The Somerset towers are a collection of distinctive, mostly spire

Spire

A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....

less Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 church towers in the county of Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

 in south west

South West England

South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...

 England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Where beautiful castles and church spires rise above other parts of England, the crowning glory of many Somerset towns and villages is these medieval church towers. It is largely on the basis of the Somerset towers that 52 of Simon Jenkins

Simon Jenkins

Sir Simon David Jenkins is a British newspaper columnist and author, and since November 2008 has been chairman of the National Trust. He currently writes columns for both The Guardian and London's Evening Standard, and was previously a commentator for The Times, which he edited from 1990 to 1992...

' "Thousand Best Churches" in England are in Somerset – trailing only the counties of Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

 (with 65 entries) and Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

 (54). Jenkins cites the towers as one of England's finest contributions to medieval art. Other authors write:

"They stand apart by reason of their style, their intricate decoration, and their great height, from which they command the low flat plains of Somerset."

"Somerset's wealth of some 90 late medieval towers, 50 of which are great designs by any standard, gives the county a unique place in the history of English art. The prosperity of the wool trade in the 15th century paid for the design and craftsmanship, displayed often in small villages, which still astonish us today."

Often built on the foundations of older Norman

Norman architecture

About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...

 churches, the Perpendicular Gothic-style Somerset towers became landmarks for travelers, with their square, corner-buttress

Buttress

A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...

ed towers typically positioned on the west side of the churches. The towers soar more than 100 feet (30 m) in some cases – 182 feet (55 m) in the case of Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives at the adjacent Bishop's Palace....

's north tower (1440). Most of the towers house bells, and bell-ringing became a tradition still practiced in some of these English country churches. Most of the churches in this article have been designated, under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990

Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990

The Planning Act 1990 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the laws on granting of planning permission for building works, notably including those of the listed building system in England and Wales....

, by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 as grade I listed buildings, which is defined as encompassing those of "of outstanding or national architectural or historic interest". Those that do not achieve grade I are listed as II*, which means "particularly significant buildings of more than local interest."

The prolific construction of the towers – some started before 1360 – was typically accomplished by a master mason and a small team of itinerant masons, supplemented by local parish laborers, according to Poyntz Wright. But other authors reject this model, suggesting instead that leading architects designed the parish church towers based on early examples of Perpendicular design and ornamentation developed for cathedrals

Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England

The medieval cathedrals of England, dating from between approximately 1040 and 1540, are a group of twenty-six buildings which together constitute a major aspect of the country’s artistic heritage and are among the most significant material symbols of Christianity. Though diversified in style, they...

 – their most important commissions. Contract builders carried out the plans, adding a distinctive mix of innovative details and decorations as new designs emerged over the years.

"It is, indeed, a source of wonder that funds and skilled workmen were forthcoming in sufficient quantity to erect or rebuild so many churches within a comparatively short period. It was upon the Towers that the greatest skill of the Perpendicular builders was lavished."

Features

Key architectural references in the development of the Somerset towers were Gloucester Cathedral

Gloucester Cathedral

Gloucester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the river. It originated in 678 or 679 with the foundation of an abbey dedicated to Saint Peter .-Foundations:The foundations of the present...

, Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives at the adjacent Bishop's Palace....

 (begun around 1180 and consecrated 1239), and Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. The ruins are now a grade I listed building, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument and are open as a visitor attraction....

 (begun 1184) and their renovations into the 14th century. Beyond these, however, the mason-architects of the era innovated and borrowed new designs from one another, adding additional storeys and elaborating decoration wherever there was money to support it. The Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 in the 16th century largely brought to an end the era of Somerset tower construction.

The distinctive quality of the Somerset towers derives in large part from fine decorative details – pinnacle

Pinnacle

A pinnacle is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire...

s, lacy tracery

Tracery

In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...

 windows and bell openings, gargoyle

Gargoyle

In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...

s, and beautifully adorned doors, arches, parapet

Parapet

A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...

s, buttresses, merlon

Merlon

In architecture, a merlon forms the solid part of an embattled parapet, sometimes pierced by embrasures. The space between two merlons is usually called a crenel, although those later designed and used for cannons were called embrasures.-Etymology:...

s, and tall external stair turret

Turret

In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...

s, for example. This icing of sculpted decoration, often made of beautifully colored stone, was hewn from soft sedimentary limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 quarried around Somerset, including Bath stone

Bath Stone

Bath Stone is an Oolitic Limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England, its warm, honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of Bath, England its distinctive appearance...

