Description
Maiden Bradley, a village and a parish chiefly in Wiltshire, but the hamlet of Yarnfield is in Somerset. The village stands 4 1/2 miles N of Mere, 5 ESE of Witham, and 6 S of Frome stations on the G.W.R., occupies high ground overlooked by higher but isolated hills, and has a post and money order office under Bath; telegraph office, Horningsham. Acreage of parish, 4609; population, 606. The village contains a handsome stone drinking - fountain and cattle trough, with the following inscription:- ERECTED BY ALGERNON, 14TH DUKE OF SOMERSET, ANNO DOMINI, 1891. Drink, travellers, drink, of Bradley's purest rill, Which, strange to say, runs quite a mile up hill; Then to your panting steeds let all attend, An honest horse is surely man's best friend.
The property belongs to the Duke of Somerset, and Maiden Bradley House is the Duke's seat. An hospital for leprous women was founded here in the time of Stephen, or in that of Henry I., by Manasser Bisset; was changed in 1190 into an Augustinian priory; was given at the dissolution to the Seymours; and is now represented by some remains incorporated with a farmhouse. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £150. Patron, Christ Church, Oxford. The church, dedicated to All Saints, contains monuments of the Seymours, and is good; it was enlarged in 1884, and a new organ added. In 1891 the chancel was laid with encaustic tiles, and in 1893 a handsome reredos of oak was erected, with picture of Last Supper after Max Bernatz, and various representations of saints on either side.
