SECTION III. SOMERSETSHIRE. INTRODUCTION. SOMERSETSHIRE, "the pleasant country," as it was aptly named by the Saxons, has many claims to this distinction, the land being exceedingly fertile, the climate mild, the scenery delightful. The variety of surface and quick interchange of hill and valley which characterise Devonshire are here modified by broad vales and marshes, separating the high land into detached ranges; but in point of beauty this county may take rank as it stands the next to Devonshire-which is a position of no little honour. The choicest scenery is to be found on the skirts of Exmoor, where the extreme ruggedness of the ground, the abundance of wood and running water, the picturesqueness of the homesteads, and the magnificence of the dark hills, produce the most charming effects. Somersetshire is for many reasons an interesting county. It embraces the city of Bath, the busy port of Bristol, the cathedral of Wells, the ruins of the great abbey of Glastonbury, and of the Norman castle of Farleigh, and many grand and well-preserved mansions of the 14th and 15th centuries, such as those of Dunster, Montacute, and Hinton. It is further distinguished by the great beauty of its Perpendicular church-towers, particularly for that of Wrington, which has been considered" the finest square tower, not designed for a spire or lantern, in all England, and therefore possibly in the whole world." It is the seventh of the English counties in point of size, the eleventh in density of population, and remarkable for its rich pastures, which produce cattle and sheep, butter and Chedder cheeses. Its minerals are chiefly the ores of iron, lead, and zinc, coal and building-stone. In early times Somersetshire was occupied by the Belga, whose supposed boundary, the Wansdyke, crossed the hills S. of Bath, terminating at Portishead. The Romans were established principally at Bath and Ilchester, one of their great roads, the Fosse Way, passing through the county in its course to Devonshire. They also occupied several minor stations and camps, of the latter of which as many as 23 have been enumerated. As a part of Wessex, Somersetshire was one of the earliest districts in England to embrace Christianity, the Saxon king Ina founding a collegiate church at Wells in the year 704. It suffered much from the Danes, who compelled Alfred to take refuge among its marshes. In later times it was the scene of some important events, for here occurred the fatal fight of Sedgemoor, and, in the Rebellion, the battle of Lansdown, and the sieges of Bristol, Bridgewater, and Taunton. With respect to its inhabitants, they possess the robust forms and simple manners of an agricultural people, while they show their spirit by their proverb, "[ will not want when I have, and when I ha'n't too." In their uncouth speech are found many words and usages of the Anglo-Saxon tongue, "a fountain-head," says Bosworth, "from which some streamlets flow down in every province, retaining their original purity and flavour, though not now relished, perhaps, by fastidious palates." This patois is very remarkable in the remote district of Exmoor, as may be seen by the Exmoor Scolding' and Exmoor Courtship,' published many years ago at Exeter. Mr. Bosworth, in the introduction to his Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, enumerates the chief peculiarities of the Somersetshire dialect, and quotes as a specimen the following dedication in verse :"Ta you, the Dwellers o' tha West, I'm pleas'd that thâ shood be addrest; I vust drâw'd breath in Zummerzet; Amangst ye liv'd, an left ye zorry, As you'll knaw when you hire my storry. The geology of Somersetshire embraces a long series of formations, which produce variety in the forms of the hills and the character of the vegetation. First in order come the alluvial deposits, forming those extensive fens or "levels" on the shore of the Bristol Channel, districts dreary and monotonous enough were it not for their boundary of hills, but exceedingly valuable as pasture-land. They are intersected in every direction by dykes for drainage, and in places contain deep beds of peat and the fossil remains of ancient woods, chiefly oak. Of the cretaceous strata chalk occurs but sparingly, capping some of the hills, as the range of Blackdown; but the greensand is more abundant, forming the lofty height of Alfred's Tower and other detached eminences. The various beds of the oolite are largely developed, constituting the bold hills about Bath, and ranging thence by Frome, Bruton, Yeovil, and Ilminster, to Wellington. They yield the various building-stones, the great oolite that of Bath, the inferior oolite those of Dundry, Doulting, and Hamhill. Next to these appears the lias, skirting the oolite on the N., and pierced by its outliers, such as the ridge of Dundry and Glastonbury Tor; and below the lias the new red sandstone, forming the rich vales of Western Somerset. The busy coal-fields of Bristol and Radstoke point out the locality of the coal-measures, and the craggy rocks of Chedder and St. Vincent those of the mountain limestone, which rests upon the flanks of the Mendip chain, and rises in outliers on the coast between Bristol and Clevedon. Lastly, the old red sandstone, or Devonian, is to be sought for among the wildest scenes of the county, on the sterile waste of Exmoor, which is wholly included in this formation, and on the lofty hills of Quantock and of Mendip, of which it constitutes the axis. The chief points of interest in the county are as follows:— Bath Bristol Abbey Church; Pump-room and Baths; Queen's Wrington church-tower; Brockley Combe. Weston-super-Mare View from Worle Hill; Banwell Caves. Clevedon