onnected with the Danish chief
Swegen (Sweyn); and it was the birthplace of William Prynne (b. 1600).
The church has a gable-topped tower, and retains some ancient features.
The S. door is Norm. (note the stoup), whilst the tower arch seems E.E.
A window in the S. wall has flowing tracery with an ogee moulding. Note
(1) in N. chapel a piscina; (2) in chancel a brass (said to have once
been on an altar-tomb) of the date 1439.

_Swell_, a parish 4 m. S.W. of Langport. It has a small Perp. church
(very dilapidated) which retains a Norm. door. Note in the interior (1)
piscina and niches; (2) fragments of ancient glass; (3) pulpit and
reading-desk of 1634.

_Tatworth_, a parish 2 m. S. of Chard. The church is modern, but a
Baptist place of worship, a plain, thatched building at South Chard, is
supposed to have been an ancient chapel. It is locally known as St
Margaret's, and over the doorway is an empty niche. For a curious
custom of holding a sale by candlelight, see under _Chedzoy_.

[Illustration: TAUNTON FROM THE RIVER]

TAUNTON, county town on the Tone (whence its name), 163 m. from London,
and 44-1/2 S.W. from Bristol; pop. 21,000. A spacious station on the
G.W.R. main line, Bristol to Exeter, forms a junction for the Yeovil,
Chard, Minehead, and Barnstaple branches. The town is commodious, and
its railway facilities make it an excellent centre. The streets are
spacious and well-built, and converge upon a triangular market place
which is rather spoilt by an ugly market hall in its centre. Though
Taunton wears a prosperous and progressive air, it has behind it a very
venerable history which is not without a flavour of stirring times. It
finds a place in our national annals on four notable occasions. (1) In
710 King Ina of Wessex pushed the West Welsh beyond the Tone and
erected a castle at Taunton as a barrier against their return. The site
was subsequently fortified afresh by the Normans. (2) In 1497 Perkin
Warbeck, in his dash for the throne, seized the town, but fled in
terror at the approach of the Royal forces. (3) During the Civil War it
was alternately occupied by the Royalists and Parliamentarians, and in
1643 Blake successfully withstood here attacks from Hopton and Goring;
and the town was punished at the Restoration for this robust resistance
by the demolition of its fortifications and the loss of its charter.
(4) In 1685 the sentiments of the place were again enthusiastically
"agin the government," and M