DESCRIPTION OF PLACES ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY APPENDIX INDEX OF PERSONS SOMERSET TARR STEPS, EXMOOR (_From a Photograph by Messrs Valentine, Dundee_) MARKET PLACE, FROME (_From a Photograph by Messrs Valentine, Dundee_) ST JOSEPH'S CHAPEL, GLASTONBURY (_From a Photograph by Mr Walter Raymond_) GLASTONBURY TOR (_From a Photograph by Messrs Frith, Reigate_) ALFOXDEN HOUSE, NEAR HOLFORD (_From a Photograph by Messrs Frith, Reigate_) HORNER WOODS AND PORLOCK VALE (_From a Photograph by Messrs Frith, Reigate_) THE HANGING CHAPEL, LANGPORT (_From a Photograph by Messrs Frith, Reigate_) LUCCOMBE VILLAGE (_From a Photograph by Messrs Frith, Reigate_) MELLS VILLAGE (_From a Photograph by Messrs Valentine, Dundee_) MINEHEAD (_From a Photograph by Messrs Frith, Reigate_) MONTACUTE HOUSE (_From a Photograph by Messrs Frith, Reigate_) THE GEORGE INN, NORTON ST PHILIP (_From a Photograph by Messrs Valentine, Dundee_) LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS NUNNEY CASTLE AND VILLAGE (_From a Photograph by Messrs Valentine, Dundee_) OLD BANK, PORLOCK (_From a Photograph by Messrs Valentine, Dundee_) ALLERFORD (_From a Photograph by Messrs Frith, Reigate_) SHEPTON MALLET CROSS (_From a Photograph by Mr Walter Raymond_) NETHER STOWEY (_From a Photograph by Messrs Frith, Reigate_) TAUNTON FROM THE RIVER (_From a Photograph by Messrs Valentine, Dundee_) WELLS CATHEDRAL (_From a Photograph by Messrs Frith, Reigate_) VICARS' CLOSE, WELLS (_From a Photograph by Messrs Frith, Reigate_) THE PALACE GATEWAY, WELLS (_From a Photograph by Messrs Valentine, Dundee_) WESTON-SUPER-MARE (_From a Photograph by Messrs Valentine, Dundee_) NINE SPRINGS, YEOVIL (_From a Photograph by Messrs Valentine, Dundee_) MAP OF SOMERSET INTRODUCTION I. SITUATION AND EXTENT SOMERSET is one of the S.W. counties of England. On the N. it is washed by the Bristol Channel; on the N.E. the Avon, like a silver streak, divides it from Gloucestershire; it is bordered on the E. by Wiltshire; its S.E. neighbour is Dorset; and on the S.W. it touches Devon. Its shape is so irregular that dimensions give a misleading indication of its extent. Its extreme length is about 60 m., and its greatest width 38; but it narrows so rapidly westwards that where it abuts on Devon its average width is only 15 m. In point of size it stands seventh on the list of English counties, having an area of over a million acres, or 1633 square m. It lies between 2° 10' and 3° 50' W. longitude, and 50° 50' and 51° 30' N. latitude. Its population in 1901 was 508,104. It is one of the few counties which was originally the settlement of a single tribe, the Somersaetas, from whom it takes its name; and the fact that "Somerset" (like Dorset) is thus a tribal name is in favour of its dispensing with the suffix _shire_, though "Somersetshire" has been in common use since the time of the "Saxon Chronicle." II. CLIMATE