for the casual visitor, for the streets are narrow and inconvenient without being venerable.  It possesses, however, a remarkably fine late 15th-cent. hexagonal market-cross, crowned with a very graceful spirelet:  note brass on one of the piers to Walter Buckland and Agnes, his wife.  The church has a good W. Perp. tower (spoilt by the stump of a spire), which has served probably as the model for some of its neighbours (e.g., Cranmore).  The interior, originally E.E., was never handsome, and has been ruined artistically by the erection of some huge aisles, with galleries, which have absorbed the transepts.  The wooden roof to the nave is, however, the most splendid in the county.  It contains 350 panels, each displaying a different device.  Note (1) E.E. chancel and transeptal arches, and arcade of nave; (2) fine 15th-cent. stone pulpit, (3) double pillar piscinas, E.E.; (4) effigies of knights in armour, supposed to be Mallets, stowed away on the window sills; (5) organ chamber, once a double-floored vestry; (6) old font and good brass to Wm. and Joan Strode of Barrington, beneath tower.  The proximity of the town to the Fosse Way has led to the unearthing of several Roman remains, which may be inspected in the museum near the church.  The foundations of a Roman brick-kiln were discovered on the site of the brewery.  A few old houses—­the relics of the old cloth-working days—­may be found amongst the crowd of cottages on the banks of the stream.  The road to Wells runs through a beautiful valley, which, by some sinister inspiration, has been chosen as the site of the town sewage works.

[Illustration:  SHEPTON MALLET CROSS]

Shepton Montague, a village 2 m.  S. from Bruton.  The church stands by the side of the railway some distance away from the houses.  It is a Perp. building, with a tower on the S. side (cp.  Stanton Drew).  The interior contains piscinas in chancel and on S. wall, and a circular Norm. font.  In the churchyard is the base of a cross.

Shipham, a village on the Mendips 2 m.  E. from Winscombe (G.W.R.).  The church is modern.

Skilgate, a village 5 m.  E. from Dulverton.  The church has been rebuilt (1872).

Solsbury Hill.  See Batheaston.

SOMERTON, a small town of nearly 2000 people, 7 m.  S. of Glastonbury, with a station on the G.W.R. loop line from Castle Cary to Langport.  Though centrally situated and occupying a prominent position on high ground, Somerton has all the appearance of a town which the world has forgotten.  An air of placid decadence hangs about its old-fashioned streets, and few would guess that here was once the capital of the Somersaetas, the Saxon tribe from which Somerset derives its name.  Beyond its possession of a small shirt and collar factory it has no pretensions to modern importance, and it has evidently done its best to cover up its traces of ancient dignity.  Its castle has long ago been absorbed by the “White Hart” (the thickness