_Doulting_, a small village 2 m. E. from Shepton Mallet, on the road to
Frome. Its chief interest lies in its remarkable freestone quarries
from which the mediaeval builders hewed their blocks for the walls of
Wells and Glastonbury. The quarries are still of considerable
commercial importance, as the stone is easily wrought and of great
durability. Here, too, St Aldhelm was seized with a fatal illness and
carried into the church to die. His funeral procession to Malmesbury
was an imposing ecclesiastical function, the "stations" _en route_
being subsequently marked by crosses. A spring in the vicarage garden
is still called St Aldhelm's Well. The church is a small cruciform
building with a central octagonal tower and spire. It has some E.E.
features, but has been largely rebuilt (note the E.E. columns covered
with ivy in churchyard near W. end of church). The N. porch encloses a
Norm. door (note stoup). The S. porch is an elaborate Perp. structure,
beautifully finished and vaulted (cp. Mells). Within the church is a
piscina in S. transept, and a 17th-cent. brass near the vestry door. In
the churchyard opposite the N. porch is a notable sanctuary cross,
bearing the instruments of the Passion (cp. W. Pennard). A few paces
down the Evercreech road is one of the large tithe barns once belonging
to the Abbey of Glastonbury (cp. Pilton).
_Dowlish Wake_, a village at the bottom of a slight declivity 2 m. S.E.
of Ilminster. It owes the second part of its name to the family of
Wake, the last male representative of which died in 1348. The church is
a modern antique, with a central tower partly original (15th cent.).
The N. chapel is also original, and contains some interesting
monuments. These are (1) serpentine tomb with bust of Captain Speke the
African traveller, (2) effigy of a lady (_temp._ Edward I.), under a
recessed cinquefoiled canopy, the cusps of which are worked up into
faces, (3) altar-tomb, with effigies of a knight (in plate armour) and
a lady--believed to be John Speke (d. 1442) and his wife, (4) small
brass on floor to George and Elizabeth Speke (1528). Close by is a rude
font, probably early Norm. It was brought here from West Dowlish as the
only remains of a church which existed there prior to 1700.
_Downhead_, a straggling village 2-1/2 m. N.E. of Cranmore Station. The
church is small and devoid of interest. It has been "restored"
regardless of style.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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