CROWCOMBE, a parish (formerly a borough and
market-town) in the hundred of WILLITON-and-FREEMANNERS,
county of SOMERSET, 7 miles (N. E. by N.)
firom Wiveliscombe, containing 600 inhabitants. The
living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Taunton,
and diocese of Bath and Wells, rated in the king's
books at £32. 14. 4., and in the patronage of Robert
Harvey, Esq. The church, dedicated to the Holy
Trinity, is an ancient edifice, built of hewn stone, having
a tower formerly surmounted by an octagonal
spire, which was struck down by lightning in 1725:
the interior was neatly fitted up in 1534, with wellcarved
oak; and the north aisle, a handsome addition
to the original structure, was built by the Carews, who
have their place of sepulture underneath, there being several
fine monuments to different members of that family.
Elizabeth Carew, in 1668, bequeathed £400, directing
a moiety thereof to be appropriated to the instruction
of fifteen boys; and, in 1766, a rent-charge of £12
-was devised by Thomas Carew, in aid of this  charity,-
the annual income of which is about £40. Another
school was endowed, in 1716, by Dr. Henry James,
who left £100, producing now about £10 a year, for
teaching eighteen girls-: there is also a Sunday school,
supported-by voluntary contributions.  Crowcombe was
formerly of greater importance than it is at present:
it was a borough, and the inhabitants being incorporated,
enjoyed various privileges: a portreeve is still annually
chosen at the court leet of the lord of the manor.
A market, now disused, existed so early as the reign of
Henry III.; fairs are held on the first Friday in May,
Monday after August 1st, and October 31st, for cattle
and drapery. A cross, in good preservation, stands at
the entrance to the village, and fragments of another
are visible in the churchyard. Near the court-house
there is a spring which ebbs and flows with the tide.
Some veins of copper have been found in the sides of
the Quantock hills.