CHURCH.
Lyng church, standing on the defences of the Saxon burh of East Lyng, (fn. 99) was described
as a chapel in 1291, (fn. 1) presumably dependent upon
the monastic church of Athelney. A vicarage was
ordained by 1348. (fn. 2) The living was held with
Burrowbridge between 1852 and 1872 (fn. 3) and with
Durston between 1970 and 1977. In 1978 it
became part of the united benefice of Stoke St.
Gregory with Burrowbridge and Lyng. (fn. 4)
Until the Dissolution the patronage belonged
to Athelney abbey. (fn. 5) The Crown presented thereafter until 1579 when Sir Christopher Hatton
had a grant of the rectory and advowson. (fn. 6) The
patronage descended with the rectory, (fn. 7) and the
executors of Richard Meade-King have the right
to present on the first turn in every three to the
united benefice. (fn. 8)
In 1291 the chapel was valued at £5, (fn. 9) and the
vicarage in 1445 at £5 6s. 8d. (fn. 10) The net value
was £10 8s. 4d. in 1535 and comprised a
pension of £6 from Athelney abbey and the
remainder from tithes and offerings. (fn. 11) The
reputed value was £40 c. 1668, (fn. 12) but the living
was described by the incumbent in 1705 as 'a
very poor vicarage worth c. £15'. (fn. 13) A gift of
£200 from Sir Thomas Wroth and Mr. G. Gill
in 1719 was matched by Queen Anne's
Bounty, (fn. 14) giving an additional £16 a year by
1725. (fn. 15) Further augmentations from the patron
and Mrs. Horner's trustees in 1808 totalling
£150, and from the patron, the vicar, and Mrs.
Pincombe's trustees in 1810 of £200, all
matched by Queen Anne's Bounty, (fn. 16) gave an
average income of £81 c. 1831. (fn. 17) In 1838 the
vicar was awarded a rent charge of £41 in lieu
of moduses on unmown pastures and of tithes
of allotments in North moor in North Petherton parish belonging to tenements in Lyng. (fn. 18)
In 1923 the value was increased by £9 a year
from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and the
Broadmead Trust. (fn. 19)
A garden and yard formed the glebe in the
early 17th century. (fn. 20) By 1838 there were nearly
27 a. of glebe, presumably bought with augmentations, and by 1889 over 31 a., small areas of
which were in the parishes of North Petherton
and St. Mary's, Taunton. (fn. 21) A small plot opposite
the church, possibly the site of the former
vicarage house, was sold for a burial ground in
1953. (fn. 22) In 1978 there were 30 a. of glebe. (fn. 23)
In 1638 the vicarage house comprised a hall
and a buttery with two rooms above and an
adjoining barn and stall. (fn. 24) By 1705 the house had
been demolished, (fn. 25) and there was no residence for
the incumbent until 1872 when a house was built
east of the churchyard. It was exchanged in 1969
for a bungalow called 'Three Ways', in 1985
known as 'Fairburn', at the eastern end of the
village. The bungalow was sold in 1978. (fn. 26)
The Church in 1888
A figure of St. Catherine, a light of St. Bartholomew, and a rood were objects of devotion
in the church in the 1530s. (fn. 27) The vicar was
deprived in 1554 for being married. (fn. 28) The parish
was commonly served by curates in the later 16th
century, (fn. 29) and vicars in the early 17th also served
either St. Michaelchurch or Durston. (fn. 30) Hatton
Balch, vicar from 1621 to 1636 or later, was
several times complained of for failure to preach
and teach. (fn. 31) Curates were responsible for the
parish by the later 17th century, one serving it
with St. Michaelchurch from 1689, another with
Broomfield from 1763. (fn. 32) During the 18th century communion was celebrated three or four
times a year, (fn. 33) and by 1776 there were 12
communicants. (fn. 34) Aaron Foster, vicar 1812-15, (fn. 35)
lived at Kingston St. Mary, where he was vicar.
His curate held a service at Lyng each Sunday,
alternately morning and evening. Several of the
curates lived at Creech St. Michael and also
served Durston, including George Baring, 1813-
15, (fn. 36) who personally bought food for the poor in
1815, (fn. 37) and William Henry Havergal, 1816-20,
who later composed sacred music. (fn. 38) Other curates lived in Thurloxton or West Monkton; (fn. 39)
only one resided in Lyng. (fn. 40) The parish was in
1846-7 said to have been in 'a wild and neglected
state' because of non-resident clergy. (fn. 41) From
1846 the curate was the resident incumbent of
Burrowbridge. (fn. 42) Services were held once each
Sunday in 1870, with communion four times a
year. (fn. 43) From 1977 the church was in the pastoral
care of a non-stipendiary minister living in
North Curry. (fn. 44)
By 1684 a church house was being maintained
by the parish, retaining that name until 1740 but
probably serving by 1725 as a poorhouse. (fn. 45) It
stood opposite the church beside the site of the
former vicarage house, and was later replaced by
the Sunday-school room. (fn. 46)
The church of ST. BARTHOLOMEW, so
dedicated by 1531, (fn. 47) comprises a chancel, a nave
with north porch and south vestry, and a west
tower. The nave windows, the piscina and sedilia
in the sanctuary, and the window above them
date from the earlier 14th century, together with
the chancel arch, its western side left plain
perhaps to accommodate a tympanum board.