, Doulting

Doulting

Doulting is a village and civil parish east of Shepton Mallet, on the A361, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England.-History:The parish of Doulting was part of the Whitstone Hundred....

 stone (quarried near Shepton Mallet

Shepton Mallet

Shepton Mallet is a small rural town and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset in South West England. Situated approximately south of Bristol and east of Wells, the town is estimated to have a population of 9,700. It contains the administrative headquarters of Mendip District Council...

), Dundry

Dundry

Dundry is a village and civil parish, situated on Dundry Hill in the northern part of the Mendip Hills, between Bristol and the Chew Valley Lake, in the English county of Somerset. The parish includes the hamlets of Maiden Head and East Dundry...

 stone, and Hamstone

Hamstone

Hamstone is the colloquial name given to stone from Ham Hill, Somerset, England. Hamstone is a Jurassic limestone from the Toarcian, or Upper Lias, stage. It is a well cemented medium to coarse grained limestone characterised by its honey-gold colour and marked bedding planes. The stone contains...

 (from Ham Hill since Roman

Roman Britain

Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

 times). This freestone can be cut in any direction, making possible fancy curves and fine details. Unfortunately, the softness of the stone also makes it subject to weathering

Weathering

Weathering is the breaking down of rocks, soils and minerals as well as artificial materials through contact with the Earth's atmosphere, biota and waters...

.

For the foundations and walls of the towers, blue lias

Blue Lias

The Blue Lias is a geologic formation in southern, eastern and western England and parts of South Wales, part of the Lias Group. The Blue Lias consists of a sequence of limestone and shale layers, laid down in latest Triassic and early Jurassic times, between 195 and 200 million years ago...

 – a limestone from the area – was a frequent choice, but because of the difficulty and expense of transporting stone, stone from the nearest quarries was generally used, including red sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

, and the softer freestone

Freestone

A freestone is a stone used in masonry for molding, tracery and other replication work required to be worked with the chisel. The freestone must be fine-grained, uniform and soft enough to be cut easily without shattering or splitting. Some sources say that the stone has no grain, but this is...

 from quarries at Ham Hill

Ham Hill

Ham Hill could refer to:* Ham Hill, Somerset SSSI, Country Park and** Ham Hill Hillfort* Ham Hill SSSI, WiltshireThere is also a lesser known area to the south of Snodland, Kent that is called Ham Hill. It has always played 'second fiddle' to the larger town of Snodland, which has absorbed Ham Hill...

, Bath, Doulting

Doulting

Doulting is a village and civil parish east of Shepton Mallet, on the A361, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England.-History:The parish of Doulting was part of the Whitstone Hundred....

, and North Curry

North Curry

North Curry is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated east of Taunton in the Taunton Deane district. The parish, which includes Knapp and Lower Knapp has a population of 1,625....

, for example.

Classification and dating

How quickly the towers were built is controversial. Poyntz Wright estimates one or two years. John H. Harvey believes a construction rate of 10 feet (3 m) per year, allowing for gradual settlement, is more in accord with known medieval tower construction rates. The towers were commissioned by wealthy benefactors and parishes as a testament to their faith, as well as a highly visible sign of wealth and status. Nikolaus Pevsner

Nikolaus Pevsner

Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...

 notes that at the end of the 14th century, Somerset was producing a quarter of the wool products made in England and this was one of the sources of wealth that produced the Somerset towers. The boom in wool led to a comparable, though architecturally rather different, wave of equally extravagant parish churches in 15th century Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

. An additional source of support for some of the Somerset churches would have been close ties to nearby monasteries in Muchelney

Muchelney

Muchelney is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, on the River Parrett, south of Huish Episcopi and miles south west of Somerton in the South Somerset district...

, Athelney

Athelney

Athelney is located between the villages of Burrowbridge and East Lyng in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. The area is known as the Isle of Athelney, because it was once a very low isolated island in the 'very great swampy and impassable marshes' of the Somerset Levels. Much of the...

