STOWEY (NETHER), a market-town and parish in the hundred of WILLITON-and-FREEMANNERS, county of SOMERSET, 8 miles (W. N. W.) from Bridgwater, and 147 (W. by S.) from London, containing 773 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Consistorial Decanal Court of Wells, rated in the king's books at £5. 2. 8., and in the patronage of the Dean and Canons of Windsor. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, stands at the entrance of the town from Bridg-water. There is a place of worship for Independent's. This is a small clean town, situated on a tributary stream to the river Parret: it consists of three streets, nearly in the form of the letter Y, neither paved nor lighted, at the intersection of which stands a rudely built market-house, where a market is held on Saturday, but, from its proximity to Bridg-water, very little business is transacted: there is a fair for cattle on. September 18th. A small manufacture of silk affords employment to some of the juvenile part of the population. A Sunday school, in which are one hundred and thirty children, is supported by means of sundry small bequests and subscriptions. On a hill, at the western extremity of the town, a castle is said formerly to have stood; but there is no other vestige of it than a small circular earthwork, which commands fine views of the channel and the Mendip hills. Courts leet and baron are held annually at Michaelmas, when constables and other officers are appointed.