Editing Crewkerne (section)

==Religious sites==
[[File:Crewkerne - St Peter's Roman Catholic Church - geograph.org.uk - 1185325.jpg|thumb|left|upright|St Peter's Church, shared by Methodists and Roman Catholics]]
[[Church of St Bartholomew, Crewkerne|St Bartholomew's Parish Church]] stands on high ground to the west of the town. The first [[Anglo-Saxons|Saxon]] church was founded before the end of the 9th century as a "minster", or main church of a Saxon royal estate that included an area which later became the parishes of [[Seaborough]], [[Wayford]] and [[Misterton, Somerset|Misterton]]. This church was replaced after the [[Norman Conquest]] with a larger stone cruciform building, with a central tower. This was almost completely rebuilt and enlarged in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. This is, for the most part, the church building visible today. It is an excellent example of the [[Perpendicular style]] with many unusual and individual features. These include the west front, the [[nave]], the six-light aisle windows and the [[Tudor period|Tudor]]-style chapels and windows in the north east corner. The building material is golden-coloured [[Hamstone|Ham Hill stone]], quarried nearby. There is a notable pair of 'green man' carvings within the church.

No major alterations have been made since the Reformation in the 1530s and 1540s, but there have been many changes to the interior to accommodate various phases of [[Church of England]] worship. Among these are an oven used for baking communion bread in the south east corner of the north chapel.<ref name="curio"/> During the [[English Civil War|Civil War]], considerable damage was done including the destruction of nearly all of the [[medieval]] [[stained glass]]. [[William III of England]] worshipped in the church following his landing in the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1689.<ref name="curio"/> By the early 19th century, all the medieval furnishings, except the Norman [[Baptismal font|font]] had disappeared. New pews were made and the west galleries were added in 1808–11. The latest restoration that has left the church interior visible today, took place in the late 19th century; it was more sympathetic to the church's architectural character than many [[Victorian restoration]]s. At this time, the central section of the west gallery was removed to reveal the great west window and the organ was relocated to the south transept. The pews date from around 1900 and have attractive carved bench-ends. The church has been designated by [[English Heritage]] as a Grade I [[listed building]].<ref>{{NHLE | desc=Church of St Bartholomew | num=1208122 | access-date=6 October 2007}}</ref>

Crewkerne also contains one of very few [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] chapels left in the West Country, Crewkerne Unitarian Church, a tiny [[chapel]] tucked away on Hermitage Street.<ref>{{cite web | title=West Unitarians | work=Western Unitarians Congregations | url=http://www.westunitarians.org.uk/ | access-date=12 November 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010143032/http://www.westunitarians.org.uk/ | archive-date=10 October 2008 }}</ref> The Methodist church on South Street is shared by [[Roman Catholic]] and [[Methodism|Methodist]] congregations, following the closure and proposed redevelopment of St Peter's Catholic Church. [[Christ Church, Crewkerne|Christ Church]], a [[chapel of ease]] to St Bartholomew's, was built on South Street in 1852–54.<ref>{{PastScape|mnumber=527451|access-date=20 November 2018}}</ref> It was declared redundant in 1969 and demolished in 1975. It is now the site of the residential Christchurch Court.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.churchofengland.org/media/810289/bath%20and%20wells%20-%20all%20schemes.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316083824/http://www.churchofengland.org/media/810289/bath%20and%20wells%20-%20all%20schemes.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-03-16 |access-date=2018-11-20|title=diocese of Bath and Wells schemes for buildings: Christchurch Court}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Crewkerne Through Time|author1=David Bryant|page=77|year=2013|publisher=Amberley Publishing|isbn=978-1445611983}}</ref>