CARHAMPTON, a parish in the hundred of CARHAMPTON, county of SOMERSET, l mile (S. E.) from Dunster, containing, with the chapelry of Rode-Huish, 587 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Dean of Wells, rated in the king's books at £ 11. 8., and in the patronage of Mrs. Langham. The church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. There is a small endowment for the instruction of children. The petty sessions are holden here. This place, which gives name to the hundred, probably received its appellation from the British Saint Carantacus, or Carantac, who was the son of Keredic, prince "of Cardigan, and who retired hither, built an oratory, and spent the remainder of his life in acts of devotion, preferring the life of a recluse to the government of his father's kingdom. In the grounds of the vicarage have been found numerous skeletons, and the foundation of an ancient building, supposed to be the remains of this chapel, which is stated to have been formerly used as the parish church. Near Dunster Park is an old encampment in excellent preservation; it is octagonal, with double ramparts and a ditch, and there are several outworks in connexion with it. la making a road through the parish, an ancient cairn was removed, when a perfect sepulchre, seven feet long, was discovered, containing a human skeleton; the place has been surrounded by a railing. Twenty poor children are educated under a schoolmistress for £5 a year, the interest of a bequest from Richard Escott, in 1785; an annuity of £3 has been left for the same purpose.