gonal pillars, and there is a small
clerestory. The massive character of one of the piers of the arcade
suggests that the church originally had a central tower. The chancel
has a Dec. E. window (restored), a piscina, and triple sedilia, E.E.
There is also a piscina in the N. chapel. The font is ancient. There is
an old Perp. house opposite the church, now used as an institute.

SHEPTON MALLET, a market town of 5238 inhabitants, on the S.E. slope of
the Mendips, 5 m. E. from Wells. It has two railway stations, one (S. &
D.) putting it in touch with Bath and Templecombe, the other (G.W.R.)
with Wells and Frome. The ancient Fosse Way skirts the town on the E.
It is a place of some antiquity, deriving its name from its former
connection with the Mallets of Curry Mallet, and has had a career of
respectable commercial mediocrity. Cloth, crape, and knitted stockings
once formed its staple trade; but its present prosperity rests chiefly
on beer, a gigantic brewery being now its principal business
institution. The town has few attractions 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 c