Thenceforward, across the flats, now rich meadows, through lanes with much fine hedgerow timber, the way leads to Lympsham, a village rebuilt by the local squire4, who happened to be also the parson, over half a century ago. Every cottage is in a more or less domestic Gothic style, as Gothic was then understood, strongly flavoured with ecclesiasticism. The manor-house itself is Gothic, something after the Strawberry Hill manner of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century date, and really deplorable, were it not that the beautiful and well-wooded grounds, and the 99magnolias that clothe the walls, soften5 the effect. The church of St. Christopher, immediately opposite, and encircled by beautiful elms and oaks, has a fine tower that noticeably leans to the west.
BLEADON CHURCH.
From Lympsham the road turns abruptly6 to the coast at Brean, winding7 and turning 100unweariedly this way and that, over the open marshes8; with deep dykes9, half-filled with water and mud, on either side, and willows10 of every age, from saplings like walking-sticks to reverend ancients, hollow and riven with age, lining11 them.
Thus shall we come at length to Brean, as into the end of all things; for, truly, the spot is desolate12. Not, let it be said, with an ugly desolation; for, although as you approach the sea, and the good alluvial13 earth becomes more and more admixed with sand, the surroundings become mere14 waste land, these are wastes with their own charm and beauty to any but a farmer, to whose eyes nothing can be so beautiful as a ripening15 field of good corn when prices are likely to rule high, or a healthy field of swedes when he has much stock to feed.
Here a road runs parallel with the coast, under the lee of the impending16 sand hills, so that if you would catch the merest glimpse of the sea, you must climb to the summits of them and look down.
Brean church lies considerably17 below the level of these surrounding sand-towans, which menace it in a manner not a little alarming in the view of a stranger. But the sand here, at any rate, has done its worst, for although in places across the narrow road it stands higher than the church tower, it is largely held down at last by a sparse18 growth of coarse grass, and the very height and massiveness of these sandhills act, under the circumstances, as a shield against the clouds of 101other sand still blowing in during rough weather from the sea.
The church of St. Bridget is a small blue-grey limestone19 building of the Perpendicular period, of rough character, scarcely distinguishable from a little distance as a church, and remarkable20 only for having its dwarf21 tower finished off with a saddlebacked roof. It is, as a matter of fact, only the remaining portion of the tower, struck by lightning and thrown down in 1729. An inscription22 on it, “John Ginckens, churchwarden, A?o Dom. 1729,” no doubt records the repairs effected on that occasion. “Ginckens” appears to have been the best local attempt possible at spelling “Jenkins.”
Although it is sand that now more nearly threatens Brean, the peculiar23 dangers of the place formerly24 arose from water. The ancient banks, supposed by some to be Roman, that kept the low-lying country from being flooded by the sea were burst in 1607, and a great stretch of land, roughly twenty miles by five, was submerged for a long time to a depth of from ten to twelve feet. A pamphlet published at the time says:
“The parish of Breane is swallowed (for the most part) up by the waters. In it stood but nine houses, and of those seaven were consumed, and with them XXVI persons lost their lives.”
Local farmers are busily employed in the making of what is known as “Caerphilly cheese”; sent across Channel to Cardiff and sold there as a 102Welsh product to the South Wales mining population.
BERROW.
Blown sand, “allus a-shiften and a-blowen,” is the most prominent feature of the way from this point, all the four miles into Burnham. The ragwort—“the yallers,” as the countryfolk hereabouts know it—distributes a rich colour by the wayside, and confers upon what would otherwise be a somewhat dreary25 waste a specious26 cheerfulness. But even this hardy27 wilding, content with the minimum of nutriment, grows scarce and disappears as Berrow comes in sight; Berrow, where the sand-hummocks broaden out and entirely28 surround the church that stands there in its walled churchyard with a solitary29 cottage for neighbour—as though defensively laagered against attack in an enemy’s country; as indeed it is; the enemy, these insidious30 sands. Berrow, there can be no doubt whatever, was one of the many islets that anciently were scattered32 about Sedgemere, and we have but to glance inland 103between Brean and Berrow for this aforetime character of the surrounding country to be abundantly manifest, and for the eye to be immediately fixed33 with one of the most outstanding features of old time; the hill of Brent Knoll34.
