Dulverton itself. It has an aisleless church, interesting only for (1)
a good 15th-cent. screen, (2) a font, of which the bowl and base date
from the 13th cent. There is a splendid oak tree in the churchyard,
which is reputed to be 600 years old.

BRUTON, a small town of 1788 inhabitants, 7 m. S.E. from Shepton Mallet,
with a station on the G.W.R. Frome and Weymouth line. It is also served
by bus from Cole Station (S. & D.), 1-1/2 m. away. It is a quaint
little place, lying at the bottom of a deep valley watered by the Brue,
to the proximity of which it owes its name. Bruton makes no show of
business; its activities are chiefly educational. The antiquarian will,
however, find here much to interest him, for there is a fine church,
and the town has many ecclesiastical associations. It was at one time
the site of a Benedictine Priory, which was subsequently converted into
an abbey of Austin Canons in 1525. Of this foundation nothing now
remains but a three-storeyed pigeon-house (which stands out
conspicuously on the summit of a little knoll behind the town) and the
abbey court-house in High Street (see below). The abbey itself stood on
the site of the present rectory, which is said to incorporate one of
its walls. At the Reformation the monastery went down in the wreck of
the religious houses, and Sir M. Berkley, who as the king's
standard-bearer was not without friends at Court, came in for the
spoil. The church is a handsome Perp. building, with a noble W. tower
of the Shepton type, decorated with triple windows and a rich parapet.
A second small tower rises above the N. porch (a very unusual feature).
The interior is remarkable for the painful incongruity of the
chancel--a pseudo-classical structure, built in 1743, to replace the
dismantled monastic choir. It contains in a recess on N. recumbent
effigies of Sir M. Berkley and wives (1559-85), and on the opposite
wall a tablet to W. Godolphin (1636). The nave is extremely handsome,