buttresses and the quasi-porch formed between them.  The body of the church is likewise peculiar, but of more merit.  It is one of Sir G. Scott’s restorations.  In the S. wall of the nave is the recumbent effigy of a layman (cp.  Cleeve).  Beneath the tower is a tablet commemorating a local “freak”—­the two ladies of Foxcote, who appear to have been an early edition of the Siamese Twins.  A neighbouring garden contains a good Elizabethan dovecot.  Norton St Philip claims to possess the oldest licensed house in England—­the George—­a stately 15th cent. hostelry standing at the top of the village.  It is a fine old half-timbered building, with a small bay window in front and an octagonal projecting staircase and gallery at the back, and is well worthy of inspection within and without.  It was probably built for the accommodation of the merchants of the staple in the old cloth fair-days.

Norton-sub-Hamdon, a village at the foot of the S.W. flank of Hamdon Hill, 2-1/2 m.  S.W. of Montacute Station.  The church has a fine tower, which was rebuilt in 1894 after destruction by lightning; it is characterised by large single windows extending from the belfry into the storey below (cp.  Shepton Beauchamp and Hinton St George).  The body of the church was restored in 1862; the oldest part would seem to be the S. porch, which has a ribbed stone roof (cp.  Tintinhall).  The interior is imposing by reason of the height of the nave and chancel, but it contains little that calls for notice.  In the E. wall is a piscina and two niches.  The modern and very ugly font is made of a single block of alabaster.  The most interesting object is in the churchyard, which contains a circular dovecot, quite perfect, supported by buttresses.

[Illustration:  NUNNEY CASTLE AND VILLAGE]

Nunney, a village 3 m.  S.W. from Frome.  It possesses the unusual attraction of a ruined castle.  The castle is an excellent specimen of a 14th cent. fortified dwelling-house.  The walls are still complete, but bear abundant traces of the ravages of time and warfare.  In plan the castle consists of a rectangular parallelogram with a cylindrical tower at each angle The interior is gutted, but as the beam-marks still remain, the general arrangements are easily reconstructed.  It was divided into four storeys by wooden floors, the dining-hall being (as the large fireplace indicates) on the first floor.  Access was gained to the different apartments by a large spiral staircase winding round the interior of the N. turret.  The top storey of the S. turret, marked externally by a Perp. window, was evidently furnished as an oratory; an altar slab and piscina can still be seen projecting from the wall.  The position, not naturally strong, was rendered more defensible by a moat, beyond which flows a stream.  The castle was built by Sir J. de la Mere in 1373 out of the spoils of the French wars.  It afterwards passed successively to the families of Pawlet and Prater,