, Glastonbury

Glastonbury

Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,784 in the 2001 census...

 and Bath

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

.

Because of the age of the Somerset towers, there are few records showing exactly when and by whom they were built. But for more than a century, experts have studied and classified the Somerset towers. Edward Augustus Freeman

Edward Augustus Freeman

Edward Augustus Freeman was an English historian. His reputation as a historian rests largely on his History of the Norman Conquest , his longest completed book...

 proposed a classification of the towers in 1851-1852, with Dr. F.J. Allen and R. P. Brereton

R. P. Brereton

Robert Pearson Brereton joined Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1836, aged 18, and became his chief assistant in 1844, aged 26...

 offering new classifications in 1904. Wickham, who spent time as the vicar of Martock

Martock

Martock is a large village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the edge of the Somerset Levels north west of Yeovil in the South Somerset district. The parish includes Hurst, approximately one mile south of the village, and Bower Hinton, which is located at the western end of the...

 and later at East Brent, writing in 1952, accepted much of the classification scheme set out in earlier works, based on age and the arrangement of the windows. He argued, however, that the North Somerset group had been wrongly classified. Based on an early attempt to bring computer analysis to the study of the towers, Poyntz Wright in 1981 published a taxonomy

Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...

 of the towers to tease out patterns reflecting the chronology and teams of builders behind their construction. Based on details such as the numbers and arrangement of windows; presence, arrangement and decoration of pinnacles and merlons; and arrangement, location, and styling of buttresses, he described and proposed rough dates for "generations" of Somerset towers. For example, Poyntz Wright proposed "The Churchill Generation" as an early group including churches at Churchill

Churchill, Somerset

Churchill is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is located in the unitary authority of North Somerset, on the western edge of the Mendip Hills about east of Weston-super-Mare...

, Compton Martin

Compton Martin

Compton Martin is a small village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in Somerset and civil parish in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority in England. The parish has a population of 508...

, and Compton Bishop

Compton Bishop

Compton Bishop is a small village and civil parish, at the western end of the Mendip Hills in the English county of Somerset. It is located close to the historic town of Axbridge...

. These churches were clustered based on traits such as having smaller towers with a single window in each face of the top stage; a pierced top parapet without merlons and four square-set corner pinnacles above.

In a 1984 article, John H. Harvey thoroughly rejects Poyntz Wright's systematics, the assumptions upon which it was based, and the resulting tower dates. Harvey stresses the importance of tower arches as conservative architectural features, contrasting these with decorative features that could be changed in later stages of construction – or even after the tower was complete:

"Whereas there is a substantial possibility of alteration in the tracery of a west window ... or of a later insertion of a west door, it is almost impossible for the tower-arch to be other than an integral part of the original build."

Harvey pushes many of Poyntz Wright's tower construction dates later, and some earlier. He cites Yeovil's church as one of the earliest Somerset towers, suggesting that its construction began well before 1400. He finds similarities in the Yeovil church's buttress scheme and parapet to the datable work of William Wynford

William Wynford

William Wynford was one of the most successful English master masons of the 14th century, using the new Perpendicular Gothic style. He is first mentioned in 1360 when at work at Windsor Castle as warden of masons' work...

 at Winchester

Winchester Cathedral

Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe...

 and Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives at the adjacent Bishop's Palace....

s and works at Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

.
Harvey cites Wynford's southwest tower of Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives at the adjacent Bishop's Palace....

 as "the source of the typical 'Somerset Tower'... and the later concept of the spireless tower throughout this country." Harvey presumes that Wynford, who died in 1405, was directly involved in the design of St Cuthbert's parish church, a few blocks away from Wells cathedral, one sign of the spread of the Somerset tower into the surrounding countryside. Ultimately, however, Harvey concludes that what is needed to do a proper dating and sorting of the rich collection of medieval towers in Somerset is a team of history, document, and architecture experts to probe widely and deeply, amassing all the clues possible before constructing the definitive dating and systematics of the towers. In the absence of such a definitive tower taxonomy, Poyntz Wright's dates and scheme – used and italicized on the related page, "List of Somerset towers" – should be held lightly.

See also

• List of Somerset towers
• Stone conservation article relating to Hamstone Somerset tower