HARPTREE (EAST), a parish in the hundred of
WINTERSTOKE, county of SOMERSET, 7 miles (N.byE.)
from Wells, containing 62? inhabitants. The living is
a discharged vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction and
patronage of the Prebendary of East Harptree in the
Cathedral Church of Wells, rated in the king's books
at £8. 15. The church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, has
a northern doorway in the Norman style.  There is a
place of worship forWesleyan Methodists. A schoolhouse
was erected by John Newton, Esq., and £710.
per annum, the gift of William Plumley, Esq., is paid to
the schoolmaster for teaching poor children. The
village is situated in a rich valley, oil the north-eastern
side of the Mendip hills, where are several mines
of lapis calaminaris, in which are also found man-:
ganese and chrystal spar; and above the village is a
curious cavern, the roof of which, consisting of limestone
rockj is splendidly ornamented with concretions
Of stalactite. Richmond castle, an ancient baronial fortress
of the families of Harptree and Gournay, stood
about half a mile north-westward from the church. It
was garrisoned by the Empress Maud, in 1138, and
shortly afterwards besieged and-taken by King Stephen,
but was not destroyed till the reign of Henry VIII.,
when its remains were removed for the purpose of
erecting a private mansion.