Historic Churches in Somerset

Tucked in behind the 17th-century manor house of Cothelstone Manor stands the 13th-century church of St Thomas. Within the church are memorials to generations of the Stawell family, lords of the manor for 500 years. Look for the grave of Iolanthe Easdaile, daughter of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Cothelstone Manor, Somerset, England, TA4 3DS

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Heritage Highlight: Stawell family memorials
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Crowcombe's medieval church boasts a wonderful collection of 16th-century carved bench ends. Look for the carving depicting two naked men fighting a two-headed dragon. Other highlights include two rare 18th-century screens and a Perpendicular font, as well as a private chapel still owned by the lords of the manor.
Crowcombe, Somerset, England, TA4 4AA

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Heritage Highlight: Outstanding 16th-century bench ends
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Said to be the smallest parish church in England, seating only 33, St Beuno's can only be reached on foot. The church is sited in a quiet combe looking out to sea. A leper's squint is set into the north wall, a relic of the 16th century when a leper's colony was sited in the nearby woods. The church boasts a Saxon font and carved head that is part-cat, part-man on the north window.
Porlock Weir, nr Minehead, Culbone, Somerset, England, TA24

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Heritage Highlight: The late Saxon font
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A fine Perpendicular church in a pretty village looking down over the Somerset Levels. There are 13th and 14th-century tombs in the north chapel, some beautifully carved bench ends from the 14th century, and a lovely Jacobean monument to the Jennings, father and son, in the chancel.
Butt Lane, Curry Rivel, Somerset, England, TA10 0HQ

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St Bartholomew's was built by the monks of Athelney Abbey, established by Alfred the Great. The church is mainly 14th century and boasts a wonderful collection of medieval carved bench ends including a Green Man, a man vaulting over a ditch, and a couple handfasting. The ancient parish chest is carved from a single hollowed-out log.
Main Road, East Lyng, Somerset, England, TA3 5AU

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Heritage Highlight: Outstanding late medieval bench ends
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St Martin of Tours in Elworthy is a pretty 13th-century church set amid wonderful rural scenery in the Brendon Hills, with some fascinating interior furnishings. The earliest written record of a church at Elworthy comes from 1233.
Elworthy, Somerset, England, TA4 3PY

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Heritage Highlight: Jacobean chancel screen
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The church at Emborough is more than it appears at first glance; a Georgian restoration belies the ancient origins of the church, which may well date back to the Saxon period.
Emborough, Somerset, England, BA3 4SG

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A 14th-century church rebuilt in the 15th century, with a superb west tower, one of the finest in Somerset. The 15th-century nave roof has beautifully carved angels, painted on the orders of the Lord Protector Somerset, who held the estate at Evercreech.
High Street, Evercreech, Somerset, England, BA4 6HX

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Heritage Highlight: Superb painted medieval roof of the nave
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A quiet country church standing in a farmyard, St Mary's church is substantially Norman, with rebuilding in the 14th and 15th centuries, and further additions in the 17th century. St Mary's boasts one of the smallest complete towers in the country.
Hardington Bampfylde, Somerset, England, BA11 2RF

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Set apart from its village, St Andrews, also known as Holcombe Old Church, is a simple Norman church with Saxon origins. St Andrews is also known as the 'Plague Church', but more on that in a moment. The Norman building was remodelled in the medieval period, and again in the Stuart and Georgian eras.
Holcombe, Somerset, England, BA3 5ES

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