ARCIIlTECTUllE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD OF YEOVIL. 5 



octagons, it is the tower itself which assumes the octagonal 

 form, while in Northamptonshire the octagon is only part 

 of the tower, or even distinctly an addition to it. This is 

 true, although there is only one Somersetshire octagon 

 which I have seen, that at Barton St. David's, which is 

 octagonal from the ground, and that of course only on the 

 side away from the church. The central octagons of North 

 Curry and Stoke St. Gregory have indeed no Square base 

 appearing above the roof, and so may come under the same 

 head; that at South Petherton I have not yet had the 

 good luck to see. But the lateral octagons of Somerton 

 and Bishop's Hüll, and the westem ones of Ilchester, and 

 Puddimore Milton, all rise from a Square base rising to 

 about the height of the church, or nearly so. Yet every 

 one would call these octagonal towers : even at Somerton, 

 where the square base rises to a greater height than 

 in the others, it is the octagonal form which determines 

 the character of the tower. In short, in Somerset- 

 shire the Square is a mere base to the octagon, while 

 in Northamptonshire the octagon is a mere finisit to the 

 Square. Thus at Irthlingborough, at Lufiwick, and at 

 Fotheringhay, the octagon is added to a square tower of 

 considerable height, and rises from within the distinct par- 

 apet and pinnacles of such square tower. The square 

 tower of LufFwlck, rising two good stages above tlie roof, 

 would be an amply sufficient steeple without the octagon ; 

 in the other two cases the square tower alone would be 

 rather low, but still it is distinctly finished. At Fothering- 

 hay this is still more marked than in the other cases, as it 

 has not those enormous pinnacles, which at LufFwick receive 

 the flying-buttresses of the octagon. At Wilby, where 

 the octagon supports a spire, the former is indeed taken 

 out of the height of the tower, of which it forms the 



