three camps, _Newbury_ and _Wadbury_, on the road to Elm, and
_Tedbury_, on the way to Frome. The last mentioned is triangular,
occupying a point of land between two ravines (cp. Ruborough).

[Illustration: MELLS VILLAGE]

_Mendips, The_, a chain of hills some 25 m. long, running in a straight
line across the county in a N.W. direction from Frome to the Channel.