Somerset by J. H. Wade;G. W. Wade
page 221 of 283 (78%)
page 221 of 283 (78%)
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gets its name from the spring seen near the church. The church itself
was originally built in the 15th cent., but only the tower arch belongs to this date. The nave is quite modern (1834), but it preserves a Norm. font. _Stowey_, a parish 2 m. W. of Clutton. It has a small church, noteworthy for the irregularity of its windows (the small one in the S. wall was originally the S. door). It has a 14th cent. font (note the cockle-shell); and an interesting bit of sculpture is built into the exterior N. wall of the chancel. Near it is an incised pair of shears (a woolstaplers' mark). Not far from the church is an old manor house, half of which has been destroyed. Within the parish is _Sutton Court_ (Sir E. Strachey), a house which has historical associations, for here Bishop Hooper found an asylum during the Marian persecution. The mansion is of considerable antiquity, parts of it dating from the reign of Edward II., and others from Tudor times. _Stowey, Nether_, a village 9 m. W. from Bridgwater (from which place there is a motor service). It owes its interest to having been the residence of S.T. Coleridge from 1796 to 1798: his cottage, marked by a tablet, is at the end of the village on the Minehead road. Both "Christabel" and "The Ancient Mariner," as well as several of his shorter poems, are said to have been partly written in this neighbourhood. Here he must have entertained Wordsworth, Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, and many others of his literary friends. A movement has been recently started to purchase the cottage for the nation. The church contains nothing of note except a mural tablet in memory of Thomas Poole, described as the friend of "Wordsworth and Davy (i.e. Sir Humphrey), Southey, and Coleridge": his tomb is on the W. side of the S. door. The two painted mitres beneath the roof-beams commemorate two |
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