The Environs of Bath. i8i 



bent efiSgies on altar tombs of about the fourteenth century, 

 the one being a cross-legged knight in armour, and the other 

 a lady : these, though much mutilated, are now temporarily 

 deposited in the sills of windows in the south aisle. Under- 

 neath the east window, in the exterior wall, will be found in 

 a niche, a mutilated figure, which has puzzled archaeologists : 

 some consider it to represent an Ecclesiastic of the twelfth 

 century, while others contend that it is a female figure, and 

 may probably be intended for some abbess. There is no 

 doubt that it was originally inside the Church, but was re- 

 moved to its present position when the chancel was rebuilt. 

 The patronage of the Church was, for many centuries prior to 

 the Dissolution, vested in the Bath Abbey, after which it was 

 granted to the present ^ patrons, the Dean and Chapter of 

 Bristol, who united this living with Bathford, from which it 

 was formally separated in 1855. The Fisher family, whose 

 monuments appear in the chancel, were for some centuries 

 the lay impropriators, and lived in the house that was in 

 131 7 formally set apart for the Vicar. 



Batheaston. 2j^ miles E. — This place was formerly 

 known as " Estone," and consists of the Tithings of 

 Estone, and Amrill or Amorel, which were two of the 

 exempt liberties of the Church of Bath, and are within the 

 hundred of Bathforum. — The greater portion of this Parish 

 appears to have been granted to John de Villula, the first 

 Bishop of Bath, by William Rufus, and the Bishop con- 

 veyed the property to the Bath Abbey. There was an 

 old mill on the Avon known as Batheaston Mill (part of 

 the property belonging to the Bishop) and when this was 

 pulled down in 1844, two quaint sculptural devices we^e 

 found in the old walls, one representing a good and 

 bad spirit striving for a soul, and the other the scourg- 



