DUNSTER, a market-town and parish in the hundred
of CARHAMPTON, county of SOMERSET, 38 miles
(W.N.W.) from Somerton, and 158 (W. by S.) from
London, containing 895 inhabitants. The town, which
is called Torre in Domesday-book, owes its origin to a
baronial castle built here by William de Mohun, a Norman
baron, on whom William the Conqueror bestowed
large estates in this part of the kingdom. He also
founded a priory of Benedictine monks, as a cell to the
abbey at Bath, the revenue of which, at the. dissolution,
was £37. 4. 9, The castle, which was held by the family
of Mohun till the reign of Edward III., was the
scene of hostilities during the civil wars which took
place in the reigns of Stephen and John, and in the
contests between the houses of York and Lancaster;
and the Marquis of Hertford took possession of it for
Charles I., during the war with the parliament. The
castle has been the residence of the family of Luttrell
since the time of Edward III.: the present structure,
which is comparatively of recent erection, stands in a
commanding situation at the southern extremity of the
principal street, embracing fine views of, the Bristol
channel, and the Welch and Gloucestershire hills. The
town is situated on a gentle eminence, about a mile
to the south of the Bristol channel, and the surrounding
country is beautifully diversified with hill and dale,
through which flows a rapid stream, formed by springs
rising at Dunkery hill, which passes on the south and
east sides of the town, and after turning several mills,
runs under a stone bridge of three" arches, and falls into
the sea. It is small, and of little importance at present,
having materially suffered from the loss of its wool
trade, which formerly afforded employment to a considerable
part of the population of this and the surrounding
parishes. There are but two principal
streets, one of which has been much - improved by the
removal of some unsightly old shambles that stood in
the centre. An ancient market-house is still standing.
The market is on Friday; and a fair is held on Whit-
Monday. Considerable advantage is anticipated from
the recent construction of a new line of road from this
place to Dulverton, which will afford great facility for
the conveyance of commodities to the market. This
town sent members to a parliament in the 34th of
Edward III., and at present it enjoys the elective franchise
in conjunction with Minehead, the right of election
for that place being vested, by a,resolution of the House
of Commons, February 24th, 1717, in the parishioners
of Dunster and Minehead, being housekeepers in the
borough of Minehead, and not receiving alms.
The living, formerly a vicarage, is now a perpetual
curacy, in the archdeaconry of Taunton, and diocese of
Bath and Wejls, rated in the king's books at £4. 13.4.,
endowed with £1200 private benefaction, £800 royal
bounty, and £ 1200 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage
of John Fownes Luttrell, Esq. The church,
dedicated to St. George, is a very spacious edifice in
the later style of English architecture, having been erected
by Henry VII., in acknowledgment of the assistance
afforded him by the men of Dunster, in the battle of
Bosworth Field; it consists of a nave, aisles, and chancel,
with a central tower, ornamented with battlements
and pinnacles; beyond which, to the east, is a kind of
chapel, formerly the conventual church of the priory:
this part of the building was also used by the incumbent
of the parish, for the performance of divine service
until the year 1499, when a dispute arising between the
monks and the parishioners, the matter was referred to
arbitrators, who decided that the latter should have a
choir separate from that of the convent: it contains
many fine sepulchral monuments belonging to the families
of Mohun and Luttrell, which, as well as the chapel
itself, are hastening to decay. Here is a charity school.