To the honour of St. Saviour and St. Peter, his patron saints, the pious hero of Athelney raised a monastery on the island, where, in their holy orisons, the monks chanted the praises of the God who had so confused the heathen by the shores of the river that stayed its course and stagnated where the reeds and rushes caught the water-sprite, heavy with sleep, in their toils. Barely two acres in William of Malmesbury's day, yet covered by "a forest of alders of vast extent"(!), the historic spot is now known as Athelney Farm, a stone pillar telling its great story in this concise inscription: "King Alfred the Great, in the year of our Lord 879, having been defeated by the Danes, fled for refuge to the Forest of Athelney, where he lay concealed from his enemies for the space of a whole year. He soon after regained possession of his throne; and, in grateful remembrance of the protection he had received under the favour of Heaven, he erected a monastery on the spot, and endowed it with all the lands contained in the Isle of Athelney. To perpetuate the memory of so remarkable an incident in the history of the illustrious prince, this edifice was founded by John Slade, Esq., of Maunsell, the proprietor of Athelney, and lord of the manor of North Petherton, /A.D./ 1801." [Illustration: _Photo: William Hanks, Malmesbury._ MALMESBURY ABBEY (_p. 72_).] History in its heroic elements still clings to Parret's banks, for, as the river flows on near Weston-Zoyland, washing the parish on the south and south-west, Sedgemoor, the Duke of Monmouth's fatal field, comes into view, and one looks upon the scene of what in Macaulay's words was "the last fight deserving the name of a battle that has been fought on English ground." Emerging from the marsh of Sedgemoor, the Parret now takes upon itself the new office of patron and benefactor of populous, busy Bridgwater, two miles to the south-west of "Sowyland." It is the river which at ebb and flood tide deposits that peculiar sediment of clay and sand that goes to make "the Bath brick," of which product Bridgwater has the monopoly. But why "Bath"? Well, presumably, because the best market for the brick was originally found in Beau Nash's town, with the result that it eventually became the principal centre of trading in the commodity. From half a mile above to half a mile below the three-arched bridge which Walter de Briwere--the first of that ilk--commenced, and Sir Thomas Trivet completed, in the reign of Edward I., the brickworks stretch, giving employment to a large number of hands, and forming a source of considerable revenue.