Taunton Wellington Dunster Porlock Dulverton Frome Wells Bruton Yeovil Crewkerne - Crowcombe Court (pictures); Will's Neck. View from the Wellington Monument. Dunster Castle; Cleeve Abbey; view from Grabhurst. Exmoor. Vallis Bottom; Longleat. Cathedral; Bossington Beacon; Chedder Cliffs; Wookey Hole; Glaston bury Abbey; Glastonbury Tor. Stourhead (pictures); Alfred's Tower. Montacute House; Brympton Hall. Church; Hinton St. George; View from Rana Hill. With reference to the church architecture the following table may be BATH TO WELLINGTON, BY BRISTOL BRIDGE Great Western Railway. The Great Western enters Somersetshire 1 m. from the Box Tunnel, through a deep valley, in which the clays of the inferior oolite and lias are in places exposed. The scenery is striking. On emerging from the tunnel the traveller beholds around him the great oolitic hills rising steeply to elevations of about 700 ft., and on the 1., between Monkton Farleigh Down and Hampton Down, the Avon flowing from the beautiful Vale of Claverton. The river is crossed by the railway, the bridge being a simple but elegant structure of one flat arch. As the train leaves the cutting a glimpse is obtained of 1. Bathford, and its church, and immediately afterwards of the ivied tower of 1. Bathampon Church, close to the line. This building is chiefly of Perp. date, and has a fine W. door. It has also, within the porch, effigies of a knight and his lady, temp. Edw. III., and in a niche on the exterior wall of the E. side the figure of a priest of the 11th cent. In the churchyard is an ancient barn. rt. Batheaston and its Perp. ch. The line enters Bath by a cutting through the Sydney Gardens, and, sweeping round in a curve on a viaduct 40 ft. above the level of the river, commands on the rt. an excellent view of the cathedral and city, and on the 1. of the suburb of Widcombe and the height of Beechen Cliff. 106 Bath Stat. Inns: York Castle; Greyhound; Royal, railway; White Hart; White Pop. of the district in 1851, House; by the Lion. Bath is situated in the bottom and on the steep sides of the valley of the Avon. The abbey and the busiest streets lie below; and above, on the northern slope, rise terraces and crescents, tier upon tier, to a height of nearly 800 ft., the Royal Crescent being the most conspicuous. The 69,836. The station is on the rt. | leper, and for that reason had been bank of the Avon; and its roof, of 60 expelled his father's palace, and reft. span, without horizontal tie or duced to the ignoble condition of a any considerable buttress, deserves swineherd. His pigs, runs the story, attention. On either side of the were afflicted with the same disease, station the line crosses the river, but, wandering in this valley, they towards Bristol by a skew bridge of rolled in the warm mud where these ingenious construction. The Avon waters stagnated, and were healed. is navigable to Bath, and the Kennet Bladud, perceiving this cure, tried and Avon Canal, connecting it with the same remedy with the same sucthe Thames, opens a waterway to cess, and when he became king he London, but this route has been of built a city on the spot. So, say its less importance since the completion inhabitants, was founded Bath, B.C. of the railway, which was first opened 863, and the statue of King Bladud, between Bath and Bristol August erected in the Pump Room about the 1840, and between Bath and London year 1700, bore an inscription to that June 1841. effect. To the Romans, however, more probably belongs the merit of first appreciating and using these waters. Bath was their Aqua Solis (or Sulis), one of the most important of their stations, where Agricola built a temple to the goddess Minerva, here worshipped under the name of Sul, and where Claudius established a College of Armourers for the manufacture of weapons for his legions. The walls which surrounded this station were nearly on a line with the streets called the Lower Boroughwalls, Westgate Buildings, Sawclose, and Upper Boroughwalls, and their foundations have been frequently laid open. They formed a square about the baths, which were of a magnificent description, decorated with columns and tesselated floors, and furnished with sudatories and other appliances. When discovered, in 1755, the flues were found charged with soot, and the bricks marked with fire, as if the last Roman had but just stepped from the bath; yet in the interval which had elapsed, the ground, by a gradual accumulation, had risen 20 ft., for at such a height above the old surface was the level of the surrounding streets. whole city is built of the white oolite called Bath Stone, and in a style of architecture worthy of the material. Some of the streets and groups of houses are, indeed, models of excellence, and their effect is enhanced by the beauty of the site, and the absence of the smoke and dirt attendant upon trade and manufacture. Bath bears the stamp of opulence in its aspect; and although its " season no longer commands the élite of fashion, it enjoys its share of gaiety, and as a residence is a favourite retirement from more busy scenes. It combines many of the advantages of the metropolis with those of a watering place; and education, amusement, and society may be obtained here at a moderate expense. Bath is a city of comparatively modern growth, but its traditions go back to a very early period, when Bladud, a British prince, is said to have first discovered the healing virtues of its waters. According to the legend-for which we are indebted to Geoffry of Monmouth-Bladud was a In the stormy period which followed the departure of this people the beautiful buildings and monuments which they had raised around |