diagonal buttresses.
The oldest part of the present building is the chancel of the 14th
cent. (which has a good Dec. piscina and triple sedilia), though a
round-headed window (blocked), a survival of an earlier structure, is
inserted in the N. wall. The capitals of the arcade have very unusual
carving (including interlaced work, and the representation of a fox
seizing a goose). The screen (restored) has traces of painting; the
pulpit is Jacobean; and the font seems to be double, an inverted Norman
basin being surmounted by another of still older appearance. There is a
piscina in the S. wall, and over the S. porch a sun-dial of 1653.
Southey's father was a farmer here.

_Lydford, East_ and _West_, two small villages about 1/2 m. apart,
lying on either side of the Fosseway, 5 m. W. of Castle Cary. At the E.
hamlet is a small modern memorial church, with a spire (1866). The W.
village, which is traversed by the Brue, has a church which was rebuilt
in 1846, and has undergone several renovations since.

_Lympsham_, a parish 6 m. S.S.E. of Weston-super-Mare (nearest station
Brent Knoll, 2-1/2 m.). It has a church with a good tower (double
windows in the belfry), which is said to lean westward some, feet out
of the perpendicular. Within note (1) the fine wood roof of the N.
aisle, which was once a chapel (it has a piscina); (2) the 12th cent.
tub font.

_Lyng_, a village 1/2 m. W. of Athelney Station, situated on the Tone.
Its little aisleless church, which was once a chapelry of Alfred's
monastery at Athelney, has a beautiful, though small, Perp. tower (with
double belfry windows). One of the bells dates from 1609. The body of
the church (of earlier date than the tower) contains much that is
interesting, particularly a good Dec. sedile and some fine carved
bench-ends (16th cent.). Note also (1) the oak pulpit, (2) old glass in
a window on N. of chancel, (3) piscinas, (4) tub font, (5) old chest
hollowed from a single trunk (under the tower). The "isle" of Athelney,
with Alfred's monument, is in this parish.

_Maperton_ is a pleasant village 3-1/2 m. E. from Sparkford. Of the
church, which is rather screened from view by an adjoining mansion, the
only old portion is the tower. A few corbels of an earlier church and a
piece of interlaced carving are preserved in the S. porch. The piscina
deserves notice; it is said to be Norman.

_Mark_, a large but scattered village on the marshes between Highbridge
and Wells, 3 m. N.E.