ON THE PEKPENDICULAR OF SOMERSET. 19 



At Martock the nave is longer, having six bays, with a well 

 developed clerestory ; there is also a much larger and finer 

 chancel. But the tower, as I have mentioned, is very 

 unworthy of the rest of the fabric ; and, even in the aisles 

 and clerestory themselves, though increase of size produces 

 an increase of general majesty, we do not find the same 

 exquisite delicacy of treatment. The battlement, though 

 it appears in a graceful and elaborate form, is a finish 

 decidedly inferior to the straight pierced parapet of the 

 northern type. And I am not sure that the break in the 

 aisle, marking the presence of distinct chapels, is any 

 improvement in external effect. 



Bruton, with the exception of its modemized chancel, is 

 certainly one of the best churches in the county. I have 

 already mentioned its beautiful westem tower ; I hardly 

 know whether to find a favdt or a beauty in the presence of 

 a second smaUer tower over the north porch. This erection 

 is of a form intermediate between a belfry and a gateway 

 tower, and, while it of course adds much variety and cha- 

 racter to the outline, it manifestly hinders the due effect of 

 the very fine clerestory to which I have already alluded. 

 The aisle, especially on this north side, is qulte unworthy 

 of it. The clerestory has the pierced parapet on both sides, 

 the aisle on the south side only. 



CHANCELS, ETC. 



I have already mentioned that the chancel, or part of it, 

 is very often retained fi'om an earlier building ; so that, as 

 the earlier building was also, in most cases, smaller and 

 less elaborate than its successor, comparatively mean 

 chancels are attached to some of the most magnificent naves 

 and towers, as is very conspicuously the case at Wrington. 

 [^In any case the arrangement usually adopted of continuing 



