LYDEARD (BISHOP'S), a parish in the western
division of the hundred of KINGSBURY, county of SOMERSET,
5 miles (N.W.) from Taunton, containing,
with the tythings of Bishop's Lydeard, Coombs-Ash,
East Bagborough, East Coomb Hill, Lydeard-Pun-
chardon, and Quantock, 1016 inhabitants. The living
is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Taunton,
and diocese of Bath and Wells, rated in the king's
books at £20. 10., endowed with £200 private benefaction,
and £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage
of the Dean and Chapter of Wells. The church is dedicated
to St. Mary: in the churchyard there is an
elegant cross. An ahnshouse, which was founded here
in the reign of Charles L, by Sir Richard Grobham,
is endowed with lands now producing an annual income
of £20.