n 1852 a small carved
figure, built into the N. wall of the church, was found to conceal, in
a recess at the back of it, a broken wooden cup, stained with human
blood, supposed to be that of St Thomas a Becket, and to have been
brought from Worspring Priory. It is now in Taunton Museum. Opposite
the church door is a series of steps leading up the hill, called _St
Kew's Steps_, the origin of which is unknown. On the top of the hill is
the village of _Milton_, with a modern church.

KEYNSHAM, a small town on the Chew near its confluence with the Avon.
It has a station on the G.W. main line to Bristol. Pop. nearly 3000. It
is a long straggling sort of place of not very lively appearance,
resembling an overgrown village. Its history is rather romantic than
reliable. Its patron saint, S. Keyne, a Welsh lady of exceptional
sanctity, dwelt in a neighbouring wood much infested with serpents. The
reptiles, not usually susceptible to the voice of the charmer, were at
her intercession turned into stone--a fact to which the ammonites in
the local quarry bear witness. St Keyne's name occurs also at
Kentisford, near Watchet. Later, the town acquired a borrowed lustre
from its association with one of the greater religious houses. In 1170
William of Gloster founded here on a magnificent scale a monastery of
Austin Canons. This glory has now departed. The Reformation and the
Bridges family between them made a clean sweep of everything. The abbey
was used as a quarry for building the family mansion, which has by the
irony of fate likewise disappeared. Monastic odds and ends may be
discovered here and there worked into houses and garden walls. A
gateway on the R. of lane leading to station is made up of such
fragments. A heap of debris to the E. of the church indicates the
whereabouts of the original buildings. The church is a spacious rather
than an inspiring edifice. A massive W. tower was built in 1634 to
replace a tower which stood at the E. end of the N. aisle, and was
destroyed by a thunderstorm. The chancel is the most interesting part
of the building, and should be examined externally where the original
E.E. lancets are visible. Within, it has been converted into a kind of
mausoleum for the Bridges family, some of whom are represented in
effigy. Note the round-headed double piscina in sanctuary. The S. aisle
is Dec., and contains a fine Perp. screen. The Caroline screen dividing
the S. chapel from chancel should also be observed.