The ancient county town of Somerton having been left severely alone
by the railway, remains in a very dormant state, and, of course, is
picturesque in proportion, as will be seen by its octagonal canopied
market-c
[Pg 137]
ross and the group of buildings adjacent Langport lies low, and is
uninviting, with marshy pools around, with to the north-west
Bridgwater way the villages of Chedzoy, Middlezoy, and Weston
Zoyland, full of memories of the fight at Sedgemoor. The church of
Curry Rivel, to the west of Langport, has many ancient carvings, and
retains its beautiful oak screen and bench-ends of the fifteenth
century. Within its ancient ornamented ironwork railing is a curious
Jacobean tomb, representing the recumbent effigies of two troopers,
Marmaduke and Robert Jennings. It seems selfish that they should
thus lie in state while their wives are kneeling below by two little cribs
containing their children tucked up in orderly rows like mummified
bambinoes. On the summit of a circular arch above, five painted
cherubs are reclining at their ease, and chained to one of the iron
railings is a little coffer which gives a touch of mystery to the whole.
What does this little sealed coffer contain?—for it must have been in
its present position since the monument was erected. Are the
warriors' hearts therein, or the bones of the five bambinoes? There is
another Jacobean tomb, just like a cumbrous cabinet of the period. It
is hideous enough for anything, and obscures one of three interesting
fourteenth-century mural monuments.
In the old farmhouse of Burrow, near Curry Rivel, some swords and
jack-boots of the time of Charles II.
[Pg 138]
were preserved. They are now in the museum at Taunton, where we
regret to say the buckle worn by the Duke of Monmouth, and Lord
Feversham's dish are now no longer[19] with the other interesting relics of the fight at Sedgemoor.