Church of St Philip and St James

The Church of St Philip and St James stands in Norton St Philip, a Somerset village. Built mainly of Doulting Stone, it has a three-stage west tower topped by a slate roof. The oak barrel roof inside and the finely dressed ashlar on the south and east sides date from later work. A clock by Vulliamy and Frodsham was added to the tower in 1841, and six bells hang there. The church’s history reaches back before the Norman Conquest. Thirteenth- and fourteenth-century elements survive, and a fair granted in 1345 helped pay for its upkeep. Samuel Pepys visited in the 17th century and recorded the tomb of a Templar knight, now thought to mark a lawyer or merchant from 1460. The north aisle probably came in the 17th century, and George Gilbert Scott led a major Victorian restoration in the 1840s. Inside, the east window holds stained glass by Christopher Webb, while older glass remains in other windows. Among the memorials is one to a soldier killed in 1643 during the English Civil War. A modern vestry and meeting space, added in 2000, won the church a Village Church for Village Life Award in 2008.