hard the station is defended by a
triple row of ramparts and ditches, but the side overlooking the vale
of Taunton is so precipitous that the only protection provided appears
to have been a kind of citadel surmounted probably by a keep. The
centre of this once formidable military position is now incongruously
occupied by a farm-house. The view from the citadel or beacon across
Taunton Dean is far-reaching and exhilarating. The outlook on the other
side is circumscribed by the high ground beyond.

_Castle of Comfort_, a lonely public-house on the top of the Mendips,
standing by the side of the Bristol and Wells road. For the tourist it
forms a very convenient landmark from which to indicate the more
interesting features of the Mendip plateau. (1) The Roman road from
Uphill to Old Sarum may be traced across a field near the house. (2)
The Devil's Punch Bowl, one of the most notable swallets on the
Mendips, is 1/4 m. nearer Bristol (climb a wall on the R. and the
swallet, a funnel-shaped hollow, partly overgrown with brushwood, will
be seen in a field about 100 yards from the roadside). (3) The old
Roman lead mines are 2-1/2 m. away on the road to Charterhouse. (4) The
"Lamb's Lair" cavern (now unexplorable) lies 2 m. to the N. near the
Bristol road. (5) Nine Barrows, to find which take the Wells road; 1/2
m. to the S. is another solitary inn, and opposite are the barrows.

_Catcott_, a village on the Poldens, 3 m. S. of Edington Station. The
church is quaint; note, in particular, the old oak seats, and the odd
means by which they can be lengthened. There is an old octagonal font.

_Chaffcombe_, a secluded village on the slope of Windwhistle Hill,
2-1/2 m. N.E. from Chard. The church is a small Dec. building with a
Perp. W. tower containing a pre-Reformation bell.

_Chantry_, or _Little Elm_, a small village 4-1/2 m. S.W. from Frome.
The church is a beautiful bit of modern Gothic, designed by Sir G.
Scott.

_Chapel Allerton_, a village 4-1/2 m. S.W. from Axbridge. The church is
a 13th-cent. building which has been subsequently altered and enlarged.
In the parish are the remains of an old "hundred stone," marking the
boundaries of the hundred of Bempstone.

CHARD, a market town of 4437 inhabitants, at the S. extremity of the
county, served by both the G.W.R. and L. & S.W.R. Chard is a pleasant
variant upon the usual cramped type of Somerset county town. It spreads
itself out up the side of a hill with a magnificent di