BANWELL, a parish in the hundred of WINTERSTOKE,
county of SOMERSET, 5 miles (N. N. W.) from
Axbridge, containing 1430 inhabitants. The living is a
vicarage, within the jurisdiction of the peculiar court
of Banwell at Wells, rated in the king's books at
£26. 6. 0., and in the patronage of the Dean and
Chapter of Bristol. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew,
is a fine specimen of the later style of English
architecture: among the internal decorations are a
richly carved screen and rood-loft, a finely sculptured
stone pulpit, and windows of stained glass. There is a
place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. A monastery
was founded at Banwell by one of the early Saxon
lungs, to the abbacy of which Alfred the Great appointed
Asser, his subsequent biographer: it was entirely
demolished in the Danish irruptions, and, although
restored, never recovered its former splendour, having
fallen to decay several years before the general suppression
of religious houses. The manor has been in
the possession of the Bishops of Bath and Wells since
the time of Edward the Confessor, with the exception
of the short reign of Edward VI., one of whom built
an episcopal palace here, the remains of which, in the
early part of the last century, were converted into a
private residence, called Banwell Court, and the park
has been divided into enclosures, which have been assigned
on lease for lives: some of the leases have been
lately bought up, and the ground disposed in a tasteful
manner, by forming plantations, with drives conducting
to pleasing and richly variegated prospects. The
bishop also, in 1827, erected a cottage orrie'e for his
own accommodation, and that of the numerous visitors
which the recent discovery of two caverns in
the rock, one denominated the Bone, and the other the
Stalactite cavern, has attracted hither. The former,
when first observed, was filled, to the depth of about
eight feet, with a confused mass of bones of animals,
stones, and gravel; but the rubbish has been removed,
and the bones, of which there are several wagon-loads,
have been fancifully disposed along the sides of the cavern,
about forty feet below the body of which there
is a fissure, wherein the diluvia have been permitted to
remain in a promiscuous state. The Stalactite cavern
exhibits fine specimens of a transparent stalactite;
huge fragments of the rock lie dispersed on the floor,
covered with stalagmik. In this there were found two
pieces of candle, incrustated with lime, which are supposed
to have been left by the miners who were last
employed in working for ochre, calamine, and lead-ore,
minerals which, doubtless, still exist to a considerable
extent, though the mines in this part of the Mendip
hills have not been opened of late years. A rich vein
of iron-ore, with some cobalt and manganese, has been
discovered, and the working of it commenced: the ore
is conveyed to the southern coast of Wales, where the
smelting-works are. The village is agreeably situated
under the northern declivity of the Mendip range of
hills. A spring, from which the place probably derives
its name, and formerly noted for possessing a medicinal
property, expands into a fine sheet of water, and, after
turning a large paper and grist-mill, pursues a winding
course through the valley, and empties itself into the
channel, near the remains of the priory at Woodspring.
Fairs for the sale of cattle are held on January 18th
and July 18th. An English free school was established
about 1767, and a fund for its support was raised by
subscription, the produce of which is £10. 10. per
annum: a school-room was built in 1824, at an expense
of £400. Attached to this is an endowment for the
instruction of ten boys belonging to the established
church. William Burgess, in 1676, gave a rent-charge of
£4, to accumulate for the apprenticing of a boy every
seven years. The summit of a neighbouring eminence
is crowned by a British earthwork, enclosing within its
irregular rampart an area of about twenty acres. About
a quarter of a mile from this is an intrenchment,
nearly square, in the centre of which the ground is elevated
in the form of a cross.