Banwell Court, near the church, contains some remains of a manor house, built by Bishop Beckington.  In a shed near the fire brigade station are (1) two old thatch-hooks (1610), used to drag burning thatch from the roofs of houses; and (2) an old fire-engine of the same date.

On the hill which rises above the church (in a field entered near the junction of the roads) a large cross is traced on the surface of the ground, and raised in relief to the height of 2 ft., the limbs being between 50 and 70 ft. long.  It is surrounded by a low stone or earth fence, and its purpose is problematical.  On the hill there is also a camp, where flints of Neolithic date have been found; and near it is an ancient track-way known as the Roman Road.

The caves (two in number) are in private grounds belonging to Mrs Law.  They have probably been created by the action of water, and when discovered were filled with the bones of wild animals (many of them now extinct) embedded in silt, which had been washed into them.  In one of them there is now stacked a quantity of these bones, whilst a selection of them is deposited in Taunton Museum.  The caves are shown by some of the outdoor servants of the house.  Unlike the caves at Cheddar and Burrington, they open upon the summit of the hill instead of into a ravine.

Barrington, a village 4 m.  N.E. of Ilminster, is worth visiting for the sake of its church and its interesting Elizabethan house called Barrington Court.  The church is cruciform, with an octagonal central tower.  The tower arches are E.E., with plain chamfered piers; but there is a good deal of Dec. work in the transepts (note windows and the fine canopy over one of the piscinas).  The E. window is Perp.:  observe the piscina and niches in the chancel, and the large squints.  The N. porch has an ogee moulding, and contains a niche with figures of the Virgin and Child.

Barrington Court (now a farm) is a magnificent E-shaped building, with numerous twisted chimneys, turrets, and finials.  It was built by Henry Daubeny, the first Earl of Bridgwater, (d. 1548); and passed successively into the possession of the Phelipses (afterwards of Montacute) and the Strodes.  It was here that William Strode in 1680 entertained the Duke of Monmouth.  Recently an effort has been made to purchase it for the nation.

Barrow Gurney is a small village, prettily situated (1 m. from Flax Bourton stat.), with a church about a mile away.  Near the church there once existed a Benedictine nunnery (said to have been founded before 1212); and what is now the S. aisle was formerly the nuns’ chapel, and it still retains an early doorway and a few other vestiges of antiquity.  At the W. end of the aisle is an enclosure with a number of tiles, supposed to be the burial-place of one of the sisters.  With the exception of this S. aisle, the church has been entirely rebuilt and enlarged.  Note the mural monument to Francis James (of Jacobean date), and the old bell beneath the tower.  The churchyard contains a restored cross.  Adjoining the church is Barrow Court (H.M.  Gibbs) a fine Elizabethan building.  In the village is a house of the date 1687.  Some reservoirs of the Bristol waterworks are close by.