Stourton (St. Peter)

STOURTON (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Mere, partly in the hundred of Norton-Ferris, E. division of Somerset, but chiefly in the hundred of Mere, Hindon and S. divisions of Wilts, 2½ miles (W. N. W.) from Mere; containing, with the tything of Gaspar, 645 inhabitants, of whom 357 are in Stourton township. This place was the scene of some memorable events during the earlier periods of English history. In 656, Cenwalh, King of the West Saxons, here encountered an army of Britons, which he defeated with great slaughter, and compelled to retreat to Petherton, on the river Parret. In 879, Alfred the Great, issuing from his retreat in the Isle of Athelney, erected his standard on an eminence in this parish, since called Kingsettle Hill; and then proceeded towards Edington, where he obtained a signal victory over the Danes. In 1001, an obstinate and sanguinary battle was fought near Kingsettle Hill, between the Danes and Saxons under the command of Cola and Edsigus, in which the latter were defeated; and in 1016, another engagement took place between the Danes under Canute, and Edmund Ironside, when the latter was victorious. A castle was anciently built here by John de Stourton, on the site of which a spacious and elegant mansion has been erected, in the Italian style, by the Hoare family. The parish comprises 3545a. 34p., whereof 212 acres are common or waste land. At the south-western extremity, in the county of Somerset, is a wide boggy tract, containing many curious excavations called Pen Pits. Stone is quarried for building. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £17, and in the gift of Sir H. R. Hoare, Bart.: there is a glebe-house; the glebe contains 91 acres, and the tithes have been commuted for £500. The church is partly Grecian, and partly in the early English style, and contains monuments to the families of Stourton and Hoare. Some bequests have been made to the poor of the parish. Stourton gives the title of Baron to the family of that name.