HCT 2025 - 700 yrs of Somerset churches
Delve into the history of five Somerset churches; reading their stories through architectural features and remarkable windows. Starting with nave arcades built shortly after the Norman Conquest to the beautiful stained glass of Edward Burne-Jones.
St Thomas's Church, Thurlbear A twelfth-century church with two rare and remarkable nave arcades dating from soon after the Norman Conquest . The fifteenth-century tower is notable for containing a ring of four medieval bells from the Exeter foundry and a fine west window.
Low Ham Church This Grade I building is known locally as the Church in the Field. The church we see today, created for the Hext family, is beautifully isolated in rolling countryside, and was constructed in the Perpendicular style as late as the early 1600s.
All Saints Church, Langport All Saints, built mainly in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries but with a late Norman south doorway, stands on a hilltop site that overlooks moorland reaching to Muchelney Abbey. Its prominent west tower is a local landmark, but its beautiful light-filled chancel is its chief feature, together with an east window retaining much medieval glass. Walter Bagehot, the economist, is buried in the churchyard.
St Mary's Church, Huish Episcopi The church, which stands a short distance from All Saints, Langport, has a splendid Norman south doorway, anciently reddened by fire. But the glory of the church is its west tower, built in about 1500 and one of the finest in a county famed for towers. In the south chapel a lovely stained-glass window of 1904, designed by Edward Burne-Jones and made by Morris & Co., depicts the Nativity.
The Church, Sutton Mallet In medieval times, this church was a landmark for travellers crossing the lonely and treacherous expanse of Sedgemoor. It was rebuilt in 1827 in Georgian style and its interior, fitted with pulpit, reading desk, box pews and gallery, survives in fine completeness.
Travel: Depart Taunton railway station at 10:00, returning by 17:00.