South Petherton is about three miles north.  Here is another fine church with an uncommon octagonal tower placed upon a squat and square base.  Of more interest is the beautiful house, known as “King’ Ine’s Palace,” which dates from the fifteenth century.  It may have been erected on the site of one of that Saxon monarch’s many houses.  There are one or two ancient buildings in this village as also at Martock, another delightful hamlet still farther north.  But we are being tempted outside our arbitrary boundary and must return to the Yeovil road that wanders up hill and down again into the charming vales of the Somerset borderland by way of East Chinnock and West Coker.  In the latter large and rambling village is a church of note for the unique horn glazing of the small windows in its turret.  The Decorated building has a squat tower out of all proportion to its size.  The manor dates from the fourteenth century and belongs to the Earl of Devon.

There is an alluring sound about the name of Yeovil; a name suggestive of ancient stone-walled houses with roofs clothed in russet moss with, perhaps, a hoary ruined keep on a guardian mound and a clear swift moorland stream flowing between encircling hills.  But the reality is very different.  Many years ago, when two great railways took the town into their sphere of influence, factories and streets began to appear as if by magic and just before the Great War a fresh impetus was given to Yeovil by the development and extension of certain well-known local firms.  In fact the present appearance of the town is that of an industrial centre of the smaller and pleasanter sort, but with the inevitable accompaniment of mean houses and uninviting suburbs.  The main streets of the newer parts are spacious and clean, but are reminiscent of an ordinary London suburb.

The great glory of Yeovil is its church, the interior of which is one of the most impressive in Somerset.  Its lofty and graceful arches and wonderful windows belong to a period when the Perpendicular style was at its best and purest.  The crypt beneath the chancel is of much interest.  The single central pillar supports a fine groined roof.  The church has few interesting details, but the magnificent lectern with its undecipherable inscription and a couple of brasses will be noticed.  There are but few old houses in the centre of the town.

[Ilustration:  YEOVIL CHURCH.]

The usual excuse of disastrous fires is offered, and one did occur in 1449 when 117 houses were destroyed, but more probably ruthlessness on the part of eighteenth-century owners is responsible for this dearth.  In Middle Street is the George Inn, an old half-timbered house, and, opposite, the still older “Castle,” said to have been a chantry house.  The Woborne Almshouses were founded about 1476, but no portion of the early buildings remain.