The remaining windows in the chancel were
replaced in the 15th century. The ornate tower,
added c. 1500, is of lias with Ham stone dressings. A screen and rood loft were introduced in
the 15th century, involving the addition of a
large stair and the creation of a chapel on the
south side of the nave. The plain lower sections
of the screen survive. The ornate pulpit also
dates from c. 1500. Probably from the early 17th
century it formed part of a three-decker arrangement, complete with tester. (fn. 48) The clerk's desk
and choir stalls incorporate medieval work. The
carved bench ends include a wide variety of
medieval and Renaissance motifs; one is dated
1614, but most belong to the early 16th century. (fn. 49) The plain font is of the 12th century, and
there is a dug-out chest. There are fragments of
medieval glass in the chancel, preserved when
glass by Michael O'Connor was inserted in
1870. (fn. 50) A small area of decorated medieval plaster also survives in the chancel. The former
south porch seems to have been rebuilt as a
vestry c. 1884. (fn. 51)
There are six bells, including one by George
Purdue (1612) and two by Thomas Wroth (1721,
1725). Another by George Purdue (1609), was
replaced in 1969. (fn. 52) Two bells from Burrow
chapel, dated 1607 and 1625, were at Lyng in
the later 18th century. (fn. 53) The plate includes a cup
and cover of 1691. (fn. 54) The registers date from
1691, the earliest entries transcribed in 1716
from an earlier register, parts of which were
'through negligence obliterated and torn out'. (fn. 55)
St. Michael's chapel on Burrow Mump was
described in 1548 as a free chapel but was treated
as a chantry. (fn. 56) It was let by the Crown until
1631-2 when it was granted to Christopher
Favell and others. (fn. 57) It continued in use for
worship, (fn. 58) and was in 1645 regarded as an
independent church. Continued use of the
church is suggested by rebuilding c. 1663 (fn. 59) and
c. 1793 (fn. 60) but it was described as in ruins by
1733 (fn. 61) and was probably never finished. (fn. 62) It was
replaced in 1836-7 by a new church at the foot
of the hill which became the parish church of
Burrowbridge in 1840. (fn. 63)
The living of Burrowbridge, endowed by local
subscription, was valued at £60 in 1857, (fn. 64) and
was increased in 1859, 1874, and 1875 by grants
from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Two
pieces of land, amounting to just over 4 a., were
given in 1874. (fn. 65) A vicarage house, built c. 1840
to designs by Richard Carver, was sold c. 1976. (fn. 66)
Between 1960 and 1975 the benefice was held
with Northmoor Green and from 1978 formed
part of the united benefice of Stoke St. Gregory
with Burrowbridge and Lyng. (fn. 67) In 1870 two
sermons were preached each Sunday and communion was celebrated every six weeks. (fn. 68)
The chapel of ST. MICHAEL on Burrow
Mump, probably so dedicated by the later
Middle Ages, (fn. 69) and certainly by 1548, (fn. 70) appears
by the 18th century to have comprised a chancel,
a central tower with a south transeptal chapel
and octagonal stair turret, and a nave. (fn. 71) Excavation of the site suggested the previous existence
of a chapel on the north side of the chancel and
of a crypt outside the north wall of the nave. (fn. 72)
The building seems to have been of the late 15th
or the earlier 16th century. It was replaced c.
1793 by a single-cell structure with a porch in
the centre of its south wall and a west tower, the
remains of which still stand, owned since 1946
by the National Trust. (fn. 73)
The church of ST. MICHAEL in Burrowbridge village, originally comprising a small
chancel, a wide nave with a west gallery, and a
western porch with vestries and bellcot, was
designed in 13th-century style by Richard Carver and built of coursed blue lias with Ham stone
dressings. In 1888 a stone chancel arch and two
side arches were erected at the east end of the
nave to give the effect of a Tractarian chancel
with north and south chapels. (fn. 74)
There is one bell. The plate was given in 1838,
and the registers begin in the same year.