National Gazetteer (1868) - Montacute

"MONTACUTE, a parish in the hundred of Tintinhull, county Somerset, 4 miles N.W. of the Yeovil railway station. The village, which is of small extent, is chiefly agricultural. It is situated on the road from Yeovil to Ilminster, near the Durston and Yeovil branch of the Bristol and Exeter railway. The parish includes the hamlets of Bishopstone and Hyde. It was formerly called Logaresburch by the Saxons, and returned members to parliament in the 33rd of Edward I. On Hampden Hill are extensive freestone quarries, near to which is a double-moated Roman camp nearly 3 miles in circumference, and further defended on the N.W. by a high rampart partly of stone, enclosing a space of 20 acres, where many Roman coins have been found. In this parish is also a tower, 60 feet in height, on the site of a castle built by William Earl of Moreton, a relative of William the Conqueror, who gave to the place its present name. He also founded a Cluniac priory, the gateway of which is still in a good state of preservation. The remains have been converted into a farmhouse.

The soil consists of clay, and in some places sand, with a subsoil of clay upon freestone. The land is chiefly arable, but well wooded. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £190 10s. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Bath and Wells, value £190. The church, dedicated to St. Catherine, is an ancient stone structure with a tower containing five bells. The interior of the church contains monuments of the Phelips family, one of which dates from 1484. There is a National school for both sexes, in which a Sunday-school is also held. The Baptists have a chapel, at which a Sunday-school is held. Montacute is an ancient mansion, from which extensive views are obtained. William Phelips, Esq., is lord of the manor and principal landowner."

"BISHOPSTONE, a tything in the parish of Montacute, and hundred of Tintinhull, in the county of Somerset, 3 miles to the W. of Yeovillage"

"HYDE, a tything in the parish of Montacute, county Somerset, 4 miles N. W. of Yeovillage"