Travellers to or from the West by the Great Western Railway are generally much impressed, between Yatton and Bridgwater, by the strange solitary hill of Brent Knoll that rises abruptly from the plain of Burnham Level, and looks oddly like some long-extinct volcano with its cone35 shorn off or fallen in. Fast trains do not stop at the little wayside station also called “Brent Knoll,” and while passengers are still gazing curiously36 at the hill, they are whirled away in midst of other interesting scenery.
Brent Knoll stands out prominently by virtue37 of its height of 457 feet, as well as by its isolated38 situation in the great alluvial plain through which lazily meander39 the muddy streams of Brue and Axe40 to their outlets41 at Uphill and Highbridge. It is one of those many scattered heights that are so strangely disposed about the neighbourhood of Sedgemoor, and give so romantic an appearance to these wide-spreading levels. Of these the most prominent, geographically43 and historically, is the famed Glastonbury Tor, which with its volcanic44 outline, crested45 with the tall tower of the ancient Chapel46 of St. Michael, is prominent for many a misty47 mile, like some Hill of Dream. Then there is the Mump at Boroughbridge, by the crossing of the Parret 104into the Isle31 of Athelney; Borough48 Hill, near Wedmore; and many smaller, together with those scarcely perceptible hillocks amid the marshes that are now the sites of villages, whose very names of Chedzoy, Middlezoy, Westonzoyland, and Othery, tell us that these, together with the larger hills, were all, “once upon a time,” islands in a shallow sea that stagnated49 over the whole of what is now called “Sedgemoor,” but is properly “Sedgemere.” Centuries of draining, of cutting those long, broad and deep dykes called “rhines,” that cross the moor42 for many miles, in every direction, and so carry away the waters, have converted what had become, after the sea had retired50, an almost impassable morass51 into a fertile plain. The industry of peat-digging in the heart of the moor shows the nature of the soil in these parts, and modern discoveries of prehistoric52 lake-dwellings53 at Meare, whose very name contains evidence of the mere, or lake that once existed, indicate the manner of life these ancient inhabitants lived. King Arthur seems a dim and distant figure to us, but long before his time there lived a race of people on the islands of this inland sea; folk who, although they frescoed54 themselves liberally with red ochre, were by no means without a more artistic55 knowledge of decoration than implied by that crude form of personal adornment57. They certainly made earthenware58 pottery59 of graceful60 forms, decorated with ornament61 of excellent design and execution. Their other habits were primitive62. Largely a 105fish-eating folk, they often lived, as described earlier in these pages, in wattled huts built on piles or stakes driven in the waters. These forms of dwellings were readily adapted for defence, for shelter for their boats, and for fishing.
In those far-distant days Brent Knoll was an island. William of Malmesbury, whose chronicle of the English kings was written early in the twelfth century, and abounds63 in marvels64 and prodigies65, tells us that it was originally named “Insula Ranarum,” the Isle of Frogs. It had been, moreover, he says, in times even then far remote, the home of three most famous wicked giants, who were put to the sword, after a long and evil existence, by one Ider, in the marvellous times of King Arthur.
Excellent roads completely encircle Brent Knoll, making the circuit around the base of it in some four miles, and a very pleasant and picturesque66 miniature circular trip it is on a bicycle beneath the great hill, which is thus seen to be as it were, roughly, one hill superimposed upon another, with a remarkably67 distinct ledge56 or broad shelf running around it, at half its total height; more noticeable from the north-west, perhaps, than from any other direction. The great bulk of Brent Knoll forming this base is composed of has rock; the upper part being of oolite. On the summit is an ancient earthwork, the centre of it marked by a flagstaff. No hilltop would be complete without its ancient fortified68 camp, but the story of that upon Brent Knoll has never 106been told, nor is now ever likely to be. Roman coins, found in almost every old fortified post, have been found here also, and down below, in the meadows, the name of “Battleborough” remains69, with a tradition of Alfred the Great having here fought with and defeated the Danes, or been defeated by them; which, in its vagueness, shows how extremely little is known of old times here. But the name “Brent”—i.e. “Burnt”—Knoll is of itself evidence of warlike times, when the hilltop flared70 with beacon-fires.
There are two villages on Brent Knoll; South and East Brent, both pleasant places; the first with a noble Perpendicular church and stately tower; the second with a church less noble, provided with a tall spire71 that was formerly used as a landmark72 for ships making Burnham, and was kept conspicuously73 whitewashed74, that the mark might not be overlooked. Since the tall lighthouses of Burnham have arisen, the spire of East Brent is no longer regularly made white.
