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‘present. The church, which is dedicated to S. Mary Magdalene, 
‘was restored in 1848-57, but the fine old carved oak screens 
remain, dating, according to some authorities, from the end of the 
“XIV. Century. This work has been very successfully imitated in 
the new screen, just erected. The curious priest’s room, inside 
the church, the corporation pew, Jacobean, and some puzzling 
‘stone work on the outside of the church, were duly noted. The 
Altar piece, a painting of the ‘‘ Descent from the Cross,” said to 
have been taken from a privateer, was presented to the town by 
the Hon. Anne Poulett, M.P., so named after his godmother, 
Queen Anne. It is of the Italian school, and has been attributed 
to Guido, or one of the Caracci. The Vicar is of opinion that 
the picture is a genuine Murillo, for, among others, the following 
reasons :—The style is Spanish rather than Italian’; the metal 
pot in one corner is Spanish in design ; Mary Magdalene wears a 
blue fillet in her hair, and her costume is not Italian ; and the 
feet of the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, and another are ostentatiously 
concealed, the composition being somewhat deranged to allow of 
this being done, while the foot of S. John, who supports our 
Lord’s head, is very prominent. This is due, the Vicar thinks, to 
the fact that at the time Murillo was painting, a Papal ordinance 
was in force prohibiting the exhibition in such pictures of the 
feet of the Holy Women. The tomb said to be that of John 
Oldmixon, the historian, in the churchyard, was visited, but 
beyond the name of Oldmixon little could be made of the 
inscription, which, as the antiquary died in 1742, is perbaps not 
to be wondered at, nor, seeing the untrustworthiness of much that 
he wrote, to be deplored. 
There is an entry in the church records that when Whitfield 
came to Bridgwater to preach “one of the fire-engines was got 
‘out, and he was pumped upon, the Vicar assisting.” 
Leland only notes that he saw “one large Paroch Church.” 
“The Towne of Bridgwater,” he remarks, ‘‘is not wallid, nor 
hath not beene by any lykelyhod that I saw. Yet there be 4 
ey dn, 
