[Illustration:  BRUTON BOW.]

Close by Bruton Bow, an extremely picturesque medieval bridge over the Brue, is the school founded by Fitz-James, Bishop of London.  It was suppressed with the abbey and refounded by Edward VI.  The Sexey Hospital was established by a native of Bruton who was penniless when he left the town and rose to be Auditor of the Household to Queen Elizabeth and James I. The beautiful Hall-chapel is panelled in black oak, and the buildings make a quaint and pleasing picture.

Castle Cary, nearly three miles west of Cole station, does not fulfil the expectations raised by its name.  Until 1890 the very site of the castle had been lost.  The lines of the keep are now marked by a row of pillars in a meadow at the foot of Lodge Hill.  A fortress of the Lovells, it was attacked and taken by Stephen.  Soon afterwards it seems to have been dismantled or destroyed.  The church is well placed on an eminence but has been practically rebuilt and is of little interest.

Ditcheat and Evercreech, respectively two and five miles to the north, are beautiful and interesting places.  The latter has a church with one of the most glorious towers in Somerset, but here again we are leaving our arbitrary boundary and wandering too far afield.  The road from Cary to Wincanton runs through Bratton Seymour and keeps to the summit of a ridge of low hills, commanding here and there lovely views, especially near “Jack White’s Gibbett” at the cross roads above Bratton.  The Bruton-Wincanton road is even more interesting, as it passes within a short distance of Stavordale Priory.  The church, which is still intact, and also a good portion of the conventual buildings, are exquisitely situated under the great hill of Penselwood, part of the line of hills that runs from above Bourton almost to Longleat and that forms the high boundary of Somerset and Wiltshire.  The ridge is crowned by a number of entrenchments, and prehistoric remains are frequent.  Ballands Castle and Blacklough Castle are succeeded by Jack Straw’s Castle close to “Alfred’s Tower” on Kingsettle Hill.  This tower was built by a Mr. Hoare in 1766 and commemorates the historic spot where in 879 the cross was raised against the pagan Dane.

  ALFRED THE GREAT A.D. 879
  ON THIS SUMMIT ERECTED HIS STANDARD AGAINST DANISH INVADERS
  TO HIM WE OWE THE ORIGIN OF JURIES AND THE CREATION OF A NAVAL FORCE
  ALFRED, THE LIGHT OF THE BENIGHTED AGE
  WAS A PHILOSOPHER AND A CHRISTIAN
  THE FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE
  AND THE FOUNDER OF
  THE ENGLISH MONARCHY AND LIBERTIES.

The eye ranges over a magnificent expanse of western England.  If the tower is ascended one may stand just a thousand feet above the sea.  The door is usually locked, but the key may be obtained from a lodge near by, down the slope to the east.  This walk can with profit be extended to Long Knoll (945 feet) over two miles north-east; beyond is Maiden Bradley, an interesting village not far from the confines of Longleat, the famous and palatial seat of the Marquis of Bath; but this country must be left for another chapter.