BRENT KNOLL.
In the South Brent church a fine series of carved bench-ends includes satirical representations of the story of Reynard the Fox, here especially applied75 to the grasping conduct of the mitred Abbots of Glastonbury, who sought to seize the temporalities and emoluments76 of South Brent, but were defeated at law. Thus we find here a fox, habited as an abbot, preaching to a flock of geese and other fowls77; the fleece of a sheep hanging from his crozier sufficiently78 showing that his wardenship79 of flocks does not go 109unrewarded. Three of his monks80, shown as cowled swine, peer up at him. A lower panel on the same bench-end discloses a pig being roasted on a spit, which is turned at one end by a monkey and the fire blown with a bellows81 by another monkey at the opposite end.
On another bench-end of this series we see that the geese have revolted against the fox, who is found sitting upright in a penitential attitude, his hind82 legs in fetters83. A monkey preaches to, or admonishes84, the geese, in his stead. In the lower panel the fox is seen in the stocks, a monkey mounting guard with a halberd.
BRENT KNOLL.
An elaborate mural monument to one “John Somersett,” 1663, and his two wives, occupies great space on the south side of the nave85; John Somerset himself represented in half-length, with a portrait-bust of a wife on either side. There are, further, effigies86 of himself and the two Mrs. Somerset praying, accompanied by a chrisom child; together with an alarming effigy87 starting 110up in a coffin88 and praying earnestly to an angel who, armed with a trumpet89 like a megaphone, wallows amid clouds, blowing reassuring90 messages, which issue from the trumpet visibly in lengths, not unlike the news from modern tape-machines. An elderly angel, with an oily smile of smug satisfaction, beams greasily91 below. The whole curious composition has been recently very highly coloured, in reproduction of the original scheme.
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1
toll
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| n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟) | |
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quarried
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| v.从采石场采得( quarry的过去式和过去分词 )；从（书本等中）努力发掘（资料等）；在采石场采石 | |
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perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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5
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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dykes
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| abbr.diagonal wire cutters 斜线切割机n.堤( dyke的名词复数 )；坝；堰；沟 | |
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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lining
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| n.衬里，衬料 | |
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12
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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13
alluvial
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| adj.冲积的；淤积的 | |
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14
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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15
ripening
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成 | |
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16
impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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18
sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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19
limestone
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| n.石灰石 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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dwarf
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| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
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inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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specious
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| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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insidious
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| adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧 | |
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isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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cone
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| n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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meander
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| n.河流的曲折，漫步，迂回旅行；v.缓慢而弯曲地流动，漫谈 | |
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40
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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outlets
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| n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店 | |
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moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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geographically
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| adv.地理学上，在地理上，地理方面 | |
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44
volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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45
crested
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| adj.有顶饰的，有纹章的，有冠毛的v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的过去式和过去分词 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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46
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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47
misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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48
borough
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| n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇 | |
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49
stagnated
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| v.停滞，不流动，不发展( stagnate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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morass
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| n.沼泽，困境 | |
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52
prehistoric
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| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
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53
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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54
frescoed
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| 壁画( fresco的名词复数 )； 温壁画技法，湿壁画 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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57
adornment
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| n.装饰；装饰品 | |
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earthenware
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| n.土器，陶器 | |
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pottery
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| n.陶器，陶器场 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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abounds
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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prodigies
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| n.奇才，天才（尤指神童）( prodigy的名词复数 ) | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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landmark
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| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
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conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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emoluments
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| n.报酬，薪水( emolument的名词复数 ) | |
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77
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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wardenship
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| n.warden之职权（或职务） | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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81
bellows
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| n.风箱；发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的名词复数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的第三人称单数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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83
fetters
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| n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 )；束缚v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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84
admonishes
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| n.劝告( admonish的名词复数 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责v.劝告( admonish的第三人称单数 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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85
nave
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| n.教堂的中部；本堂 | |
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86
effigies
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| n.（人的）雕像，模拟像，肖像( effigy的名词复数 ) | |
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87
effigy
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| n.肖像 | |
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88
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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89
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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90
reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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91
greasily
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| adv.多脂，油腻，滑溜地 | |
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