Odcombe, a village 3 m.  W. of Yeovil.  The church occupies a very elevated position and commands a good view.  In plan it is cruciform, with a central tower resting on piers which seem to belong to the Dec. period, though the E. and W. arches have been altered in Perp. times.  There is a good piscina in the chancel, and the basin of the font is ancient.  The ribbed and panelled roof of the S. porch deserves notice.  Odcombe was the birthplace of Tom Coryate, who, early in the 17th cent., tramped through Europe and the East.  After his first journey he is said to have hung up his boots in the church.

Orchardleigh, a modern mansion, 2 m.  N. from Frome, built to replace the ancient seat of the Champneys.  In the park is a knoll crowned by three huge stones, which were once a cromlech, and are supposed to mark a place of sepulture.  Upon an island in a lake is a small church, quite a little gem in its way.  It contains a carved cup-shaped font, a beautiful Dec. priest’s doorway, and an elaborately sculptured aumbry and piscina.  The unique features of the building, however, are the small projecting figures on the N. and S. walls of the sanctuary; the hand of the one on the S. will be seen still grasping the staple on which was once suspended the Lenten veil (cp.  Leigh-on-Mendip).

Orchard Portman, a parish 2 m.  S. of Taunton, which represents in its name an alliance between a Portman and the heiress of the Orchards.  The most noteworthy features of its small Perp. church is a Norm.  S. door, and an ancient font (likewise presumably Norm.) of curious shape.  Note, too, (1) carved wooden pulpit; (2) carved stalls; (3) brass on chancel S. wall to “Humfredus de Collibus” (Anglice, Coles or Colles), who died 1693 (cp.  Pitminster).

Othery, a parish on the Sedgemoor plain, 3 m.  N.E. of Athelney Station.  Its church has quite a number of interesting features.  It is cruciform in plan, with a central tower, and is said to be an E. E. building, which has been altered in the Dec. and Perp. periods.  The tower is noticeable for its “batter,” for its belfry window of four lights, and for its niches and figures.  The chancel, like some others in the county, has a low side-window, outside of which a neighbouring buttress is perforated to permit some object (possibly a lamp) placed in the window to be seen.  The cross on the E. gable is said to be Norm., but if so, is probably not in its original position, since it is little weathered.  Within note (1) the manner in which the narrow central tower is joined to the wider nave; (2) the ancient glass in the N. transept; (3) squint and piscinas.  Most of the woodwork is modern.  At the present churchwarden’s house is preserved a 15th cent. cope, which has been converted into an altar frontal.

Otterford, a parish 6 m.  N.W. of Chard.  The hamlet of Bishop’s Wood, the most thickly populated part of the parish, lies in a broad defile, through which trickles the Otter brook.  The church is 2-1/2 m. away on the hill-top.  It is not of great interest, but contains a stoup, a piscina, and a Norm. font.